Some Friday fish-and-chips:

* Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes buys New Republic at ripe old age of 28 (mag is 95 years old).

* Raz poll of Alabama, which holds primary next Tuesday, shows Gingrich at 30%, Santorum at 29%, Romney at 28%.

* Chris Christie gets in shouting match with Navy SEAL vet, calls him “idiot.” His act is really getting old.

* Update on latest in Koch-Crane struggle for control of Cato Institute.

* Alex Koppelman won’t miss Dennis Kucinich.

And in quasi-political news:

* Cast of Game Change defends HBO flick’s depiction of Palin.

Back by 2:00 EST.

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Ed Kilgore is a political columnist for New York and managing editor at the Democratic Strategist website. He was a contributing writer at the Washington Monthly from January 2012 until November 2015, and was the principal contributor to the Political Animal blog.