The Friday News: January 6, 2012

PATHEOS: Evangelicalism's Changing Heart On Immigration
The conventional wisdom among pundits and journalists holds that immigration is a key to winning over the evangelicals who dominate the Republican presidential nominating process in the early states. This is why the GOP candidates continue to jockey to see who sounds more restrictionist.
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THE HUFFINGTON POST: Congress, White House Cut Heating Assistance Just In Time For Winter
Ralph Olivieri of Coventry, R.I., says he and his wife Alexis will run out of heating oil in a couple weeks after receiving roughly $400 worth courtesy the federal government's heating assistance program in December.
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ABC NEWS: Unemployment Rate Key To 2012 Election
It’s hard to overstate how important the unemployment rate is to Barack Obama’s re-election prospects. Not just the number, but its trajectory, and the closely related public perception of the condition of the economy overall.
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CNN (BELIEF BLOG): College Kids Vow To End Slavery
For the better part of an hour, 42,000 college students stood in the frigid Atlanta night, patiently waiting for a statue illustrating the fight against human trafficking to be illuminated.
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THE ATLANTIC: The 23 Best Countries For Work-Life Balance (We Are Number 23)
What constitutes a balance between work and life? The OECD settled on three chief variables: (1) The share of the labor force that works extreme hours; (2) leisure time; and (3) employment rates for women who have children.
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TALKING POINTS MEMO: Rick Santorum’s God And Gays Message Falls Flat In New Hampshire
The most prominent social conservative in the race, Santorum has made no apologies for playing up issues like religion, gay rights, or abortion even as the general election is expected to be dominated by economic concerns. And he has no intention of modifying his playbook for New Hampshire, where evangelicals are a far less dominant force than Iowa.
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