THE SURPRISING RUMSFELD

“I remain firmly convinced that she is neither bigoted, nor racist, nor anti-Semitic,” the newpaper’s founder, Nicholas F. Benton, said about his decision to hire her.

FAITH ON THE HILL

The “political overhaul” of the midterm elections had little effect on the religious composition of Congress, says an analysis by the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life.

Of the 535 members of the new Congress, none is self-described as “unaffiliated.” Specifically, 304 of them — or 57 percent — are Protestants, similar to the U.S. adult population (51 percent). Compared with the previous Congress, the 112th Congress has added 12 Protestants, an increase of roughly 2 percentage points. Thirty percent are Catholic, 8 percent are Jewish and 3 percent are Mormon. Less than 1 percent are Muslim or Buddhist. See the myriad numbers here: http://pewresearch.org.

POLL DU JOUR

*35 percent of Americans predict there will be a female president in the next decade.

*47 percent say it will happen somewhere in the next 50 years, 9 percent say “not in this century” or “never.”

*15 percent say a “new political party” will replace Republicans or Democrats as one of the two major parties in 10 years.

*30 percent say that could happen within 50 years, 38 percent say “not in this century” or “never.”

*8 percent say the U.S. government will be overthrown by revolution in 10 years.

*65 percent say it will not happen in this century, or will never happen.

Source: A Harris Poll of 2,331 adults conducted Dec. 6-13 and released Thursday.

* Tip line always open at jharper@washingtontimes.com.

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