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Anchored by Jake Tapper, The Lead airs at 4 p.m. ET on CNN.
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national lead
Race for the White House to begin in 2015
(CNN) – 2015 marks the unofficial start of the race for the White House.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry unsuccessfully ran in 2012. Can he shake off the missteps from a few years ago and recast himself to the American people? Meanwhile, Jeb Bush appears poised to run, releasing e-mails from his eight years as Florida governor. Will he have problems with the conservative base of the Republican Party?
CNN political commentator and Democratic strategist Maria Cardona and CNS News' Terry Jeffrey tackle those questions and more in the video above.
politics lead
Rick Perry on possible 2016 run: 'I will be prepared'
Austin, Texas (CNN) – Standing in the governor's mansion here, Rick Perry is eager to give us a tour, and a history lesson.
From how a nick got into the banister (a predecessor put nails in to stop his daughter from sliding down), to why Sam Houston crumpled up a telegram from Abraham Lincoln and threw it in the living room fireplace (he was too old to fight alongside Union troops).
This is not the Rick Perry the country saw during his ill-fated, at times embarrassing, 2012 presidential campaign. And that's the point.
He is about to step down as Texas governor after 14 years, the longest serving in Lone Star state history, and is trying to reintroduce himself as competent and charismatic as he test drives his message for a probable second White House run.
FULL POST
buried lead
One boy's inspirational gesture
(CNN) – It was one of the feel good moments of 2014
12-year-old Ryan Gans, got a foul ball at Boston's famed Fenway Park, and handed it to a little girl he had never met.
"He gives her the baseball, I mean look at her face!" an announcer told the crowd.
The veteran Red Sox announcers were so astonished by the boy's generosity they sent a reporter to the stands for an interview, and to replace the ball.
FULL POST
politics lead
Liberal and conservative backlash throws spending bill in doubt
Washington (CNN) - With just hours left to pass a spending bill that would avoid a government shutdown, a $1.1 trillion compromise deal in the House appears to be in trouble.
Usually the fight is between House Republicans and Senate Democrats. But this battle is different.
In fact, things got so weird Thursday, a Senate Democrat made a passionate appeal to tea party Republicans to reject the bill.
A compromise bill will never make members of both parties happy, but what is it about this one that is causing so much backlash?
CNN's Dana Bash reports.
politics lead
Republicans dispute Democrats on torture report
An already polarized Congress responded to today's release of the contentious CIA report with Republicans disputing what Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein called "a stain on America's values and history."
CNN's Dana Bash reports from Capitol Hill.
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