Jim Messina, 2/6/12

Obama for America Campaign Manager

The campaign has decided to do what we can, consistent with the law, to support Priorities USA in its effort to counter the weight of the GOP Super PAC.

Mohamed A. El-Erian, 2/6/12

CEO and co-CIO, PIMCO

What some adults erroneously view as "just noise," many others see as legitimate and much-needed catalysts for raising awareness, fueling national debate and influencing better outcomes.

Bill Moyers and Michael Winship, 2/6/12

And now, a word about a good American being demonized, despite being long dead. Saul Alinsky is not around to defend himself, but that hasn't kept Newt Gingrich from using his name to whip up the froth and frenzy of his followers.

Robert Reich, 2/6/12

Chancellor's Professor of Public Policy, University of California at Berkeley; Author, 'Aftershock'

Mitt Romney says he's not concerned about the very poor because they have safety nets to protect them. He says he's concerned about the middle class. Romney doesn't seem to realize how much of the middle class is becoming poor.

Keli Goff, 2/6/12

Author, Commentator and Contributing Editor, TheLoop21.com

It's been a whirlwind week for the Susan G. Komen Foundation, Planned Parenthood and any woman or man who cares about both organizations. Regardless of where you stand on the issue, there are lessons all of us who care about women's health and social change can glean from this saga.

Dean Baker, 2/6/12

Co-Director of CEPR; Author, 'The End of Loser Liberalism: Making Markets Progressive'

If the deficit hawks really cared about our children's well being, they would be talking not just about deficits, but all the issues that affect the health of the economy and society that we will pass on to future generations.

Valerie Jarrett, 2/6/12

Senior Advisor and Assistant to the President for Intergovernmental Affairs and Public Engagement

Right now, if you're a woman in the workforce, it can be surprisingly difficult to answer basic questions about equal pay: what's the typical salary for someone in your position? Should you be asking for more at the negotiating table? What are your fundamental legal rights?

Danielle Crittenden, 2/6/12

Managing Editor, Blogs, The Huffington Post Canada

I know many women found Madonna's performance "empowering"-- but I'm not sure what that's supposed to mean. It's empowering that a 53-year-old woman can stay fit, pull on thigh-high boots, and prance around a stage dry humping gay dancers?

Jenna Weissman Joselit, 2/6/12

Charles E. Smith Chair in Judaic Studies & Professor of History, George Washington University

As both a rallying cry and as a point of departure, Jewish culture, to paraphrase Claude Levi Strauss, is good to think with.

K. Sudhir, 2/6/12

Fellow, Yale Center for Customer Insights

The more a firm can flatten this hump, the more it will profit from customers who do not bleed the firm. So the question stands: when should a firm fire a customer?

Mike Lux, 2/6/12

Co-founder and CEO, Progressive Strategies

Not in everything, but definitely in this, the founders were right. The financial industry got too powerful, and they assumed and operated as if they were above the law. And the rest of us paid a huge price, and are paying it still.

Amanda Crumley, 2/6/12

Founder, Crumley Communications & Public Strategies

Advances in the diagnosis of breast cancer through ultrasound, mammography and breast MRI have helped reduce mortality rates by 25 percent, according to the American Cancer Society. But not for the poor.

Chris Weigant, 2/6/12

Political Writer and Blogger at ChrisWeigant.com

While most of the attention so far has been focused on the "out of touch" nature of Mitt's "very poor" choice of words, the real damage to Mitt as a Republican candidate stems from how he attempted to explain what he really meant.

Lee Woodruff, 2/6/12

Co-Author, 'In an Instant'

For any of you who have struggled to realize a dream or long held the notion that there is a finite time line for what you want to accomplish, hang on a tick. I am here to say that anything, really, is possible.

Robert Kuttner, 2/5/12

Co-founder and co-editor, 'The American Prospect'

If the mortgage settlement turns out to be the final installment of relief for homeowners, it will be a colossal failure, both as economics and as justice.

Scott Mendelson, 2/6/12

Film Critic at Mendelson's Memos, Valley Scene Magazine

Chronicle and The Woman In Black are both low-budget over/under $15 million releases that are somewhat abnormal in terms of what's considered a mainstream release, both were exceedingly well-marketed and both are unqualified hits after their first three days.

Matthew Dowd, 2/6/12

Political strategist

It is a long way to Election Day, and many things can happen in the next 10 months, but it seems to me that Romney is snake-bit, and the curse that held sway over the Red Sox now is casting a dark shadow over another Massachusetts team.

Sabina Murray, 2/6/12

Author, The Caprices

Literary novels like The Marriage Plot and Freedom that reach a broad a readership are rare cultural opportunities to create dialogue about the societies represented within, the people represented within, and the women represented within.

Evelyn Leopold, 2/5/12

Journalist reporting from the United Nations

"How many more dead and maimed will it take to finally force this Council into action?"

Michael Smerconish, 2/6/12

Radio host

Nike co-founder and chairman Phil Knight told a crowd of several thousand at the Bryce Jordan Center in late January that Joe Paterno suffered for his actions. No, sir, it was for his inactions.

Geoffrey R. Stone, 2/5/12

Edward H. Levi Distinguished Service Professor of Law, University of Chicago

If the critics of Citizens United want to be taken seriously, they must move beyond superficial slogans and focus on the real issue at stake: When should the government be allowed to regulate political contributions and expenditures -- even if they are speech?

Marianne Schnall, 2/6/12

Writer/Interviewer

Child marriage is one of the most shocking and disturbing practices facing girls around the world today. Every year, ten million girls are forcibly married before the age of eighteen, many as young as twelve or thirteen-years-old.

Dennis Santiago, 2/6/12

CEO of Institutional Risk Analytics

Simply put, with zero interest rates pushing operating margins down to nothing, the only thing starving bankers have left to do to survive the drought is cannibalize the industry.

Erin Ruberry, 2/6/12

Deputy blog editor, The Huffington Post

Last night, rather than watch grown men chase each other, I went to the Kennedy Center's La Cage Aux Folles to watch grown men do flips, splits and kicks while wearing four-inch heels.