A study from the Center for Media and Public Affairs at George Mason University has found Fox News is living up to its credo in providing “fair and balanced” news coverage — or at least one show’s coverage of the Republican presidential candidates. Fox News’s Special Report with Bret Baier was found to be more even-handed in its coverage of the GOP candidates than the broadcast network coverage.

Tonight’s South Carolina Republican debate is off and running, and the candidates came out of the gate on the attack. After Newt Gingrich used his first question to immediately tackle Mitt Romney‘s record as CEO, Rick Perry followed shortly thereafter, citing the situation in a plant that Romney had bought and demanding more transparency, particularly to see Romney’s tax records.

As time winds down to the Jan. 21 South Carolina primary, politicos can look forward to tonight’s Fox News/Wall Street Journal/South Carolina GOP debate, and the stakes couldn’t be higher, especially with one less opponent. Live from Myrtle Beach tonight (9pm EST to 11pm), Fox News’ Bret Baier will co-moderate the debate and will try to ensure each candidate gets a fair shake.

There has been a lot of Tim Tebow discussion on cable news lately, most of it hovering around the faux-political issue of his religion and how he displays it on the field. This, however, is not one of those discussions: this is Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer, arguably the smartest pundit on TV, just giddily enjoying the delightful story of how Tebow even got to where he is today– and telling everyone else to cool it with the politics and religion stuff and just watch football.

Looks like Brit Hume wasn’t listening to fashion superstar RuPaul this weekend when he went on tour in New Hampshire to clarify that he is not Rep. Ron Paul. Hume’s assessment of the results of the New Hampshire primary today took into consideration Rep. Paul’s second place finish, but continued to argue that Rep. Paul had “as much of a chance as RuPaul” of getting the nomination.

Fox News’s Bret Baier reported that this morning Ron Paul was chased out of a campaign event in New Hampshire by an aggressive mob of reporters and TV producers, who poked and prodded the candidate with boom mics and cameras. Among the chaos, Baier was the only one able to ask the Congressman a question, “You are skipping Florida and you’re going to these other states and folks are saying, well, are you really competing for the nomination?”

The results of the Iowa caucus are still not entirely decided yet, and as the numbers rolled in, one thing was for certain– Rep. Ron Paul would come in at a solid third place. And as Sarah Palin was asked to assess the incredible rise in support for Rick Santorum over the past week, she gave her party a warning about a different candidate: “the GOP had better not marginalize Ron Paul.”

On Sunday, The New York Times ran a profile of Eric Holder in which the attorney general responded to criticism leveled against him and President Obama. Holder told the Times that one of the reasons conservative critics were going after them was due to “the fact that we’re both African-American.” On Fox News today, Charles Krauthammer criticized Holder for not only being an “incompetent” Attorney General with a controversial track record, but for playing the race card so “cowardly” in the interview.

On Tuesday night’s Special Report with Bret Baier, conservative columnist Charles Krauthammer conceded that President Obama had the upper hand in the payroll tax cut extension political battle. “The Republicans have been entirely outplayed,” Krauthammer admitted.

In preparation for the Fox News Republican Debate tonight, Megyn Kelly sat down with Bret Baier, Chris Wallace, and Neil Cavuto to preview what viewers should expect (Kelly, Cavuto, and Wallace are moderating, with Wallace hosting). Noting the seating arrangement — with Kelly on one side facing the three men — the four decided to play off a Dating Game theme, throwing in jokes alongside the serious analysis.

Great news to report tonight: Fox News’ Bret Baier shared, via Twitter, that his son Paul is doing well following his fifth angioplasty. He Tweeted a picture of Paul happily playing with a teddy bear at the hospital before his procedure, as well as two of the little boy enjoying a cartoon movie and a [...]

In a strange twist that, given the way the 2012 Republican campaign cycle has gone, isn’t quite all that surprising, Donald Trump seems to have taken over the news cycle yet again, going from Republican primary frontrunner to Republican debate moderator and prompting a backlash from Republican figures who consider nominating their presidential pick a serious responsibility. Not to be left behind today, Charles Krauthammer weighed in on this issue, with a short and sweet declaration that the debate was, in fact, a “joke.”

A lot has already been said about Bret Baier‘s recent interview with GOP Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney and it’s somewhat contentious tone, but Stephen Colbert had something new to add during last night’s episode of The Colbert Report. Baier’s “testy” interview style was in stark contrast to the chummy chat he shared with then outgoing President George W. Bush back in 2008, revealing perhaps that Baier’s confrontational questions is not consistent applied to all of his subjects.

Thursday, The Daily Show‘s Jon Stewart shared the secret of why it is that Mitt Romney doesn’t seem to give nearly as many one-on-one television interviews as his GOP rivals. The man is clearly undertaking The Marilyn Munster Strategy! “Romney appears only in debates,” Stewart explained, “surrounded by Munsters, aka the other Republican presidential candidates. And instantly, voters think, ‘Hey, the pretty one seems normal.’”

Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney‘s less-than-stellar interview with a persistent Bret Baier continues to provide fodder for the candidate’s opponents. While former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman‘s Fox-fueled attack focused on fact-checking Romney, the DNC’s new web video is pegged to the candidate’s clear exasperation at Baier’s tough questioning, making the case that this is a running theme for Romney.

One of the lesser-noticed,  but perhaps most telling, moments during Mitt Romney‘s interview with Fox News’ Bret Baier Tuesday night came toward the end, at the start of Baier’s “lightning round.”

Asked what book he’s read most recently, Romney said, “I’m reading sort of a fun one right now, so I’ll skip that,” adding, “I just read ‘Decision Points’ by President Bush.”

In the competition for the GOP’s Best in Show, the junkyard dogs are barking. Yesterday, Rep. Ron Paul released a brutal attack ad against national polling leader Newt Gingrich, and this morning, former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman put out a web spot that takes apart New Hampshire frontrunner Mitt Romney‘s interview with “overly aggressive” Fox News anchor Bret Baier.

On Wednesday night, Factor host Bill O’Reilly invited his colleague Bret Baier on to discuss Baier’s recent interview with GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney. “Why are you asking this cat the same questions he’s been asked 800 times?” O’Reilly asked, basically.

There were quite a few tense moments during Bret Baier‘s great Fox News interview with former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney Tuesday night, especially when the subject turned to the individual health insurance mandate that Romney signed into law as Governor, but which he now opposes at a national level. When Baier pressed Romney, the cracks showed a little bit, as the candidate said, with an exasperated laugh, “This is a very unusual interview.”

Fox News’ Bret Baier conducted a great interview with former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney Tuesday night, challenging the candidate to answer a number of harsh criticisms that have been leveled at him. Romney was back on his heels for much of the interview, but never more than when Baier tried to get him to explain how his position on immigration differed from the one he attacked Newt Gingrich for.

Rick Perry made a bold policy proclamation Monday night on Special Report with Bret Baier, declaring he supports a no-fly zone in Syria without approval from the United Nations. “Would you do what we did in Libya, which is to institute a no-fly zone over Syria?” columnist Charles Krauthammer asked the Texas Governor. “If you were president today, would you advocate that we do that in Syria?” “Absolutely,” Perry exclaimed. “Absolutely.”

Herman Cain‘s uncomfortable Libya gaffe is certainly not doing much to elevate Charles Krauthammer‘s confidence in him. Krauthammer, who had already told host Bret Baier previously that he had a feeling Cain was “winging it,” repeated his suspicions tonight, adding that he didn’t understand “what there was that required almost a minute of thought gathering” in the question that stumped him.

On Monday’s Special Report With Bret Baier, Fox News senior political analyst Brit Hume thought Herman Cain‘s political days were numbered with the latest revelation coming out and an accuser speaking out publicly. “I didn’t think he could survive the other allegations,” Hume expounded. “Although I have misgivings about how they came about and the whole case, I think now it’s almost impossible.”

Mark Block, the chief of staff for Herman Cain‘s campaign, appeared on Fox New Wednesday evening to drop a pretty serious whammy of an allegation: Cain’s campaign, it would appear, believes Rick Perry and his campaign people have been “stirring up” the sexual harassment accusations against Cain that have recently come under the media spotlight, kicking off with a report in Politico.

When MSNBC decided to move Lawrence O’Donnell to 10 p.m. and put Ed Schultz in his time slot, they had to be hoping for better results than a third-place finish at 8 p.m., especially on his debut night. But Schultz’s first appearance at 8:00 was merely the side story to Nancy Grace‘s second-place finish in [...]