Maybe she'd make an appearance here and there.

She says it's gotten far crazier than she ever thought it would.

And now the teenager who became the first African-American gymnast to claim gymnastics' biggest prize the all-around Olympic title has a new honor. She is The Associated Press' 2012 female athlete of the year, edging out swimmer Missy Franklin in a vote by U.S. editors and news directors.

She is the fourth gymnast to win the award, and first since Mary Lou Retton in 1984.

___

AP Projects Editor Brooke Lansdale contributed to this report.

To understand online metrics, its imperative to know how a web site behaves; and not just weekly, monthly, or seasonally. A successful onlinemarketing campaign takes into consideration how new content impacts data spikes or dips, said Nadia Iaboni, Digital Solutions Manager at Numero Uno Web Solutions.

Adding, I think too much has been made out of simply looking at social-media metrics. Looking at metrics for page views, unique visitors, Facebook, YouTube, and tweets may be interesting, but a better metric to consider is how many products get sold as a result of those purchase channels. If a marketing campaign fails to generate sales, then it doesnt really matter how many Facebook likes you get.

Numero Uno Web Solutions expert staff has found the four metrics that point to the health of an online company are: relevant revenueor recurring sales; sales volumeunits sold or active subscriptions; customer retentionnew customer metrics are irrelevant if they dont return; and relevant growthhow the actions of existing customers generate new customers.

A successful SEO marketing campaign means having an exhaustive understanding of the business first. It doesnt mean investing valuable time and resources in a social media blitz, hoping to attract sales. SEO metrics are only important if they lead to sales. The most useful and valuable metrics are those that measure the success of a small and medium-sized businessand point where to go next, Iaboni observed.

The most important metrics also improve focus and accuracy, and enhance customer interaction. Numero Uno Web Solutions zeroes in on those relevant metrics that help customers reach their goals. Then, we design a marketing campaign to reflect that, she concluded.

To learn more about Numero Uno Web Solutions, visit the companys web site at .

Numero Uno Web Solutions is one of the top Internet marketing firms, due to constant innovation and overall customer satisfaction. For more information on Numero Uno Web Solutions, and to discover how the company can help maximize your companys search engine optimization and online presence, visit . Or, call Numero Uno Web Solutions toll free at 1-855-SEO-XPRT (1-855-736-9778).

Adrian NewmanLombardi Publishing905-806-2022

The two sides hurled rocks and stones at each other in the Mediterranean port city, prompting police to fire tear gas to separate them. Volleys of tear gas containers fell into the sea as security forces cordoned off the crowds to prevent further clashes between the Muslim Brotherhood members and ultraconservative Salafis on one side, and groups of young protesters on the other.

It was not immediately clear who started the fight, which added to the already tense political crisis over the draft charter.

The Islamists had called for a massive rally Friday outside the Qaed Ibrahim main mosque in the heart of Alexandria. About 20 political parties had issued a joint statement, saying they would not hold a rival rally in the city to avoid clashes.

Security forces cordoned off streets leading to the mosque as throngs of mostly long-bearded Salafi Islamists gathered for what they called "the million-man rally to defend clerics and mosques." Islamists chanted "God is Great," and warned opponents, "with blood and soul, we redeem Islam."

The rally was called in response to last week's violence, when a well-known Alexandria preacher and ultraconservative Salafi cleric, Sheik Ahmed el-Mahalawi, was trapped inside a mosque for 12 hours while his supporters battled rock-throwing opponents outside with swords and firebombs.

El-Mahalawi, 87, stirred anger with a sermon last Friday in which he denounced opponents of the Islamist-friendly draft charter as "followers of heretics" something he denied in a sermon on Friday, accusing media instead of spreading "lies."

He claimed that last week's clashes were meant to prevent the voting from taking place.

"The real goal here is for the referendum not to take place," he said Friday, adding that his backers had been ready with "teams of people equipped with all facilities to end the siege on the mosque" but he held them back because Salafis "don't want to shed blood."

The referendum on the constitution is to be completed Saturday with voting in the remaining 17 of Egypt's 27 provinces. The first round was held in 10 provinces last Saturday, including in Egypt's biggest cities, Cairo and Alexandria.

Rights groups and opposition filed complaints of vote violations after last week's voting. Turnout was low, around 32 percent, and unofficial results showed the Islamists' "yes" vote getting 56 percent of the ballots.

Controversy over the new constitution has in the past month plunged Egypt into political turmoil unprecedented since the February 2011 ouster of Hosni Mubarak, the longtime authoritarian and secular-minded ruler.

The draft has split the country into two camps. On one side are the Islamists from the country's most organized group, The Muslim Brotherhood, from which President Mohammed Morsi hails, and their backers from various ultraconservative Salafi and former Jihadist groups.

The other camp is the opposition, led by the National Salvation Front. It's an alliance of liberal parties and youth groups that is backed by Christians and moderate Muslims who fear Brotherhood's attempts to monopolize power by passing a constitution that enshrines a greater role for clerics and Islamic Shariah law.

Hundreds of thousands of Egyptians from the two camps have taken to the streets and city centers over the past month to rally for their side. The crisis peaked when the two camps clashed as Brotherhood supporters attacked an opposition sit-in outside the presidential palace in Cairo on Dec. 5. The violence left at least 10 dead and hundreds of injured on both sides.

The crisis was compounded by Morsi's decision to rush the draft constitution to a referendum after an Islamist-dominated panel approved it, as well as his move last month to grant himself near-absolute powers, which were later rescinded.

The moves have also split state institutions. The judiciary became another battleground, with the powerful Judges' Club calling on its members to boycott the vote while Brotherhood sympathizers in the legal system and other independents insisted on supervising the vote.

Egyptian prosecutors held a sit-in protest to press Morsi-appointed prosecutor general Talaat Abdullah to resign on Monday. Abdullah resigned, then retracted his resignation on Thursday, raising the prospect of new protests by fellow prosecutors.

Also, Zaghloul el-Balshi, the secretary general of the election committee who is also a judge and an aid to the country's justice minister, resigned Wednesday, citing health reasons. The media said his resignation was prompted by his inability to prevent vote violations in the first leg of the referendum.

Founded in 2011, ReferralBuzz gives consumers a free, easy way to find great service providers - including providers whove earned recommendations from social media, neighbors, and friends. ReferralBuzz also gives home remodeling experts the tools they need to market their services and increase referrals using the power of social media.

With unique info on areas people want to live that cant be found anywhere else, Trulia provides the inside scoop on properties, places, and real estate professionals. Prospective home buyers, sellers, and renters can learn about agents, neighborhoods, schools, crime, commute times, and even ask the local community questions. Meanwhile, real estate professionals use Trulia to connect with millions of transaction-ready buyers and sellers each month via Trulias hyper-local advertising services, social recommendations, and top-rated mobile real estate apps.

"The partnership with Trulia will provide a huge benefit to our customers through greater exposure, says ReferralBuzz Founder Lisa Schneegans. We will be able to feed information onto the "find a pro" section of Trulia's website from the ReferralBuzz website and provide the inside scoop to homeowners, buyers and sellers on local home improvement service providers."

For ReferralBuzz Service Providers, the partnership with Trulia means:

How It Works for Homeowners

To get started, homeowners simply sign on at . Homeowners can view exclusive deals, request estimates and get ideas for their own projects from other customers pictures and feedback. Homeowners can sign in through Facebook and see which providers their Friends have used and recommend.

How It Works For Service Providers

ReferralBuzz provides a set of very easy to use tools for service providers to help them enhance their business. Automated tools include:

To learn more about ReferralBuzz, go to: .

For interview opportunities or media inquiries, call Katie Welch-Peterson at 612-720-9374.

To learn more about Trulia, visit: .

Lisa SchneegansReferralBuzz952-500-9878

Even most people who say they don't trust scientists on the environment say temperatures are rising.

The poll found 4 out of every 5 Americans said climate change will be a serious problem for the United States if nothing is done about it. That's up from 73 percent when the same question was asked in 2009.

And 57 percent of Americans say the U.S. government should do a great deal or quite a bit about the problem. That's up from 52 percent in 2009.Only 22 percent of those surveyed think little or nothing should be done, a figure that dropped from 25 percent.

Overall, 78 percent of those surveyed said they believe temperatures are rising, up from 75 percent three years earlier. In general, U.S. belief in global warming, according to AP-GfK and other polls, has fluctuated over the years but has stayed between about 70 and 85 percent.

The biggest change in the polling is among people who trust scientists only a little or not at all. About 1 in 3 of the people surveyed fell into that category.

Within that highly skeptical group, 61 percent now say temperatures have been rising over the past 100 years. That's a substantial increase from 2009, when the AP-GfK poll found that only 47 percent of those with little or no trust in scientists believed the world was getting warmer.

This is an important development because, often in the past, opinion about climate change doesn't move much in core groups like those who deny it exists and those who firmly believe it's an alarming problem, said Jon Krosnick, a Stanford University social psychologist and pollster. Krosnick, who consulted with The Associated Press on the poll questions, said the changes the poll shows aren't in the hard-core "anti-warming" deniers, but in the next group, who had serious doubts.

"They don't believe what the scientists say, they believe what the thermometers say," Krosnick said. "Events are helping these people see what scientists thought they had been seeing all along."

Phil Adams, a retired freelance photographer from Washington, N.C., said he was "fairly cynical" about scientists and their theories. But he believes very much in climate change because of what he's seen with his own eyes.

"Having lived for 67 years, we consistently see more and more changes based upon the fact that the weather is warmer," he said. "The seasons are more severe. The climate is definitely getting warmer."

"Storms seem to be more severe," he added. Nearly half, 49 percent, of those surveyed called global warming not just serious but "very serious," up from 42 percent in 2009. More than half, 57 percent, of those surveyed thought the U.S. government should do a great deal or quite a bit about global warming, up from 52 percent three years earlier.

But only 45 percent of those surveyed think President Barack Obama will take major action to fight climate change in his second term, slightly more than the 41 percent who don't think he will act.

Overall, the 78 percent who think temperatures are rising is not the highest percentage of Americans who have believed in climate change, according to AP polling. In 2006, less than a year after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, 85 percent thought temperatures were rising. The lowest point in the past 15 years for belief in warming was in December 2009, after some snowy winters and in the middle of an uproar about climate scientists' emails that later independent investigations found showed no manipulation of data.

Broken down by political party, 83 percent of Democrats and 70 percent of Republicans say the world is getting warmer. And 77 percent of independents say temperatures are rising. Among scientists who write about the issue in peer-reviewed literature, the belief in global warming is about 97 percent, according to a 2010 scientific study.

About 1 in 4 people surveyed think that efforts to curb global warming would hurt the American economy, a figure down slightly from 27 percent in 2009 when the economy was in worse shape. Just under half, 46 percent, think such action would help the U.S. economy, about the same as said so three years ago.

The AP-GfK poll was conducted Nov. 29-Dec. 3 by GfK Roper Public Affairs and Corporate Communications. It involved landline and cellphone interviews with 1,002 adults nationwide. Results for the full sample have a margin of error of plus or minus 3.9 percentage points; the margin of error is larger for subgroups.

The latest AP-GfK poll jibes with other surveys and more in-depth research on global warming, said Anthony Leiserowitz, director of Yale University's Project on Climate Change Communication. He took no part in the poll.

When climate change belief was at its lowest, concerns about the economy were heightened and the country had gone through some incredible snowstorms and that may have chipped away at some belief in global warming, Leiserowitz said. Now the economy is better and the weather is warmer and worse in ways that seem easier to connect to climate change, he said.

"One extreme event after another after another," Leiserowitz said. "People have noticed. ... They're connecting the dots between climate change and this long bout of extreme weather themselves."

Thomas Coffey, 77, of Houston, said you can't help but notice it.

"We use to have mild temperatures in the fall going into winter months. Now, we have summer temperatures going into winter," Coffey said. "The whole Earth is getting warmer and when it gets warmer, the ice cap is going to melt and the ocean is going to rise."

He also said that's what he thinks is causing recent extreme weather.

"That's why you see New York and New Jersey," he said, referring to Superstorm Sandy and its devastation in late October. "When you have a flood like that, flooding tunnels like that. And look at how long the tunnel has been there."

___

Associated Press Director of Polling Jennifer Agiesta, News Survey Specialist Dennis Junius and writer Stacy A. Anderson contributed to this report.

___

Online:

The poll: http://www.ap-gfkpoll.com

___

Seth Borenstein can be followed at http://twitter.com/borenbears

House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner's "Plan B" to limit income-tax increases to the wealthiest sliver of the population appeared likely to pass the House on Thursday evening after it narrowly cleared a procedural hurdle in the afternoon.

However, Obama has vowed to veto the plan, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said he will not bring it up for a vote in the Democratic-controlled chamber. White House spokesman Jay Carney called it a "multi-day exercise in futility."

Still, passage of Plan B could give Boehner the political cover he needs to strike a deal that would break with decades of Republican anti-tax orthodoxy.

"Time's running short. I'm going to do everything I can to protect as many Americans from an increase in taxes as I can," Boehner told a news conference.

Though it does not raise taxes on as many affluent Americans as Obama wants, the bill would put Republicans on record as supporting a tax increase on those who earn more than $1 million per year - a position the party opposed only weeks ago.

That could make it easier eventually to split the difference with Obama, who wants to lower the threshold to households that earn more than $400,000 annually. Obama also faces resistance on his left flank from liberals who oppose cuts to popular benefit programs, which Republicans say must be part of any deal.

Obama and Boehner will need to engage in more political theater to get lawmakers in both parties to sign on to the painful concessions that will have to be part of any deal to avert the cliff and rein in the national debt, analysts say.

"They are now in the mode where they have to demonstrate how hard they're trying to get everything they can," said Joe Minarik, a former Democratic budget official now with the Committee For Economic Development, a centrist think tank.

Even as he pressured Obama and the Democratic Senate to approve his plan, Boehner indicated that he was not willing to walk away from the bargaining table.

"The country faces challenges, and the president and I, in our respective roles, have a responsibility to work together to get them a result," Boehner said.

TIME RUNNING OUT

Obama and Boehner aim to reach a deal before the end of the year, when taxes will automatically rise for nearly all Americans and the government will have to scale back spending on domestic and military programs. The $600 billion hit to the economy could push the U.S. economy into recession, economists say.

Investors so far have assumed the two sides will reach a deal, but concerns over the fiscal cliff have weighed on markets in recent weeks. The S&P 500 index of U.S. stocks was up 0.4 percent in Thursday trading, despite a round of strong data on economic growth and housing.

"The closer we get to the end of the year without a deal, the more optimism is going to evaporate," said Todd Schoenberger, managing partner at LandColt Capital in New York.

Shares crept up after Boehner said he was prepared to work with Obama to prevent the fiscal cliff from kicking in.

Lawmakers are eager to wrap up their work and return home for the Christmas holiday, but congressional leaders kept the door open for last-minute action.

The Senate was expected to leave town on Thursday or Friday, but Reid said it could return next week to vote on any deal.

Boehner indicated the House would stay in session after Thursday's vote, scheduled for 7:45 p.m. EST (0045 GMT on Friday).

Several influential conservative groups have condemned Plan B, and some Republicans are expected to vote against it. But passage appeared likely after the House narrowly voted by 219 to 197 to bring the bill to the floor for debate.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, an influential business group that has often tangled with the Obama administration, offered grudging support.

"We are not comfortable allowing tax increases on anyone in this environment. However, we understand that, at times, politics requires compromise," the Chamber's top lobbyist, Bruce Josten, wrote in a letter to lawmakers.

To placate conservatives, Boehner also scheduled a vote on legislation that would shift $55 billion in scheduled defense cuts to cuts in food and health benefits for the poor and other domestic programs.

That measure also would roll back some of the Dodd-Frank financial regulation reforms of 2010. It is not expected to become law.

(Additional reporting by Kim Dixon, Alistair Bell, David Lawder, Steve Holland, Matt Spetalnick, Thomas Ferraro, Andy Sullivan and Angela Moon Writing by Andy Sullivan; Editing by David Brunnstrom)

RELATED:

All right, here's some civilized TV news to wash out the taste of all that tree bark and human blood. Margo Martindale, longtime actress turned Emmy-winning Justified superstar, has been cast in a long arc on FX's upcoming Cold War thriller The Americans. That's the one with Keri Russell and some dude pretending to be normal Joe and Jane Americano in New Jersey, when they're secretly super-embedded Soviet spies. The show looks promising, and now Margo Martindale is going to be on it, which makes it a near-about must watch. She'll be playing "a KGB illegal living in the U.S. who delivers assignments." Which is intriguing! She's good when she's got a little villainy to play. Well done, Americans! Which, sigh, is likely the last time we'll be saying that today. []

RELATED:

Speaking of terrible America, HBO is planning a sequel to its award-winning movie about the 2008 presidential campaign Game Change, presumably based on the 2012 election followup to the Game Change book . So it's not exactly a sequel, in that it won't include a lot of the same characters, but it's a continuation of the theme and style, I guess. Like, presumably Julianne Moore won't be back playing Sarah Palin, unless there's one weird single scene of Sarah Palin wandering around Wasilla while , looking at things and half-smiling in the cold, thin sun. Actually, can there be that scene? I'll direct the second unit if you guys don't want to go out to Alaska. As for the actual main characters, who should play Mitt Romney? Richard Jenkins maybe? If they fancied him up a bit? Could work. And, oh boy... What about Ann?? That's going to be the exciting role. Let's Mary Kay Place. And Paul Ryan... What about Paul Ryan... Oh, duh. Jason Schwartzman. Done. It's practically a wrap. Cut, print. []

RELATED:

Normally we don't cover music in this here column, because what is music these days, really, but this feels like worth noting: Bruno Mars currently has the number-one single in America, that annoying "Locked Out of Heaven" ditty, which is his fourth number-one song. That gives him "the fastest collection of a male artist's first four No. 1s in exactly 48 years." Forty-eight years! Meaning, longer than Paul Ryan has been alive. Sure that's kind of a weird, busy statistic, like best opening for a non-holiday R-rated comedy in the end of March, but still. Bruno Mars, setting big records. I didn't know that many people even knew who Bruno Mars was! Apparently they do, though. Apparently you've all been listening to Bruno Mars while over here the old Annie Lennox CD plays again and again and no one says a thing. Thanks a lot, guys. Leaving a friend out in the cold like that. What else aren't you telling me? Is Jennifer Paige still making music? Well? Is she?? []

RELATED:

This is the time of year for lists best things, worst things, great things, sad things but only one list truly matters. We didn't even know it mattered until we saw it, but then, suddenly, there it was, a new knowledge, a new list at the top of the Best List list. It's "Best and Worst Nudity of 2012," and it must be savored and cherished. If only for the bizarre phrase "Worst Nudity." Yikes. How would you like to wind up in the "Worst Nudity" category? You basically got naked for nothing. And not only did your nakedness serve no purpose, it was some of the worst nakedness of the whole year. It took away from the world, your nakedness. You were really bad at being naked this year. Just really terrible. So you get Worst Nudity, while some others get Best. Your nudity was bad, theirs was good. That's just how the world worked this year. Awful nudity, you. You were really, really bad at being naked this year. []

RELATED:

CBS has released a new trailer for its midseason drama Golden Boy and it looks kinda good? The show is about a young New York cop who rises to the ranks of police commissioner remarkably quickly, possibly through dirty/morally questionable means. It looks to be set in the future with flashbacks to the past/our present, which is sometimes interesting. It stars , which ain't a problem, and I dunno, for normally squishy CBS it looks like it could be a little sharp. We'll give it a look. Which, ha, is exactly the point of this tease, so well done, tease people. You've done your jobs admirably. You may go home now.

The challenge for Bo Pelini and his coaches between now and Jan. 1 is to make sure the players have moved on emotionally.

"If we have a hangover," offensive coordinator Tim Beck said, "it's going to get ugly."

The Huskers (10-3) have begun preparing in earnest for the Bulldogs (11-2) after going through short workouts last week. The players will be dismissed for Christmas on Thursday. They'll return to Lincoln next Wednesday and travel that afternoon to Orlando, Fla.

"I guess we treat this like the Rose Bowl game that we should have gone to, and I'm still frustrated about that," quarterback Taylor Martinez said.

Beck described himself and the rest of the team as "shell-shocked" in the days following the 70-31 beating by the Badgers.Yet the mood was light after Tuesday's practice. Players yukked it up with each other as they walked off the field, and defensive end Eric Martin clowned around with Martinez while the quarterback was speaking with reporters.

Martinez said he doesn't think the meltdown against Wisconsin will carry over to the bowl.

Running back Ameer Abdullah lamented the lost opportunity.

"It hurt," he said. "We worked so hard, with all the comeback victories, but you have to have short-term memory. The season isn't over. We can't drag that same attitude into the bowl game. We have to get our spirits back up and practice hard."

Georgia is the highest-ranked bowl opponent since the Huskers took on top-ranked Miami in the Rose Bowl game that decided the 2001 national championship. The Huskers are 10-point underdogs.

The Bulldogs have a three-year starter in quarterback Aaron Murray, who ranks second nationally in pass efficiency, and the powerful freshman running-back combination of Todd Gurley and Keith Marshall.

The 6-foot-1, 218-pound Gurley leads all freshman rushers with 1,260 yards, and the 5-11, 216-pound Marshall has run for 723 yards.

Georgia allowed 10 or fewer points in five games and features the Southeastern Conference defensive player of the year in outside linebacker Jarvis Jones, who leads the Bulldogs with 12.5 sacks despite missing two games.

Asked what scares him about Georgia's defense, Martinez said, "Nothing. They're like any other Big Ten defense. Big Ten defenses are the best in the country, and we're going up against a good Georgia defense. We have to look at it like that."

Beck said the Bulldogs' defense is "too big and too athletic" to compare with any in the Big Ten.

"They're an Oklahoma, a Texas, a South Carolina," Beck said. "They do a lot of different things. They run around and make plays all over the place."

Georgia narrowly missed a chance to play for the national championship, losing 32-28 to Alabama in the SEC title game.

The Huskers, however, aren't buying into the hype of the SEC, which has won six straight national titles.

"It doesn't matter what conference they come from," Abdullah said. "There are a lot of good teams around the country. It's not just because they come from the SEC that they hold some special powers."

It's the second straight season Nebraska has played in the Capital One against an SEC team. Last January the Huskers lost 30-13 to South Carolina after a second-half implosion.

Nebraska is playing for its first 11-win season since 2001 and the 13th in program history. The Huskers have never lost fewer than four games under Pelini, who's in his fifth season. A win over the Bulldogs would create a positive vibe for Nebraska as it goes into next season. Significant starting experience will return at eight positions on offense and at five on defense.

"11-3 sounds a heck of a lot better than 10-4," Abdullah said.

Beck said the bowl can cushion the blow of the Wisconsin debacle. He said the players and coaches prepared for Badgers as well as they did for any opponent.

"Why did it turn out that way? It wasn't our night," Beck said. "As bad as it stings and as bad as I know they're not that much better than we are, points-wise, it's over. You've got to move on. There are a lot of great things these guys have done in this program, a lot of great things happened this year, and one game isn't going to define it for me and for them."

With talks between President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner apparently stalled, the leading emerging scenario is some variation on the following: Republicans would tactically retreat and agree to raise rates on wealthier earners while leaving a host of complicated issues for another negotiation next year.

The idea is that House GOP leaders would ultimately throw up their hands, pass a Senate measure extending tax rates on household income exceeding $250,000, and then duke it out next year over vexing issues like increasing the debt ceiling and switching off sweeping spending cuts that are punishment for prior failures to address the country's deficit crisis.

It's easier said than done.

For starters, that scenario has a lot more currency with Senate Republicans, who wouldn't have to vote for the idea after it comes back to the Democratic-controlled Senate, than with leaders of the Republican-controlled House, who would have to orchestrate it and who still insist they're not abandoning talks with the White House and that they're standing firm against raising tax rates.

"I think it's time to end the debate on rates," said Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C. "It's exactly what both parties are for. We're for extending the middle-class rates. We can debate the upper-end rates and what they are when we get into tax reform."

"I think we end up with something like this Plan B," said GOP lobbyist Hazen Marshall, a longtime former Senate aide. "They probably figure out something on the rates by the end of the year but on everything else negotiations just continue."

House Republicans have yet to embrace the idea.

"There are literally dozens and dozens and dozens of members out there who have various ideas for how they could endgame this, or Plan B type scenarios, but none of that is under active discussion or consideration by the leadership," said Boehner spokesman Kevin Smith.

White House spokesman Jay Carney said Obama was still pursuing a broader deal with Boehner that didn't simply address the expiring tax rates, but also more revenue and spending reductions with a goal of reducing deficits. But he said that was out of reach if House Republicans refused to let the top rates rise for wealthy earners.

"It is still their position, as they tell you when you ask them, that they want extension of the high-end Bush tax cuts. That is not going to happen," Carney said. "The president will not sign such legislation."

Don't underestimate the explosion that giving in to Obama could create in GOP ranks, however. Republicans have been adamantly opposed to raising marginal tax rates, even as they now say they're willing to raise $800 billion or more in new tax revenues by closing loopholes and deductions. For months, the GOP mantra has been that raising tax rates will cost jobs, especially among businesses that would be affected. Some 94 percent of America's businesses are structured so that profits go directly to partners or shareholders who report the income on their individual tax returns.

Moving to Plan B would also mean that one side in the Obama-Boehner talks would have to throw up their hands and leave the bargaining table.

"Listen, we have never changed our posture. We remain willing, desirous of talking with the White House, of being specific with the president about how we address the spending problem," said House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va.

The counter view is that even tea party Republicans like Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., are resigned to the fact that Obama simply won't yield on rates and that a tactical retreat would allow Republicans to rejoin the battle when it comes time to pass must-do legislation to increase the government's borrowing cap early next year.

That approach requires House Republicans to retreat in a fashion similar to the way majority Democrats relied on Republican votes when finessing must-pass bills to fund military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan under President George W. Bush. That would mean structuring floor debate to allow the Obama-backed tax hike to pass mostly with Democratic votes.

But the need for Democratic votes means Republicans might have to resist the temptation to add GOP sweeteners to the measure like a more generous extension of the estate tax than Obama likes or to keep tax rates on investment income from rising from 15 percent to 20 percent as the Senate bill would do. Democrats would probably take their lead from Obama if Republicans sought to power such proposals past them and if they resisted, Plan B could implode.

Democrats say they'd likely go along if the House simply passed the tax bill the Senate passed in July and left other fiscal cliff items on the table.

There was no sign of movement, as evidence mounted that the White House was moving away from politically difficult cuts like increasing the Medicare eligibility age. But some Republicans, especially in the Senate, advocated yielding to Obama on tax rates on the wealthy but continuing the battle on other fronts.

An increasing number of Senate Republicans have been pressing to yield on the question of allowing top tax rates to increase on income over $250,000 for couples, while extending Bush-era tax cuts for everyone else. That reflects increasing resignation within the GOP that Obama is going to prevail on the rate issue since the alternative is to allow taxes on all workers to go way up when Bush-era tax cuts expire on Dec. 31.

"I think it's time to end the debate on rates," Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., said. "It's exactly what both parties are for. We're for extending the middle-class rates. We can debate the upper-end rates and what they are when we get into tax reform."

"He's got a full house and we're trying to draw an inside straight," Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., said. When it was observed that making a straight would still be a losing hand, Isakson said: "Yeah, I know."

No details were released about the Obama-Boehner meeting, though the use of the word "frank" by both sides to describe the talks suggested the president and the speaker stuck hard to their opposing positions.

The meeting came shortly after Obama suggested that the sluggish pace of deficit-cutting talks between the administration and congressional Republicans was a result of a "contentious caucus" of GOP lawmakers who were making it difficult for Boehner to negotiate.

Boehner saw it differently. He said earlier in the day: "Unfortunately, the White House is so unserious about cutting spending that it appears willing to slow-walk any agreement and walk our economy right up to the fiscal cliff."

Boehner remains caught between a tea party faction and more pragmatic Republicans advising a tactical retreat. He dodged two questions on whether he would consider a legislative minuet that would allow for Obama's proposal on higher tax rates for upper earners to proceed despite GOP opposition to the idea. Such an approach was employed by then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., when funding military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan when Democrats controlled Congress but President George W. Bush occupied the White House.

Thursday night's meeting was the two men's second face-to-face encounter in five days as they seek to find an agreement that avoids major tax increases and across-the-board spending cuts scheduled to kick in in January. Also attending were Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Obama's chief congressional lobbyist, Rob Nabors.

Before the meeting, Boehner accused Obama of dragging out negotiations. Obama is insisting on higher tax rates for household incomes above $250,000 to cut federal deficits; Boehner says he opposes higher rates, though he has said he would be willing to raise tax revenue instead by closing loopholes and deductions.

Obama, in an interview during the day with WCCO-TV in Minneapolis, said that the notion of not raising taxes "has become sort of a religion for a lot of members of the Republican Party. I think Speaker Boehner has a contentious caucus, as his caucus is tough on him sometimes so he doesn't want to look like he's giving in to me somehow because that might hurt him in his own caucus."

While the impasse over the president's demand for higher tax rates continues to be a main obstacle in negotiations, Boehner complains that the president refuses to offer spending cuts to popular benefit programs like Medicare whose costs are rapidly rising.

The White House has pointed out that it has offered about $600 billion in specific savings over the next decade, including about $350 billion in spending reductions in health care programs such as Medicare.

Meanwhile, one of Obama's top Senate allies said Thursday that an increase in the Medicare eligibility age is "no longer one of the items being considered by the White House" in negotiations.

Sen. Dick Durbin told reporters that he did not get the information directly from the president or the White House. But as the Senate's No. 2 Democrat, Durbin is regularly apprised of the status of negotiations by key players such as Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.

Senior White House aide Gene Sperling briefed Senate Democrats on the talks Thursday and declined to tell them whether the administration was taking the issue off the table, said a senator who was present. That senator spoke only on condition of anonymity since he was not authorized to describe a meeting that was confidential.

Increasing the eligibility age, currently 65, is a key demand by Republicans seeking cost curbs in popular benefit programs in exchange for higher tax revenues.

Durbin's comments on the Medicare eligibility age were surprising, since negotiators including Reid have been careful to not preclude the possibility of agreeing to such an increase perhaps as a late-stage concession in a potential deal between Obama and Boehner.

Particularly noteworthy were comments by Sen. John Cornyn of Texas to Politico.com, in which Cornyn, soon to be the No. 2 Senate Republican, said, "I believe we're going to pass the $250,000 and below sooner or later, and we really don't have much leverage" because those rates are going to expire anyway on Dec. 31.

The willingness of Cornyn to voice such sentiments raised eyebrows since he's a top confidant of Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, who keeps a tight rein on the Senate GOP caucus. Neither McConnell nor Cornyn are prone to firing half-cocked.

Still, any GOP plan B to surrender on upper income tax rate would leave unaddressed a bunch of other issues, especially $109 billion in automatic across-the-board spending cuts to the Pentagon and domestic programs that would start to take effect in January. The alternative minimum tax needs to be addressed or else millions of middle- to upper-income taxpayers will face higher tax bills, while doctors face sharp cuts in their Medicare reimbursements.

A number of tax breaks for businesses are also set to expire, including write-offs for investments in equipment and research and development.