Newt Gingrich stopped short of calling Mitt Romney a coward for not agreeing to a one-on-one, unmoderated debate today during his talk with Wolf Blitzer. Responding to Romney joking that Gingrich’s Virginia ballot gaffe was more “Lucille Ball at the chocolate factory” than Pearl Harbor, he demanded one-on-one time with the candidate. “Be man enough to own it,” he challenged.

On Friday morning, President Obama delivered another press conference in the Brady Briefing Room to talk about the contentious negotiations over raising the debt limit. Presidential pressers in the briefing room offer a completely different dynamic from a more formal East Room press conference. They’re more crowded, with a looser, on-our-turf atmosphere. Here’s a glimpse of some of what you didn’t see on TV.

This much we know is true: a little while ago, a private meeting between President Obama and Congressional leaders regarding the budget battle ended. Beyond that, the hearsay is flying fast and loose, as Rep. Eric Cantor tells Politico that the President lectured him on Ronald Reagan, told him “don’t call my bluff,” and “abruptly” left the meeting. Meanwhile, Democratic sources claim the President left when the meeting was over and “lit up” Rep. Cantor so badly “if the public saw, Obama would win in a landslide.”

In response to President Barack Obama‘s speech today, Republican presidential candidate Rep. Ron Paul visited John King USA today and gave host Jessica Yellin his response, and he was not happy with the way the executive is conducting business abroad and the increasing national debt. Rep. Paul decried the President’s “fear tactics” used to keep American forces in Libya and took offense at claims that Republicans “don’t think [the debt issue] is serious.”

At a wide-ranging press conference Wednesday afternoon, President Obama looked to jawbone Congress (particularly Republicans) into acting on deficit reduction measures, and raising the debt limit to avoid a historic US government default. The President bristled at the suggestion that he hasn’t led enough, and used his 10 and 13 year-old daughters’ homework habits to illustrate the folly of Congress pushing the debt ceiling agreement closer and closer to the Aug. 2 “hard deadline.”

CNN has named Jessica Yellin its new chief White House correspondent, replacing Ed Henry. A CNN insider tells Mediaite Yellin has been the network’s choice since Spring. Yellin had been serving as the network’s national political correspondent and as a fill-in anchor on programs like Situation Room. In her new role she will lead the network’s political coverage from the White House as President Obama seeks a second term in office. Yellin begins her new role today.

The man behind some of CNN’s most noteworthy innovations, including the “magic wall” that John King used to great effect during election coverage has been promoted to “chief innovation officer” at the network. David Bohrman, who has been CNN’s Washington bureau chief and head of special events, will assume his new role in May. Known inside CNN as a master of new technology–like the wall and the Jessica Yellin “hologram liveshot”–Bohrman will be tasked with bringing innovation and new technology to all of CNN’s platforms.

CNN’s Jessica Yellin reports former House Speaker Newt Gingrich has told former staffers and supporters he is “leaning toward a yes” on a presidential run in 2012.

Gingrich, speaking on a conference call, indicated he “hopes to announce a presidential bid in late May at noon in front of Philadelphia’s Independence Hall,” Yellin reports. Gingrich asked for help building a national audience for the campaign kickoff via local media and social media. How serious is he “leaning?” Yellin says he’s “leaning heavily:”

It was only released yesterday, but Sarah Palin‘s “Mama Grizzlies” ad can already count one convert to the Palin Revolution: CNN’s Rick Sanchez, whose starry, flabbergasted awe at the video this afternoon sounded more like a recreation of “Double-Rainbow Guy” than a political analysis. That’s because the ad didn’t quite convert Sanchez to conservatism– he didn’t even seem to notice the political content of the ad. But have you seen the lighting?

Florida Democratic Congressman Alan Grayson is mired in controversy yet again, this time facing the bizarre accusation that he is manipulating the Tea Party to split the Republican vote. Confronted by the question on today’s John King USA, Grayson first accused host Jessica Yellin of getting her facts wrong, then declared that Sarah Palin was a puppet under his control.

Earlier today CNN reporter Jessica Yellin reminded host Rick Sanchez of the “Drill Baby Drill” crowd, in the context of the current Gulf Coast oil spill that is currently unfolding, specifically citing former VP candidate Sarah Palin. Since then, Palin has responded on her Facebook page with a post entitled Domestic Drilling: Why We Can Still Believe.

Wolf Blitzer made a stunning revelation to the nation last night when he revealed that he knew what marijuana smelled like. In what at first seemed to be playful banter between Blitzer, Jessica Yellin, and Lou Dobbs, Blitzer dropped the bombshell that he would “know what [marijuana] would smell like.”

What impact will this have on Blitzer’s reputation? Lou Dobbs? What about CNN itself, and even the future of the Republic?