TPMMuckraker: Jindal Admits Katrina Story Was False

Remember that story Bobby Jindal told in his big speech Tuesday night -- about how during Katrina, he stood shoulder-to-shoulder with a local sheriff who was battling government red tape to try to rescue stranded victims? Turns out it wasn't actually, you know, true. In the last few days, first Daily Kos, and then TPMmuckraker, raised serious questions about the story, based in part on the fact that no news reports we could find place Jindal in the affected area at the specific time at issue. But now, a Jindal spokeswoman has admitted to Politico that in reality, Jindal overheard Lee talking about the episode to someone else by phone "days later."

Daily Beast: Jindal's Eruption of Hot Gas

In a bizarre moment from Bobby Jindal's speech, the Louisiana governor dumped on President Obama for funding "something called 'volcanic monitoring.'" Top geologists tell the Daily Beast that the governor needs to do his homework.

Wall Street Journal: Was George W. Bush the Worst President?

Several polls of historians have named George W. Bush the worst president in American history. This baffles me. I've been writing about presidents for a long time. What I know, and what I presume these gentleman know, doesn't connect, writes historian Thomas Fleming. Maybe it's time to suspend the rush to judgment on George W. Bush for 10 or 20 years. I suspect we will decide Mr. Bush's first term, with his decisive response to 9/11, deserves some praise, and that his second term succumbed to an awesome amount of bad luck, from his generals' disagreements on how to fight the war in Iraq to the Wall Street collapse of 2008.

Washington Post: Top Officials Expand The Dialogue on Race

With the federal government's annual African American History Month celebrations as a backdrop, the attorney general, the first lady and the head of the Environmental Protection Agency spoke more frankly about race recently than any of Obama's surrogates did during the hard-fought campaign.

Los Angeles Times: Taxing for Fairness or Class Warfare?

From front to back and on nearly every page, President Obama's new budget plan delivers a stark message: It's time for the rich to lighten the load on the middle class. In education, healthcare and an array of other proposals, the budget focuses more benefits on middle-class and lower-income Americans and looks to the affluent to help pay for them.

Washington Times: Charity Tax Limits Upset Many

Democrats and Republicans poured cold water on President Obama's budget plan to cut down on wealthy taxpayers' charitable giving tax deductions, the second of his ambitious cost-savings plans to earn lawmakers' scorn, and underscoring the legislative minefield he is entering.

New York Post: Top Democrat Says Obama Budget Needs a Scrub

President Obama's $3.6 trillion budget came under criticism from an unexpected source yesterday - Sen. Kent Conrad, the Democratic chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, who vowed to give the spending plan a "thorough scrubbing." The blast from within the ranks of Obama's own party comes as Congress is girding for battle over the budget document - which pays for health reform, clean energy and other programs with $1 trillion in tax hikes over the next decade.

USA Today: Michelle Obama's Right To Bare Arms

Michelle Obama's decision to go sleeveless again is stirring up a debate. The tribute to Stevie Wonder was the second time in as many days that the first lady bared her arms: She wore a plum Narciso Rodriguez dress when her husband addressed Congress on Tuesday night. She appears on the latest issue of People magazine in a sleeveless magenta Tracy Reese frock and also went sans sleeves on her recent Vogue cover. But should people be up in arms about Obama baring hers?

New York Times: Iraq Withdrawal Plan Gains G.O.P. Support

President Obama won crucial backing on Thursday for his Iraq military withdrawal plan from leading Congressional Republicans, including Senator John McCain, the party's presidential nominee, who spent much of last year debating the war with Mr. Obama.

Washington Post: Under Obama, National Security Council Will Grow

President Obama's first presidential directive, outlining the organization of his national security structure, adds the attorney general, the secretaries of energy and homeland security, and the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations to the formal National Security Council.

Los Angeles Times: Student Loan Companies' Shares Plunge on Obama Proposal

President Obama's proposal for direct government funding of student loans -- cutting out private industry -- sent shares of Sallie Mae, Student Loan Corp., Nelnet Inc. and other college loan companies plunging Thursday. For-profit vocational schools, such as Corinthian Colleges Inc., DeVry Inc. and ITT Educational Services Inc., also saw their stock prices drop. Their students often rely on government-backed loans from private lenders.

Reuters: Financial Crisis Sparks Unrest in Europe

Thousands of Opel workers from around Germany took part in a mass rally on Thursday demanding parent General Motors (GM.N) scrap plans for plant closures in Europe. The global financial and economic crisis has sparked many protests in parts of Europe

Chicago Sun-Times: Burris' Son Got State Job from Blago

The son of embattled Sen. Roland Burris is a federal tax deadbeat who landed a $75,000-a-year state job under former Gov. Rod Blagojevich five months ago, the Chicago Sun-Times has learned. Blagojevich's administration hired Roland W. Burris II as a senior counsel for the state's housing authority Sept. 10 -- about six weeks after the Internal Revenue Service slapped a $34,163 tax lien on Burris II and three weeks after a mortgage company filed a foreclosure suit on his South Side house.

Wall Street Journal: Lobbyists Line Up to Torpedo Speech Proposals

Industries from health care to agribusiness to mining that stand to lose under President Barack Obama's policy agenda are ramping up lobbying campaigns to derail or modify his plans. The day after Mr. Obama formally laid out his policy goals in his first address to Congress, the former chief executive of HCA Inc. unveiled a $20 million campaign to pressure Democrats to enact health-care legislation based on free-market principles. "What you see is when the government gets involved, you run out of money and health care gets rationed," former CEO Richard Scott said Wednesday.

Washington Times: Lawmakers Reject Obama Plan to Cut Farm Aid

Top Democrats and Republicans are already shooting down President Obama's plan to cut farm subsidies, dealing a blow to one of the cost-savings promises he laid out in his congressional address Tuesday night. "We'll have to see what specifically the president is talking about, but we just finished the farm bill last year, and I don't think we'll open it up," said Rep. Collin C. Peterson, Minnesota Democrat and chairman of the House Agriculture Committee.

Dallas Morning News: $16 Billion Stimulus Windfall Dividing Texas Legislature

Texas lawmakers, given a $16 billion windfall from the federal stimulus bill, are forming two camps. One sees "great danger" of government creep, as Rep. Myra Crownover, R-Denton, warned the House on Wednesday. The other sees great opportunity for very practical advances, but only if the Legislature can see through "red herrings" being raised by conservative demagogues, said House Democratic leader Jim Dunnam of Waco.

Daily Beast: Bobby Jindal's Secret Past

Did you know about the exorcism? The name that came from The Brady Bunch? Those and other surprising facts about one of America's fastest rising young politicians. His folksy speech last evening is meeting with mixed reviews. But with GOP politicians already jockeying for the 2012 primary, the first-term governor and a 37-year-old Indian-American Rhodes Scholar is emerging as a top contender.

Chicago Sun-Times: Translating Durbinspeak on Burris Fiasco

Illinois just cannot catch a break, writes columnist Carol Marin. Tuesday afternoon, just as the nation's eyes were trained on our historic new president preparing to make a historic first address to both houses of Congress -- a lofty moment by any measure -- what the heck happens? The senior senator from Illinois, Dick Durbin, takes the junior senator from Illinois, Roland Burris, to the woodshed, that's what.

London Times: Bush Embarks on Lucrative International Speaking Tour

George W Bush will embark next month on an international speaking tour aimed at making him hundreds of thousands of dollars and reshaping his battered image abroad. The former president plans to make about ten speeches over the next year -- the first of what he hopes will be many more -- at various venues in the US, Canada, Europe and Asia.

New York Times: Sully in the House

What more can anyone ask from Capt. Chesley B. Sullenberger III, the pilot who safely landed a jetliner in the Hudson River last month, saving 150 passengers and four other crew members? House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had one request for Mr. Sullenberger on Tuesday: his autograph. During a meeting with the Ms. Pelosi this afternoon, he signed the copy of People Magazine she provided and said he was "grateful for the outcome" of US Airways flight 1549 on Jan. 15 Sullenberger was one of the guests in Pelosi's box when President Obama addressed a joint session of Congress.

Louisville Courier-Journal: Bunning Criticizes GOP Senate Campaign Chief

Sen. Jim Bunning all but declared war this morning on his own party's Senate campaign committee chairman and threatened to sue the GOP if committee officials recruited an opponent to run against him in Kentucky's 2010 Republican primary.

Los Angeles Times: Compromise on Iraq Timeline Appears Near

The Obama administration is close to deciding on a 19-month withdrawal plan for the bulk of U.S. troops in Iraq and could announce a timetable this week, military officials said Tuesday. The plan would represent a compromise between the 16-month withdrawal timetable President Obama advocated during his campaign and the military's proposal for a 23-month time frame.

Wall Street Journal: Mardi Gras Revives, but Shooting Scars Party

Against grim predictions -- given the drop in travel during the economic downturn -- New Orleans officials, hoteliers and others say Mardi Gras lodging and retail sales exceeded last year's marks, and streets overflowed even on the slower days of parading that began on Feb. 8. The strong turnout, particularly for a city whose commerce has depended almost entirely on tourism after the hurricane, confirms for many locals that New Orleans finally is on the mend. The city will release formal figures in the coming days.

San Francisco Chronicle: Effort Seeks to Scrap Two-Thirds Vote Rule

California opinion leaders who turned out Tuesday at a forum on government reforms said their top priority is getting rid of the Legislature's requirement for a two-thirds vote to approve state budgets and taxes, which has been blamed for record-long budget delays.

USA Today: Some Lawmakers Have Ties to Bailout Recipients

Two dozen members of Congress with substantial financial ties to the banks and other companies getting a piece of the $700 billion financial rescue package, according to a USA TODAY analysis of disclosure reports covering 2007, the most recent available. Rep. Jean Schmidt, R-Ohio, and three other House members have spouses who work for recipients of the money, and seven senators and 13 representatives had investments worth more than $100,000 in at least one of the companies that received funds, their reports show.

Los Angeles Times: Taxing Pot Could Become Political Toking Point

Could Cannabis sativa be a salvation for California's fiscal misfortunes? Can the state get a better budget grip by taxing what some folks toke? An assemblyman from San Francisco announced legislation Monday to do just that: make California the first state in the nation to tax and regulate recreational marijuana in the same manner as alcohol.

Boston Herald: Romney Supports House Republicans Against Stimulus

Mitt Romney has his own version of an economic stimulus bill: sending $1,000 checks to a group of Republican House members targeted by the Democrats for voting against the president's economic stimulus bill.

St. Paul Pioneer Press: Coleman Plans to Wrap Up This Week, then It's Franken's Turn

Republican Norm Coleman's recount case is almost complete. For more than a month, his attorneys have presented thousands of absentee ballots and hours of testimony to bolster his claim that Minnesotans voting last November gave the Senate seat to him, not to Democrat Al Franken, who had a 225-vote lead after an arduous hand recount.

New York Times: McCain, at the White House, Questions Obama About Helicopter

"Your helicopter is now going to cost as much as Air Force One," Sen. John McCain told President Obama on Monday. "I don't think there is any more graphic demonstration of how good ideas have cost taxpayers enormous amounts of money." Obama agreed. "The helicopter I have now seems perfectly adequate to me," he said. "Of course, I've never had a helicopter before. Maybe I've been deprived and I didn't know it. But I think it is in example of the procurement process gone amok. And we're going to have to fix it."

Chicago Sun-Times: Ayers on Obama's 'Colossal Mistake'

Education professor Bill Ayers, a former Weather Underground radical activist whose friendship with Barack Obama caused headaches during his presidential campaign, criticized Obama on Monday for his decision to send an additional 17,000 troops into Afghanistan.

New York Times: Disagreements About Stimulus Embroil G.O.P.

Republican governors split sharply during the weekend over how to respond to the economic crisis, a debate whose outcome will go a long way toward shaping how the national party redefines itself in the wake of its election defeats of recent years. Some party leaders said Republicans should compromise with the Democratic president and move to the political center to attract independents' votes. A small but vocal group of conservative governors countered that the party instead must rebuild by standing against new spending and taxes to regain the trust of conservative voters.

Wall Street Journal: Obama Pushes Firmer Budget Rules

Stepping up a campaign to persuade Americans he is serious about the budget deficit, President Barack Obama this week will propose using mandatory, across-the-board spending cuts to offset any new initiative that expands the government's red ink. The proposal, which would apply to any new tax cuts or spending, would return the government to the budget constraints that existed in the 1990s, a senior administration official said.

Bloomberg: Health-Care Focus Next for Obama

With the economic stimulus package signed, President Barack Obama this week will outline how he plans to provide affordable medical coverage for all Americans, an administration official said. Obama tomorrow will tell a joint meeting of the House and Senate that revamping the U.S. health system is a priority, according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Louisville Courier-Journal: Bunning Says Justice Ginsberg Likely Dead in Nine Months

U.S. Sen. Jim Bunning predicted over the weekend that U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg would likely be dead from pancreatic cancer within nine months. During a wide-ranging 30-minute speech on Saturday at the Hardin County Republican Party's Lincoln Day Dinner, Bunning said he supports conservative judges "and that's going to be in place very shortly because Ruth Bader Ginsburg ... has cancer." "Bad cancer. The kind that you don't get better from," he told a crowd of about 100 at the old State Theater.

Washington Post: Supporters Upbeat About Bill to Give D.C. a Vote in Congress

Supporters of D.C. voting rights believe that they are on the verge of their biggest victory in at least 30 years as the Senate prepares to take up a bill this week creating a full House seat for the District.

Politico: Ney May Now Be a Victim

In financial disclosures filed with the Federal Election Commission, the National Republican Congressional Committee suggests that its former treasurer, Christopher J. Ward, improperly diverted $36,000 from a leadership PAC belonging to former Ohio Rep. Bob Ney, who himself went to prison after pleading guilty to charges in the Jack Abramoff corruption scandal.

Kansas City Star: Brownback Questions Catholicism of Foes

Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback is questioning whether several of his colleagues are real Catholics. The senator makes his point in a fundraising letter for a new Washington-based antiabortion group distributed under his signature.

New Yorker: Don't Mess with Rahmbo

Unlike recent chiefs of staff from the Bush and Clinton eras, who tended to be relatively quiet inside players, Emanuel is a former congressional leader, a Democratic Party power, and one of the more colorful Beltway celebrities. He is a political John McEnroe, known for both his mercurial temperament and his tactical brilliance. In the same conversation, he can be wonkish and thoughtful, blunt and profane. Besides Obama himself, Emanuel did the most to get the stimulus bill passed.

New York Times: Hold the Eulogies, Kennedy Says

Since the diagnosis of his brain cancer last May, and as as he endures grueling treatments, Mr. Kennedy, who turns 77 on Sunday, has been intent on racing time rather than looking back on it. Friends who have seen Mr. Kennedy describe him as driven and focused on work. He speaks frequently -- and often on his trademark issue, overhauling the nation's health care system -- to President Obama. He checks up on the Senate "chatter" with lawmakers.

Los Angeles Times: Obama's Biggest Challenges in Afghanistan

Many officials believe Obama has one primary shot at remaking Washington's war strategy and overhauling its policy in the region. The administration said last week that it would open that review, which is due in April, to Afghans, Pakistanis and European allies.

Nola.com: Governor Walking Tightrope with Speech

Hurricane Gustav denied Gov. Bobby Jindal his nationally televised debut before the American electorate last summer at the Republican National Convention, a turn of events that may yield better political drama Tuesday night for those not consumed by the final hours of Carnival.

Wall Street Journal: Two Governors and the GOP Future

South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford is mooted as a GOP presidential contender. During the stimulus debate he told President Barack Obama, to his face, that the Palmetto State wanted no part of a spending blowout that would be harmful to the economy. Florida Gov. Charlie Crist is mooted as a GOP presidential contender. During the stimulus debate, he made clear the Sunshine State couldn't wait to get its hands on the stimulus booty.

The Root: Why Holder's Race Speech Was Better Than Obama's

Eric Holder's confrontational speech to members of the Justice Department on Wednesday spoke plainly and bluntly about the level of racial discourse in America. Why did Holder's words seem so confrontational, so angry, so "un-Obama"? Most notable was Holder's unequivocal habitation of the black perspective. Obama's careful speech was eager to embrace many sides.

Chicago Tribune: Feds Interview Burris

Sen. Roland Burris was interviewed by federal authorities for several hours Saturday as part of the ongoing corruption investigation into charges that former Gov. Rod Blagojevich tried to sell a Senate seat for personal or political profit, sources familiar with the talks said. He has been informed he is not a target of the probe.

San Francisco Chronicle: Battered California GOP Gathers to Plot Future

The 1,400 Republican activists heading to Sacramento this weekend for the twice-yearly GOP convention will be united by a single concern: how to lift the state party out of the deep hole it's dug in recent years.

Governing.com: Torts for Tots

Perhaps the most important court decision in the country last year was one you probably didn't hear much about. But it is likely to have long-lasting implications -- for state courts and legislatures and for the regulatory process at all levels of American government.

Chicago Sun-Times: Burris' Chief of Staff Quits

Embattled Sen. Roland Burris took another blow on Friday -- his chief of staff, Darrell Thompson, quit. Thompson was detailed to the Burris operation from the staff of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to give Burris top-notch, experienced help to get his office up and running. Thompson was a top staffer in President Obama's 2004 Illinois Senate campaign.

Washington Post: For Obama's Political Knots, He's the 'Fixer'

Holed up in a windowless West Wing office, Jim Messina is working on his usual assignment: fixing President Obama's problems. The exact nature of that task changes from day to day. In January, when tax troubles surfaced, first threatening Timothy F. Geithner's nomination, Obama asked Messina, his deputy chief of staff, to smooth over the situation on Capitol Hill. (He did.)

Boston Herald: Aide Says Kennedy Doing Well

A spokeswoman for U.S. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy yesterday said he is "doing well" and working by telephone despite a Herald report quoting friends who say his battle with brain cancer is in its final stage. "He may not physically be in Washington but he's burning up the phone lines on Senate business and is keeping his staff as busy as ever," Kennedy aide Melissa Wagoner said.

Wall Street Journal: Jobs Still Elude Some Bush Ex-Officials

The jobless rate is hanging high -- for many of the roughly 3,000 political appointees who served President George W. Bush. Finding work has proved a far tougher task than those appointees expected. "This is not a great time for anyone to be job hunting, including numerous former political appointees," said Carlos M. Gutierrez, Mr. Bush's commerce secretary. Previously chief executive of cereal maker Kellogg Co., he hopes to run a company again because "I have a lot of energy."

Mother Jones: America on $195 a Week

It's not just the unemployed who are hurting. Across the country, unskilled, nonunionized workers are barely scraping by on stagnant or declining wages. You'll find many of them in food prep, where more than 11 million Americans command a median hourly wage of $8.24, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. There are another 4.5 million workers doing maintenance-related tasks for $10.18 an hour, 3.3 million in "personal care" at $9.50, and 14.5 million in retail jobs that pay $11.41. These meager wages have helped push 6.2 million more Americans into poverty between 2000 and 2007. And that was before the banking industry imploded.

Daily Beast: Why Republicans Don't Get the Internet

When I first suggested launching a blog chronicling my experience on my father's campaign for president, I was met with confusion and resistance, writes Meghan McCain. A few people even asked me what's a blog.

Miami Herald: Will Obama back 'truth commission' to probe Bush practices?

President Barack Obama and Congress are locked in a stare-down over how much to expose or punish Bush administration employees for any abuses they committed in waging the war on terrorism.

Calgary Herald: Let's Hope Congress Shares Obama's Love of Canada

While Canadians should obviously take encouragement from the evident maturing of President Obama's views on protection, and his declared willingness to have Canada at the table when a North American approach to climate-change policy and energy security is hammered out, Canadians can rely only on this: House Democrats don't feel they owe this country anything. Obama may propose, but he depends on congressional favour. Hence the lack of specific deliverables at Thursday's joint conference.

ABC News: Bill Clinton Says Obama Should Sound More Hopeful

Former President Bill Clinton gives President Barack Obama an "A" grade for his first month in office, but tells ABC News that Obama needs to put on a more positive face when speaking to the American people about the economy and must keep pressure on Republicans who try to obstruct his plans.

Wall Street Journal: States Ponder How to Get Hands on Stimulus Funds

State officials nationwide are combing through the new $787 billion federal stimulus package, trying to figure out exactly what they have to do to get their hands on their share of the money. Already, the governors have been busy appointing task forces, ordering up state economic-recovery Web sites and naming stimulus czars.

DC Examiner: Mortgage Bailout Could Blow Back on Obama

With the introduction of his mortgage plan, President Barack Obama has deeply altered the dynamic of class warfare in America. The question for the president is whether he can avoid the fallout.Americans who have played by the rules are coming to resent being forced pay to protect others from the consequences of their bad choices. And if the Americans who are footing the bill notice that the foreclosures are still rolling in and driving down their own property values, that resentment may turn into outrage.

Bloomberg: North Dakota Draws Billionaire Icahn in Raider Quest

North Dakota, known for blizzards and badlands, may one day become a home for corporate America, should billionaire Carl Icahn get his way. The state has adopted a law, drafted by an attorney hired by Icahn and other investors, that lets shareholders more easily gain control of any company incorporated there. The law strips away anti-takeover measures, pays individuals for the cost of successful proxy battles, and allows investors to vote "on an advisory basis" on executive pay.

New York Times: Charities Now Seek Bankruptcy Protection

In the last six months, nonprofit groups that include cultural institutions and social service agencies have filed to reorganize or liquidate themselves under the bankruptcy code. While no one has compiled data on how many charities have turned to the courts for protection, experts in the field say it has become more common as nonprofits have been pressured by donors to operate more like businesses.

Fox News: Housing Bailout Draws Comparisons to McCain's Plan

President Obama's $275 billion housing bailout plan, aimed at halting mortgage foreclosures, is drawing comparisons to a proposal championed last year by John McCain. "I hope they took the best ideas wherever they found them. And, certainly, Senator McCain campaigned for a long time on this proposal," said Douglas Holtz Eakin, former economic adviser to McCain and author of McCain's plan.

Chicago Tribune: Why Roland Burris Keeps Fighting

Of course Sen. Roland Burris is fighting back, writes columnist Mary Smich. It's not just his Senate seat he's protecting, it's his life story, his legacy. All storytellers know that a story's ending shapes everything that came before.

Catholic Online: Nationwide Petition Launched To Withhold Communion From Pelosi

Pewsitter.com , a Catholic news web site, announced today that it is launching a nationwide "Withholding Communion" petition project - - to encourage the nation's Catholic Bishops to withhold communion from prominent Catholics in public life who obstinately persist in their dissent from Catholic teaching on serious moral issues.

Los Angeles Times: Senate Not Likely to Oust Sen. Roland Burris Anytime Soon

Though Roland Burris had some trouble being admitted to the U.S. Senate, he will not be easily expelled now that he has arrived. It takes a vote of two-thirds of the senators to oust a member, and the last senators to be formally expelled were charged with supporting the rebels during the Civil War. The Senate Ethics Committee has wide powers to investigate members for actions "unbecoming" of a senator. It has been busy over the last two years, and its probes can put political pressure on a senator. Rarely, however, does the committee go much further and impose a public punishment.

New York Times: In Reversal, Mayor Now Woos Political Parties

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg has denounced political parties as a "swamp of dysfunction," has bankrolled a campaign to eliminate them from the New York City elections and has dismissively cast off his own party affiliations like ill-fitting garments. But now, in what may rank as the most humbling experience of his mayoralty, Mr. Bloomberg is pleading with those same scorned parties to put his name on their ballot lines this fall.

Anchorage Daily News: State Says Palin Owes Tax on Per Diem

Gov. Sarah Palin must pay income taxes on thousands of dollars in expense money she received while living at her Wasilla home, under a new determination by state officials. The governor's office wouldn't say this week how much she owes in back taxes for meal money, or whether she intends to continue to receive the per diem allowance. As of December, she was still charging the state for meals and incidentals.

Rolling Stone: Pelosi Hits Back

For the moment, Speaker Nancy Pelosi is cloaking her instincts as an experienced street fighter in the soothing tones of bipartisanship. Though her eyes flash green when she puts a sharp point on an argument, she seems reticent to take shots at the House Republicans who voted en masse against the recovery package. "The Republicans do a disservice with their message of "I hope you fail." It doesn't help build confidence, and we all have a responsibility to do that," she said. "No matter what we are criticizing or commenting on, we have to do so in a way that does not undermine the public's confidence."

Miami Herald: Florida Can't Keep Up With Concealed Weapons Permit Requests

People in Florida are fearful of the economic future, and one way they are coping is by buying guns. The state office that issues concealed weapons permits is buried under a backlog of 95,000 applications, and doesn't have enough money in its budget to do the job. A legislative budget panel is being asked to approve a midyear budget transfer of nearly $4 million to catch up to the demand for permits.

Fargo Forum: North Dakota Abortion Battle

The sponsor of an abortion bill that passed the North Dakota House on Tuesday said he is already aware of several groups around the country that will help defend the state if it is taken to court because of the law.

Detroit News: Carmakers Rush to Sell Their Plans

General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC quickly began the task of selling their revised restructuring plans to the White House, Congress and a bailout-weary public after asking for up to $21.6 billion in additional government aid.

Detroit Free Press: GM's Bondholders Skeptical

As General Motors Corp. intensifies negotiations to restructure its debt, the automaker is running into resistance from bondholders who are questioning whether the company's viability plan goes far enough to fix the struggling automaker.

Wall Street Journal: Pressure to Rework Mortgages Will Ripple Through Industry

The foreclosure-prevention plan announced by President Barack Obama comes with incentives for lenders to ease mortgage payments for struggling borrowers -- but also with a cudgel: If the mortgage industry doesn't modify loans, bankruptcy judges may cut payments more sharply.

Wall Street Journal: Job-Discrimination Cases Tend To Fare Poorly in Federal Court

Workers recently gained new ammunition to file job-discrimination cases in federal court, but they still face long odds against emerging victorious. A battery of recent studies shows that employees who sue over discrimination lose at a higher rate in federal court than other types of plaintiffs. They also get less time in court, with judges quicker to throw out their cases.

Washington Post: Valenti's Sexuality Was Topic For FBI

When Beltway insider Jack Valenti died two years ago at age 85, he was playing the role of intermediary between Washington and Hollywood as the theatrical, snowy-haired president of the Motion Picture Association of America. But back in 1964, Valenti was a Houston ad executive newly installed at the White House as a top aide to President Lyndon B. Johnson. And J. Edgar Hoover's FBI found itself quietly consumed with the vexing question of whether Valenti was gay.

Wall Street Journal: A Florida Court's 'Rocket Docket' Blasts Through Foreclosure Cases

While the Obama administration prepares to unveil on Wednesday its plan to rescue the U.S. housing market, officials in Lee County, Fla., come up with their own unique plan for dealing with the crisis. To clear a huge backlog of foreclosures, judges are hearing "rocket dockets" of nearly 1,000 cases a day and calling retired colleagues back to the bench to help ease the workload.

Chicago Tribune: Roland Burris, Resign

The benefit of the doubt had already been stretched thin and taut by the time Roland Burris offered his third version of the events leading to his appointment to the U.S. Senate. It finally snapped like a rubber band, popping him on that long Pinocchio nose of his, when he came out with version four. Enough. Roland Burris must resign. His protests that he had nothing to hide just don't square with his obvious attempts to hide something, as evidenced by the evolving truths in three sworn statements to the House impeachment panel.

Washington Post: Back Home in Alaska, Palin Finds Cold Comfort

A couple of weeks before the Alaska legislature began this year's session, a bipartisan group of state senators on a retreat a few hours from here invited Gov. Sarah Palin to join them. Accompanied by a retinue of advisers, she took a seat at one end of a conference table and listened passively as Gary Stevens, the president of the Alaska Senate, a former college history professor and a low-key Republican with a reputation for congeniality, expressed delight at her presence. Would the governor, a smiling Stevens asked, like to share some of her plans and proposals for the coming legislative session? "I feel like you guys are always trying to put me on the spot," Palin said as the room became silent.

New York Times: Obama Team Has Billions to Spend, but Few Ready to Do It

The once efficient Obama transition has ground to a near standstill after tax problems bedeviled several of his nominees, leaving the top echelon of his government largely unassembled. Three cabinet jobs remain unfilled, only two of the 15 cabinet departments have deputy secretaries confirmed, and the vast majority of lower-level political jobs remain vacant.

Boston Globe: Pope to meet with Pelosi at Vatican*

Pope Benedict XVI is planning to meet with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi at the Vatican on Wednesday. The meeting has been the subject of considerable chatter in the conservative Catholic corner of the blogosphere for days, anticipating Pelosi's time in Rome as head of a congressional delegation to Italy. Pelosi, of course, is a practicing Catholic and mother of five (and grandmother of seven), but also is a supporter of abortion rights, and that combination has infuriated some conservatives who argue that support for abortion rights should disqualify Catholic politicians from receiving Communion and from being honored by Catholic universities.

Fortune: Why a 9/11-Style Panel Should Examine the Financial Crisis

After yet another -- but not-undeserved -- public flogging of Wall Street's remaining CEOs before Congress last week, it has become more than a little obvious that such hearings have lost their ability to be either shocking, entertaining or informative, and are accomplishing little of substance. Instead of political theater, what is desperately needed now is a 9/11-style commission that will investigate how Wall Street's highly paid executives brought the capitalist system to its knees.

USA Today: Civil Rights in Court Spotlight

When the Supreme Court returns to the bench Monday for the second half of its annual term, justices will hear several cases that could make this the most important session for civil rights law in years. The slate of cases on divisive civil rights issues offers a reminder of the importance of each individual justice's vote.Says Columbia University law professor Theodore Shaw, a former counsel for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund: "One of the things that these cases and this term could underscore is the lasting significance of Supreme Court appointments. Long after administrations have come and gone, their justices sit on the court."

San Francisco Chronicle: Obama Shifts Tactics After GOP Outreach Fails

White House aides are shifting tactics, dialing back their expectations of big bipartisan majorities for future bills. They plan to capitalize on President Obama's high public approval ratings and use public events, like Tuesday's bill signing at a science museum in Denver, to rally public support and put pressure on Congress.

Chicago Tribune: Burris Now Acknowledges Fundraising Effort for Blagojevich

Sen. Roland Burris has acknowledged he sought to raise campaign funds for then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich at the request of the governor's brother at the same time he was making a pitch to be appointed to the Senate seat previously held by President Barack Obama.

McClatchy: DEA Has 106 Planes, So Why Did It Charter Private Jet for Chief?

The head of the Drug Enforcement Administration spent more than $123,000 to charter a private jet to fly to Bogota, Colombia, last fall instead of taking one of the agency's 106 planes. William Brown, the special agent in charge of the DEA's aviation division, said he'd asked DEA contractor L-3 Communications to arrange the flight because the plane that ordinarily would've flown the administrator was grounded for scheduled maintenance. He said he didn't question the cost at the time. "Was it excessive? I guess you could look at it that way, but I don't think so," he said.

Washington Post: Late Change in Course Hobbled Rollout of Geithner's Bank Plan

Just days before Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner was scheduled to lay out his much-anticipated plan to deal with the toxic assets imperiling the financial system, he and his team made a sudden about-face. According to several sources involved in the deliberations, Geithner had come to the conclusion that the strategies he and his team had spent weeks working on were too expensive, too complex and too risky for taxpayers.

Wall Street Journal: Obama Strategy to Keep Lawmakers Close

After two presidencies marked by friction, if not outright hostility, between the White House and Congress, President Obama has shown himself to be senator-in-chief, consulting closely with congressional leaders and committee chairmen at every turn.

New Yorker: More Apocryphal Stories of the Presidents

On a rainy night in 1793, the Van Buren family ox slipped in the mud, fracturing its foreleg. Realizing that the ox was no longer any good to anyone, Abe Van Buren loaded his flintlock and took aim, when his ten-year-old son, Martin, cried, "If you shoot this ox, Father, you would do as well to shoot me! For this unfortunate beast is no less God's creation than I." And so his father shot him. Then he turned to Martin's identical twin and said, "From now on, you're Martin." And that is how Phil Van Buren became President of the United States.

ReadWriteWeb: Barack Obama's Internet Strategy

We've written a lot about how Barack Obama's Internet strategy was a significant reason for his success last year - first in the Democratic nomination, then the Presidential election. Now we've come across an extensive presentation about Obama's overall Internet strategy. We think it's well worth a read, so we've embedded it here.

Witchita Eagle: Kansas Suspends Income Tax Refunds, May Miss Payroll

Income tax refunds and state employee paychecks could be late after Republican leaders and the Democratic governor clashed Monday over how to solve a cash-flow problem. Payments to Medicaid providers and schools also could be delayed. "We are out of cash, in essence," state budget director Duane Goossen said.

DC Examiner: 'D.C. Is Our Community Now,' Says Michelle Obama

Michelle Obama said it: Washington is her home now and she wants to get to know it. She is making the rounds, meeting federal workers at Cabinet departments, reading to children, chatting with teens, touring a neighborhood health center, dropping in at Howard University and enjoying family night at the Kennedy Center. She's even splashed across the cover of the March issue of Vogue, with a headline that proclaims her "The First Lady the World's Been Waiting For." That was just the first two weeks of February.

New York Daily News: Clinton Causes Stir With Plan to Meet with Opposition in Japan

Hillary Clinton's plan to meet with in Tokyo with an opposition leader caused a political stir in Japan on Monday in the midst of a ruling party scandal over an allegedly tipsy finance minister. Breaking with protocol, the Secretary of State said that Ichiro Ozawa, head of the opposition Democratic Party of Japan, would be included in a round of meetings Tuesday beginning with Prime Minister Taro Aso of the Liberal Democratic Party.

Time: A Historian's Take on Obama

An interview with author and historian Richard Norton Smith about America's "schizoid" relationship with its presidents, the lofty expectations for President Obama and the way history's verdicts can shift over time.

New Yorker: Partisanship, by the Bye

Obama has a tough-minded understanding of the political uses of bipartisanship, which, even if it fails as a tactic for compromise, can succeed as a tonal strategy: once the other side makes itself appear intransigently, destructively partisan, the game is half won. Obama is learning to throw the ball harder. But it's not Rovian hardball he's playing. More like Gandhian hardball.

Bloomberg: Democrats May Be Headed to Showdown With Obama Over Bush Probes

Some Democrats in Congress don't want to let George W. Bush leave town. They want to continue investigating alleged wrongdoing by former administration officials like Karl Rove just as President Barack Obama is urging them to turn the page.

Detroit Free Press: New Team Will Steer a New Auto Industry

President Barack Obama will name a task force today to oversee the remaking of the U.S. auto industry, as General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC press for late concessions to work into turnaround plans that are due to the government on Tuesday. The team will be headed by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and National Economic Council Director Lawrence Summers. It will include staffers from several agencies, including the departments of Transportation, Energy, Labor, Commerce and Treasury, and the Environmental Protection Agency.

New York Times: States and Cities in Scramble for Stimulus Cash

Well before President Obama's stimulus package completed its tortuous path through Congress last week, state and local officials facing multimillion-dollar budget deficits, crumbling infrastructure and the prospect of massive reductions in services were already jockeying for the upper hand in deciding how the money should be spent.

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Local Political Donations Used for Overseas Travels

Campaign money raised for local elections sometimes gets spent in unusual places -- like Europe. To the mayor, tapping the campaign kitty is a way to keep taxpayers off the hook. To some watchdogs, relying on private donors to fund travel that's not clearly election-related could be corrosive.

Politico: Obama Slows down Troop Boost Decision

President Barack Obama is refusing to be rushed into his first decision to send troops into combat, an early sign he may be more independent-minded than U.S. military leaders expected. Rather than sign off quickly on all or part of a long-standing Pentagon request for three Army combat brigades and Marine units, totaling over 10,000 troops, Obama and his aides are questioning the timetable, the mission and even the composition of the new forces, officials familiar with the deliberations said. Former President George W. Bush usually signed off quickly on requests for additional troops from his commanders.

USA Today: Alexandra Pelosi Takes a Hard 'Right' Turn in Documentary

For those wondering why the "liberal media" rarely show interviews of conservative voters on TV, documentary director Alexandra Pelosi offers up a visceral counterpoint in HBO's Right America, Feeling Wronged: Some Voices From the Campaign Trail, a documentary premiering Monday night (8 ET/PT).

Mental Floss: A Presidents' Day Round-up of Presidential Facts

Learn who the nation's eighth president left out of his autobiography and other interesting-but-obscure facts about chief executives.

New York Times: How Obama Plays, or Gets Played, Abroad

We're about to find out what the Obama Factor is worth around the world. At home, it's still potent. But abroad, it's questionable how far Mr. Obama can travel on promises to act as the anti-Bush, to use diplomacy and "smart power" before blunt force. Some of Mr. Obama's aides acknowledge that those promises will eventually collide -- perhaps first in Pakistan -- with necessities to defend American interests.

Slate: Don't Let the Mullahs Run Out the Clock

Now, does anyone--I mean anyone at all--imagine that the Iranian government's flirtation with "direct talks" is anything--anything at all--but a precisely similar attempt to run out the clock while the centrifuges spin and to buy (or, more accurately, to waste) time until sufficient fissile material is ready and the mask can be thrown off?

The Daily Beast: A Modest Proposal

I share our president's righteous indignation over the spectacle of porcine CEOs oinking away at the compensation trough. But if the stimulus package turns out to be a big flop, why not cut Obama's $400K salary and take away other privileges--like his weekends at Camp David?

Chicago Tribune: Ill. Republicans push for investigation of Burris

Illinois House Republican leaders said they now wonder if Burris purposely deceived the public while under oath last month by not telling a special House impeachment panel that Blagojevich's brother asked for fundraising help before the now-disgraced ex-governor appointed him.

Los Angeles Times: Depression Survivors Remember Hope

The survivors of the Depression are approaching the ends of their lives, and their tales flow freely -- of countless injuries and precious joys. They experienced humiliation and unexpected generosity, moments of fear and times of laughter. But privation left scars that have lasted a lifetime.

Mental Floss: Nightmare on Wall Street: 4 Other Times Our Economy Tanked

When we think of economic crises in America, two periods come to mind--the Great Depression and whatever it is we're in the middle of right now. But the U.S. stock market has crashed more times than we'd like to admit. Historically, our economy has been brought to its knees by everything from greedy bankers to horse illnesses. So let's take a deep breath and remember that panics are just part of the American way of life.

Wall Street Journal: Jeb Bush's Prescription for the Republican Party

To publicize their alternatives to President Obama's policies, Mr. Bush wants Republicans to emulate the British ("recognizing that we have a different system") and set up a shadow cabinet. "We should organize our opposition based on policy," he says. "I don't think the [2008] election was a transformational one in the ideological sense. I don't think Americans went to the left. It's a huge opportunity to advocate reforms and advocate our beliefs and do so with some humility and recognition that the other guys won."

Stateline.org: Stimulus to Ease, Not Fix State Budgets

Exactly how much each state will get from the $787 billion economic package that President Obama is expected to sign shortly will vary, but the infusion of federal dollars still won't plug the gaping holes in many state budgets. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities has a state-by-state breakdown of where the money from key provisions would go.

Wall Street Journal: Obama to Shift Focus to Budget Deficit

With a $787 billion stimulus package in hand, President Barack Obama will pivot quickly to address a budget deficit that could now approach $2 trillion this year. He has scheduled a "fiscal-responsibility summit" on Feb. 23 and will unveil a budget blueprint three days later, crafted to put pressure on politicians to address the country's surging long-term debt crisis.

Weekly Standard: Remember Rev. Wright?

Earlier this month, President Obama appointed the Reverend Dr. Otis Moss Jr. to serve on the new President's Advisory Council established as part of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. The official White House press release notes that Moss is the pastor emeritus of Cleveland's Olivet Institutional Baptist Church. Not noted, however, are Moss's many ties to Trinity and its troublesome former pastor.

Richmond Times-Dispatch: Embattled Virginia GOP Head Giving Up House Seat

The embattled chairman of the Republican Party of Virginia is giving up his seat in the House of Delegates and wants his wife to take his place at the General Assembly. Frederick's announcement comes less than a month after the chief fundraiser for the state GOP quit, branding the party "dysfunctional." It was the latest in a series of continuing attacks Frederick faces on his chairmanship, largely from veteran activists who fault him as not doing enough to prevent GOP setbacks last fall.

Reuters: Iraqis Open Arms to Romance as Violence Fades

Romance is in the air in Baghdad as war-weary Iraqis celebrate Valentine's Day after a sharp drop in violence, allowing lovers to cautiously hold hands in parks and to buy gifts for their sweetheart

The Guardian: Drug Giant GlaxoSmithKline Pledges Cheap Medicine for World's Poor

The world's second biggest pharmaceutical company is to radically shift its attitude to providing cheap drugs to millions of people in the developing world. In a major change of strategy, the new head of GlaxoSmithKline, Andrew Witty, has told the Guardian he will slash prices on all medicines in the poorest countries, give back profits to be spent on hospitals and clinics and - most ground-breaking of all - share knowledge about potential drugs that are currently protected by patents.

Los Angeles Times: States Try to Puzzle Out Stimulus Dollars

Local governments may be giddy over the gift of the $789-billion stimulus package, but they were also scrambling this week to ensure they get their fair share of the federal windfall -- and puzzling over the complex rules that are sure to be attached to the aid money.

Time: How Maine's GOP Senators Are Key to Obama's Agenda

Maine's senators can expect to be lavished with attention from the White House. Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, plus Pennsylvania Republican Senator Arlen Specter, provided the margin that prevented Republicans from holding Barack Obama's stimulus package hostage to a filibuster. They also represent the sum total to date of Obama's claim of bipartisan support for his economic plans in Congress.

Washington Times: Emanuel Say White House Not 'Amateur Hour'

Defending the White House in the wake of Sen. Judd Gregg's withdrawal as Commerce Secretary, Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel said it is not "amateur hour" and that the Obama administration is still doing better than President Clinton was at this point.

Wall Street Journal: Emanuel Says Obama Team Lost Message on Stimulus

White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel conceded President Barack Obama and his team lost control of the message for selling their massive stimulus bill last week, fixating on bipartisanship while Republicans were savaging the legislation. But in a wide ranging interview with reporters, Mr. Emanuel said the president's travels across the country this week have shored up support for the $789 billion measure.

Washington Post: Financial Crisis Called Top Security Threat to U.S.)

Director of National Intelligence Dennis C. Blair told Congress yesterday that instability in countries around the world caused by the current global economic crisis, rather than terrorism, is the primary near-term security threat to the United States.

USA Today: When 'Bad' Credit Stands in the Way of a Good Job

After a judge found that Rick Brooks had been wrongly fired from his airport-screener job in Milwaukee, the Transportation Security Administration agreed in 2005 to hire him back. One catch: Brooks had to pass a background check. The case offers a rare glimpse into the credit requirements some employers set and their potential effect, particularly on people struggling financially.

New York Times: Ailing Banks May Require More Aid to Keep Solvent

Some of the nation's large banks, according to economists and other finance experts, are like dead men walking. The banks, in their view, are insolvent.

Forbes: The Real Lesson Of The New Deal

In terms of fiscal policy, Franklin D. Roosevelt's error wasn't that he spent too much, but that he didn't spend nearly enough. As economists Milton Friedman and Anna Schwartz proved to the satisfaction of most economists, the core economic problem in the early 1930s was a contraction of the money supply by a third.

Slate: This Isn't Your Grandfather's Recession

There are easons to think that what worked or made complete sense in the past may not be as effective today. The current, somewhat extraordinary circumstances, and the nation's changing economic geography, should make us wonder how effective tax cuts will be in stimulating new spending and investment.

Washington Post: In Record Numbers, Employers Move to Block Unemployment Payouts

As unemployment rolls swell in the recession, many workers seem surprised to find their benefits challenged, their former bosses providing testimony against them. The proportion of claims disputed by former employers and state agencies has reached record levels in recent years, according to the Labor Department numbers tallied by the Urban Institute.

New York Times: Obama's Battle on Stimulus Shows Threats to His Agenda

Both the substance of his first big legislative accomplishment and the way President Obama achieved it underscored the scale of the challenges facing the nation and how different a political climate this is from the early stages of recent administrations.

Time: Selling a Plan Without the Details

When three top aides to Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner were sent to brief members of the Senate Banking Committee staff on Monday at 6:30 p.m. E.T., they walked into a hostile environment. The GOP was in the middle of losing a hard-fought battle over the near $800 billion economic stimulus bill, while Democrats were being bombarded by complaints about the party's support for it. The last thing any of the staffers wanted to hear were details of a new multibillion-dollar program to try and stabilize the housing, credit and financial markets. As it turned out, they didn't hear much.

McClatchy: White House Limits Release of Records

The Obama administration, which vowed to usher in a "new era of openness in our country," either has delayed action on requests for access to government records or refused to disclose them in three early, high-profile tests of the pledge.

Daily Beast: How the Party of Lincoln Forgot About Lincoln

For the Republican Party today's 200th birthday celebration of Abraham Lincoln is at best bittersweet. The Party of Lincoln has really become the Party of Reagan in instinct and self-conception. It is ideologically conservative and traditionalist--whereas Lincoln's Republican Party was the progressive party of its day. It finds philosophical structure in concepts that comforted southern Democrats of the John C. Calhoun variety. And, the party's strongest support now comes from the states of the former Confederacy.

Foreign Policy: Sure He's Crazy, but It's Time to Talk to Iran

"The United States Should Wait to Engage Iran Until Ahmadinejad Is Gone." Wrong. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is not the problem, and his rival Mohammad Khatami is not (necessarily) the solution. For many years, U.S. administrations have thought that, if they just waited, Iranian politics would produce a leader that Washington would like dealing with. This misses an important reality: The Islamic Republic of Iran actually has a system of government, with multiple and competing power centers.

Wall Street Journal: Farmers Face Empty-Nest Syndrome Amid Chicken Housing Crisis

In the wake of last year's bankruptcy filing by poultry giant Pilgrim's Pride Corp., hundreds of farmers suddenly find themselves unable to make mortgage payments on their pricey chicken coops. To cut costs, Pilgrim's, the nation's second-largest chicken company, has terminated contracts with at least 300 farms in Arkansas, Florida and North Carolina.

Chicago Tribune: Flight Limits Over Obama's Chicago Home

The Federal Aviation Administration has issued a notice creating temporary flight restrictions because of President Obama's visit to Chicago, limiting private pilots from getting too close to his home. All airspace from the ground up to 18,000 feet is included for miles around.

Bloomberg: Unions Win Fast Under Obama

Boston Red Sox All-Star Kevin Youkilis had to reveal his appearance fees, and actress Morgan Fairchild was forced to report corporate-paid trips. They were among about 7,000 union officials covered by financial disclosure rules tightened by the Bush administration. Labor leaders say the requirements amount to harassment and want President Barack Obama to ease them.

Boston Globe: GOP Makes Pelosi Focus in Stimulus Fight

House Republican leaders have become comfortable rejecting the cornerstone of President Obama's plan to resuscitate the economy by portraying it as the work of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, whom they have long demonized as an ideologically extreme, heavy-handed lawmaker. By resurrecting a favorite villain of the pre-Obama era, Republicans have found their footing as an opposition party with complex loyalties, allying with the president who calls for bipartisan consensus while standing up to the House leadership pushing his priorities through.

Los Angeles Times: Obama Plan Light on Details

In unveiling President Obama's long-promised strategy for reviving the nation's moribund financial system, Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner on Tuesday offered few details on such crucial issues as helping homeowners avoid foreclosure or clearing away the toxic securities at the heart of the banking crisis.

Washington Times: Obama Stakes Presidency on Stimulus

President Obama on Tuesday for the first time staked his fledgling presidency on pulling the country from its economic crisis, promising dispirited Floridians that his stimulus plan will produce tangible results such as jobs and tuition credits or he'll be ousted from office in 2012.

New York Times: Open-Door Bailout

Leave it to a brainy Indian to come up with the cheapest and surest way to stimulate our economy: immigration, writes columnist Thomas L. Friedman. "All you need to do is grant visas to two million Indians, Chinese and Koreans," said Shekhar Gupta, editor of The Indian Express newspaper. "We will buy up all the subprime homes. We will work 18 hours a day to pay for them."

Wall Street Journal: Battered Nonprofits Seek to Tap Nest Eggs

Universities, museums and other nonprofits battered by investment losses are pushing states to ease legal limits on spending so they can tap their endowments to avoid imminent layoffs and deep cuts to programs.

Washington Post: Stimulus Debate Shines Light on Health IT Job

Former New York lieutenant governor Betsy McCaughey has caused a stir with a Bloomberg op-ed that raises questions about parts of the economic stimulus package concerning health care and the Department of Health and Human Services.

USA Today: Pentagon Reports U.S. Troop Obesity Doubles Since 2003

The number of troops diagnosed as overweight or obese has more than doubled since the start of the Iraq war, yet another example of stress and strains of continuing combat deployments, according to a recent Pentagon study.

Wall Street Journal: HHS Candidate Draws Fire, Fights Back

Health-care advocates are actively campaigning to persuade Barack Obama to cross a leading candidate off his short-list for secretary of Health and Human Services: Tennessee Democratic Gov. Phil Bredesen. And, in an unusual move for an official under consideration, the governor is fighting back publicly.

Washington Post: Bush Faithful Rewarded With Jobs

Fred F. Fielding, Emmet T. Flood, William A. Burck and Daniel M. Price worked together at the White House under George W. Bush. Less than two weeks before leaving office, Bush made sure the senior aides shared a new assignment, naming them to an obscure World Bank agency called the International Center for Settlement of Investment DisputesThe appointments are for six years and are potentially lucrative, paying up to $3,000 a day plus travel and other expenses if an appointee is chosen to hear a case.

DC Examiner: Feds Want Former Mayor Jailed

Federal prosecutors on Monday asked a judge to revoke D.C. Councilman Marion Barry's probation and put the former mayor in jail for yet again not filing his tax returns. Prosecutors allege Barry willfully failed to file his 2007 tax returns. The Ward 8 council member is coming to the end of a three-year probationary period for failing to file federal or D.C. returns from 1999 to 2004 -- two charges to which he pleaded guilty in 2005.

Bloomberg:Congress Misreads Public Anger at Wall Street

There's only one thing more revolting than watching Wall Street abuse taxpayer dollars: watching Congress bloviate about it. Our elected representatives are gleeful at the opportunity to fan public outrage at bankers for their excesses -- in part because it deflects attention from their own, writes commentator Caroline Baum.

ABC News: FBI Raided Lobbying Firm Connected to Murtha

The FBI raided the offices of a defense lobbying firm with close ties to Democratic Rep. John Murtha (Penn.), sources tell ABC News. The FBI searched the Virginia headquarters of the PMA Group in November, according to the sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. PMA was founded by former Murtha aide Paul Magliochetti and specializes in winning earmarked taxpayer funds for its clients. PMA is the second company with close ties to Murtha to be raided by federal agents recently. In January, agents from the FBI, the IRS and the Defense Criminal Investigative Service searched the office of Kuchera Industries and Kuchera Defense Systems, as well as the homes of the firms' founders.

Politico: Island Bloc Expects Steele Payback

Michael Steele owes his dramatic victory in the race for Republican National Committee chairman to votes from island territories outside the 50 United States. Now, the question is what else he owes them. "They've committed themselves into putting real, hard money into the races here in the [U.S.] Virgin Islands, Guam, [American] Samoa, Puerto Rico, and the Northern Marianas," said Holland Redfield, a leading figure in the territorial caucus at the RNC gathering.

Los Angeles Times: EBay's Former CEO Joins California Governor's Race

Former EBay Chief Executive Meg Whitman joined the race for governor of California on Monday, setting off a battle between Silicon Valley moguls for the 2010 Republican nomination. Whitman, 52, has never run for public office but is banking on Californians' viewing her corporate background as just what the state needs to break its chronic cycle of fiscal disasters.

Sarasota Herald Tribune: Morning Joe or Senator Joe?

Television host Joe Scarborough, a former congressman from Pensacola said he may run for office again, maybe even the U.S. Senate in 2010. "I haven't closed it off," said Scarborough, a Republican who is scheduled to address the Manatee County Republican Party at its annual Lincoln Day Dinner on Feb. 20. "I've been getting some calls from some fundraisers in Florida." Scarborough said he is also hearing from other U.S. senators who want him to run for the seat that Sen. Mel Martinez announced he is leaving next year.

New York Times:Army Suspends Germ Research at Maryland Lab

Army officials have suspended most research involving dangerous germs at the biodefense laboratory at Fort Detrick, Md., which the F.B.I. has linked to the anthrax attacks of 2001, after discovering that some pathogens stored there were not listed in a laboratory database. One scientist, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment, said samples from completed projects were not always destroyed, and departing scientists sometimes left behind vials whose contents were unknown to colleagues.

Time: For Geithner's "Bad Bank": A Toxic Financial Mutant

On Tuesday, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is expected to announce the administration's plans for the second half of the $700 billion bank bailout approved by Congress last fall. The centerpiece is likely to be a government-backed aggregator bank (the much-discussed "bad bank"), which will provide financing and loss protection for investors willing to buy the troubled assets sitting on bank balance sheets. Those delinquent loans, or the bonds tied to them, are dragging down the financial firms' value, putting some dangerously close to insolvency.

Daily Beast: Steele's Senate Forefather

Ed Brooke, the first popularly elected black U.S. senator, weighs in on the Republican Party's new black chairman, Obama's tack to the center, and why he feels like the new president could be his son. In one of the great "What-Ifs" of American history, Brooke had an outside chance to become the nation's first black president back in 1974. He had been suggested as a possible replacement for Nixon's Vice-President Spiro Agnew in the 1972 campaign. Had that advice been taken, he would have ascended to the presidency upon Nixon's resignation.

Newsweek: Was Keynes Right?

After two weeks of debate in Washington over the stimulus, we now know we have 100 economists in the Senate and 435 in the House. Not to mention the great economic minds that, all of a sudden, it seems, constitute most of the punditocracy and the blogosphere. Some of these people--most, I would say--are pretty certain some sort of stimulus is necessary. Others are convinced that a "Keynesian" approach to government intervention is just the latest version of voodoo economics.

Christian Science Monitor: Instead of Stimulus, Do Nothing

The US government has shown repeatedly that as an economic manager it is not to be trusted.Stimulus is unconstitutional. And history shows that the economy can recover strongly on its own, if politicians stay out of the way, writes Robert Higgs, author of author of "Depression, War, and Cold War."

San Diego Union Tribune: Americans Have Doubts About Plan for Economy

Thirteen years after President Bill Clinton declared that "the era of big government is over," one of the biggest government spending programs ever conceived is moving through Congress. And the American people are on board - sort of. "They're all over the map," said Andrew Smith, director of the University of New Hampshire Survey Center.

DC Examiner: Happy Party

They took a beating in November, but now, in the stimulus fight, Republicans are smiling again. You see it all over Capitol Hill, in the hallways, the hearing rooms, the gathering spots. Republicans, coming off a devastating, across-the-board electoral defeat, are ... happy. Being in opposition, after eight years of a Republican presidency and 12 years of GOP rule in Congress, suits many of them just fine. "I've never seen the spirit of Republicans as high as it was at the GOP retreat," said Arizona Rep. John Shadegg.

Washington Post: GOP Sees Positives In Negative Stand

Three months after their Election Day drubbing, Republican leaders see glimmers of rebirth in the party's liberation from an unpopular president, its selection of its first African American chairman and, most of all, its stand against a stimulus package that they are increasingly confident will provide little economic jolt but will pay off politically for those who oppose it.

Chicago Tribune: Former Bush Aide Says Obama Should Dress More Formally in Oval Office

The clucking could be heard clear across the capital when President Barack Obama first showed up in the Oval Office without a suit coat. "There should be a dress code of respect," Andy Card, a chief of staff to former President George W. Bush, declared last week. "I wish that [Obama] would wear a suit coat and tie." It's a matter of propriety and the dignity of the office, Card maintained.

Dallas Morning News: Texas Governor Uses Bailout Talk to Blast Hutchison

For Gov. Rick Perry, federal bailouts make bad policy but good politics. With the GOP primary a year away, the politics of government intervention in the economy have emerged as the first clear flashpoint between Perry and Republican rival Kay Bailey Hutchison, who wants to unseat him as governor.

New York Times: Peanut Case Shows Holes in Safety Net

Raw peanuts were stored next to the finished peanut butter. The roaster was not calibrated to kill deadly germs. Dispirited workers on minimum wage, supplied by temp agencies, donned their uniforms at home, potentially dragging contaminants into the plant, which also had rodents. Even the roof of the Peanut Corporation of America plant in rural southwest Georgia was an obvious risk, given that salmonella thrives in water and the facility should have been kept bone dry.

Bloomberg: Stimulus Battle May Signal Tough Sell for Bank Rescue*

President Barack Obama's struggle to push an economic stimulus bill through Congress may seem easy compared to what he'll encounter when he returns to Capitol Hill for additional funds to rescue the banking system.

Washington Post: Obama's NSC Will Get New Power

President Obama plans to order a sweeping overhaul of the National Security Council, expanding its membership and increasing its authority to set strategy across a wide spectrum of international and domestic issues. The result will be a "dramatically different" NSC from that of the Bush administration or any of its predecessors since the forum was established after World War II, according to national security adviser James L. Jones.

Daily Beast: Naming The Obama Court

Justice Ginsburg's illness has sparked a Washington guessing game about Obama's plans for the Supreme Court. Nearly all observers expect Obama's next appointment to be a woman with solid experience either on the bench or in the Justice Department.

Miami Herald: Housing Prices Becoming Affordable Again

For many South Floridians, there is an upside to the otherwise brutal downturn in real estate, with its flurry of foreclosures, personal bankruptcies and spreading economic pain.

New York Times: ''Mom in Chief" Touches on Policy, and Tongues Wag

In her first weeks in the White House, Mrs. Obama has been the gracious hostess and loyal spouse, welcoming visitors to the Executive Mansion and accompanying President Obama to a prayer breakfast and to a charter school to read to second graders. But in a departure from her predecessor, Mrs. Obama has also begun promoting bills that support her husband's policy priorities.

Los Angeles Times: When Low Prices Buy High Anxiety

After years of worrying about inflation, some economists fear the opposite could soon happen: deflation, an extended period of falling prices that indicates the economy is in a backward spiral.

Minneapolis Star Tribune: Ritchie Recounts Senate Recount Work

Minnesota Secretary of State Mark Ritchie shared what it's like to be at the helm of the recount team in one of the most closely contested state elections of all time.

Governing.com: A Break in the Levy

Property tax revenue has kept localities solvent in many a recession. It won't happen this time.

Chicago Tribune: William Ayers Calls Push for his Firing 'Frivolous'

Calling a state senator's push to get him axed from his public university job "frivolous," William Ayers on Thursday said lawmakers have more important things to do than to go after him. Ayers, a former member of the radical Weather Underground and a topic of heated discussion during the 2008 presidential and primary campaigns, was responding to a Downstate Republican's proposal to forbid a public university from employing someone who has "committed a violent act" against the United States or Illinois.

Grand Forks Herald: Coleman, Franken Plan Differently for Senate

Each U.S. Senate candidate in Minnesota says he is poised to be senator, but Al Franken and Norm Coleman are preparing differently as they await an outcome in their Senate election, now three months overdue. Their attorneys are engaged in a St. Paul trial to determine what disputed ballots should be counted.

Manchester Union Leader: Where Does Newman Stand?

Unless the grand plan that sends Judd Gregg to President Barack Obama's cabinet and Newman to Capitol Hill goes unexpectedly awry, New Hampshire will soon have a U.S. Senator who never had to campaign for the post. No television ads, no debates, no press conferences, no position papers. And so far at least, no interviews.

Houston Chronicle: Obama Package Focuses Mainly on Alternative Power Sources

The mammoth economic stimulus bill that is winding its way through Congress largely bypasses Houston-based energy giants and fossil-fuel development in favor of funding new technologies to glean power from crops, the sun and heat trapped beneath the earth.

Wall Street Journal: Political Tensions Hamper Search for NASA Chief

Disagreements between the White House and some senior Democratic lawmakers have complicated the choice of the next U.S. civilian space chief -- and led to the emergence of a possible compromise candidate.

Bloomberg: IMF Says Advanced Economies Already in Depression

Advanced economies are already in a "depression" and the financial crisis may deepen unless the banking system is fixed, International Monetary Fund Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn said.

New York Times: As Layoffs Surge, Women May Pass Men in Job Force

With the recession on the brink of becoming the longest in the postwar era, a milestone may be at hand: Women are poised to surpass men on the nation's payrolls, taking the majority for the first time in American history.

Slate: Does Stimulus Favor Men Over Women?

Is the stimulus package really better for men than for women? That's what many prominent feminists, and even some male economists, are saying. Their charge: That the bulk of the work created would be in testosterone-fueled fields like construction, manufacturing, and engineering.

Wall Street Journal: Centrist Bloc Finds a Voice Amid Senate Stimulus Debate

Thanks to the debate over the economic-stimulus package, a hardy band of senators from both parties may have begun to fill up that hole in the political middle. Thursday night this band of centrists produced a plan to cut the stimulus bill's spending by perhaps $100 billion; their proposal is likely to be voted on by the full Senate Friday.

Huffington Post: Jacketless in the Oval Office

One day after President Bush's former Chief of Staff Andrew Card blasted President Obama for breaking the Bush dress code, which reportedly required that a jacket be worn by anyone entering the Oval Office, we've unearthed a photo of, well, a jacketless President Bush in the Oval Office.

USA Today: Huckabee Raises Money Off the Stimulus Package

Mike Huckabee, a past and prospective contender for the Republican presidential nomination, is raising money with an e-mail blasting President Obama's economic stimulus package as "a real stink bomb," just like the Wall Street bailout bill.

Daily Beast: Why Geithner Was Worse Than Daschle

For a quarter-century, lawmakers have toiled tirelessly to discourage enforcement of the Internal Revenue Code. Thomas F. Daschle and Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner are the latest poster boys for the success of that campaign. But their offenses were not equal. Despite the fact that Geithner sailed through the confirmation process--while Daschle went up in flames--Geithner's tax troubles were actually far more egregious, write Donald L. Barlett & James B. Steele, the Pulitzer-winning authors of The Great American Tax Dodge.

New Republic: The Art of Withdrawal

Learning from Daschle, Richardson, Kennedy, and Killefer the right and wrong way to bow out.

National Review: When Is a Lobbyist Not a Lobbyist?

Obama would have us believe the order closes the "revolving door" between government and lobbying, whereby the politically connected achieve progressively more influential and lucrative positions by moving frequently between the public and private sectors. In fact, that door remains wide open. He has tasked the White House counsel and the attorney general with the interpretation and enforcement of the new, stringent guidelines. Those would be Gregory Craig and Eric Holder, each of whom has been deeply enmeshed in unsavory influence-peddling.

Washington Post: For Obama, a Trusted Voice Who Knows the Terrain

After decades moving through the revolving door between the private sector and government service, Gregory B. Craig has landed again at the White House, serving as counsel to a young administration in need of a steadying hand.

Wall Street Journal: No Dough in the Do-Re-Mi

Michael Adams doesn't claim to be the equal of famed Depression-era songwriters like Woody Guthrie. Still, the 39-year-old from Tucson, Ariz., aims to leave his musical mark on the current economic crisis. Editor of the nutrition-oriented Web site naturalnews.com, Mr. Adams says his personal outrage about all the federal funds being shoveled to crippled corporations prompted him to write a hip-hop song called "I Want My Bailout Money."

Washington Post: Deluge Is Holding Up Benefits to Unemployed*

Thousands of people in the Washington area and hundreds of thousands more across the country are waiting longer than they should for unemployment benefits at a time when they need the money the most because rising joblessness is overwhelming claims offices, records show.

New York Times: Clinton Tries to Reassure a State Dept. in Transition

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton sought Wednesday to assuage concern within the State Department that the appointment of two high-profile special emissaries would elbow aside the department's professional diplomats.

Salon.com: Brother, Can You Spare a Bonus?

After a horrific year for the stock markets, bonuses on Wall Street dwindled to a pittance; Citigroup, for instance, paid out a mere $4 billion to reward the employees who worked so hard to help it lose almost $19 billion. And now, on top of all that, some guy who makes only $400,000 a year decided Wednesday that there ought to be limits on how much banks that get bailed out by the feds can pay their top executives?

San Francisco Chronicle: Curtailing Executives' Pay? Good Luck With That

Since at least 1984, Congress and accounting authorities have enacted measures designed in whole or part to stem runaway pay. Yet compensation for top executives has continued to climb in both dollar terms and as a multiple of average worker pay. No matter what Congress cooks up, it seems like executives, companies and their consultants find a way over, under or through the rules, writes columnist Kathleen Pender.

Washington Times: RFK Jr. Says Hog Farmers Worse Than Bin Laden

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Wednesday said he thinks hog farmers are a greater threat to Americans than Osama bin Laden. Mr. Kennedy, son of the slain Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, is an environmental law attorney who was testifying before a House Judiciary subcommittee when Rep. Steve King, Iowa Republican, asked him whether a quotation attributed to him in 2002 about hog farmers representing a greater threat than the leader of al Qaeda was accurate.

Time: Can Obama Reboot?

Tom Daschle had to go. If he hadn't jumped, Obama would have had to push him, even though Daschle was a mentor and close friend. It wasn't just the unpaid taxes. And it wasn't just that two other Obama Administration officials had neglected to pay their taxes as well. It was the lifestyle, and the choices Daschle made. It was that he had given speeches worth $200,000 to health-care-industry groups that he would have had to regulate as Health and Human Services Secretary. It was that he made $5 million in two years, "advising" various businesses and organizations rather than formally "lobbying" for them, a cheesy distinction that almost made it worse.

Detroit Free Press: Auto Execs Could Face Pay Cut Under New Rules

Automakers seeking more help from the U.S. government will have to abide by a $500,000 cap on pay for top executives and other tough rules meant to keep companies from misusing taxpayer money. Among Detroit automakers, the highest known pay in recent years went to Ford Chief Executive Alan Mulally, who received $22 million in 2007 and $28 million in 2006, in part to match compensation lost in his move from Boeing Corp.

Wall Street Journal: What Is Congress Stimulating?

Check your PC's virus program, then pull down the nearly 700 pages of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Dive into its dank waters and what is most striking is how much "stimulus" money is being spent on the government's own infrastructure. This bill isn't economic stimulus. It's self-stimulus.

Los Angeles Times: Obama Moves to Regain Ground After 'Self-Induced Injury'

President Obama shed two appointees and then took to the airwaves -- conducting not one but five Oval Office network television interviews in which he sought to seize control over the economic stimulus debate. Republicans have found traction on the issue by painting themselves as defenders of taxpayers and homeowners, while portraying Democrats as frivolous big spenders.

DC Examiner: Daschle's Lapses Divert Obama From Stimulus

**In the midst of pushing an increasingly embattled stimulus package, President Obama had to break stride because of ethics lapses by Tom Daschle that culminated in the former Senate majority leader withdrawing as nominee to head Health and Human Services. Obama, visibly angry and disappointed in interviews Tuesday night, had planned to spend much of the day promoting the stimulus package, but found the economy eclipsed by a multifront controversy over his nominees and their tax problems.

Economist: The Importance of Being Sinless

President Obama's frankness is welcome. But the scandal is an embarrassment in part because Tom Daschle is a former "man of the people" campaigner, who had made so much since leaving office that he could mislay six figures in taxes.

Washington Post: Administration Is Described as Being at a Loss

The embarrassing departure of any Cabinet choice complicates the work of the White House. But the announcement yesterday that Daschle was withdrawing his nomination and also resigning from the health czar job created especially for him was a particularly damaging blow to the new administration.

Wall Street Journal: Obama on Defense as Daschle Withdraws

Former Sen. Tom Daschle withdrew his nomination as secretary of Health and Human Services after a mounting debate over his back taxes and a lucrative stint in the private sector -- dealing a political setback to the fledgling Obama administration.

Wall Street Journal: Nonprofits Linked to Daschle Spread Cash Around Washington

The founders of two nonprofits that figured in the failed cabinet nomination of former Sen. Tom Daschle have cultivated ties to an array of prominent Washington figures, even as their businesses were coming under scrutiny by the Internal Revenue Service, according to public records, court documents and people familiar with Senate Finance Committee investigation

The Nation: Don't Mourn for Daschle

By opposing Daschle so strenuously, and appropriately, Republicans and a handful of principled Democratic senators (who had quietly let the White House know they were not going to back the nomination) have done the new president and the nation a favor, writes John Nichols.

New York Times: Well, That Certainly Didn't Take Long

It took Daschle's resignation to shake the president out of his arrogant attitude that his charmed circle doesn't have to abide by the lofty standards he lectured the rest of us about for two years, writes columnist Maureen Dowd. Before he recanted, his hand forced by a cascade of appointees who "forgot" to pay taxes, his reasoning was creeping perilously close to that of the outgoing leaders he denounced in his Inaugural Address: that elitist mentality of "we know best," we know we're doing the "right" thing for the country, so we can twist the rules.

Business Week: Smart Tech Asks Where's Our Stimulus?

Tech industry leaders say Congress should use the stimulus legislation to encourage infrastructure investments that include new "smart" technologies.

Fox News: Obama Team 'Encouraged' Defiance of Pelosi on Stimulus

Rep. Jim Cooper, a conservative Democrat from Tennessee, told a liberal radio network on Sunday that the Obama White House encouraged him to defy House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on the $819 billion economic stimulus bill. "Well, I probably shouldn't tell you this, but I actually got some quiet encouragement from the Obama folks for what I'm doing," said Cooper, one of only 11 Democrats to vote against the economic stimulus plan that passed the House last week.

Bloomberg: Medicare 'Rip-Off' Strikes U.S. Elderly as Obama Maps Overhaul*

Just as President Barack Obama starts his overhaul of the U.S. medical system, providers of U.S.- backed health plans for the elderly are jacking up prices. Humana Inc., Health Net Inc. and other providers increased 2009 premiums by 13 percent on average, or more than five times as much as last year, for people who use the Advantage version of Medicare, according to Avalere Health, a consulting company in Washington.

New York Times: Both Parties Move to Aid Homeowners

Having spent hundreds of billions of dollars rescuing financial institutions, only to see the economy spiral even deeper into crisis, liberal and conservative economists and lawmakers are pushing to redirect the economic stimulus bill to what they say is the core problem: the housing market.

Wall Street Journal: Google's Clout Grows as Tech Initiatives Take Shape

Google's effort to increase its presence in Washington is as much about playing defense as offense, in some ways. Google's rivals lost a number of regulatory battles to the search giant in Washington last year and are gearing up to fight over issues expected to be hotly debated this year, including Internet openness and stricter privacy rules.

Weekly Standard: The Next Big Stink

The killjoys are back in charge--the mopes, the fusstails, the glum pots. Their wet blanket has been thrown over the White House and Congress. They're worrying up a storm. (Good thing that George W. Bush is no longer in charge of the weather and FEMA the way he was during Hurricane Katrina.)

Philadelphia Inquirer: Obama Keeps Stem Cell Advocates Waiting

Within days of taking office, President Obama was expected to sign an executive order to remove Bush-era federal funding limits on embryonic-stem-cell research.Now that days are turning into weeks, proponents of the research are looking for explanations while insisting that Obama's support has not wavered. Rep. Mike Castle (R., Del.), a congressional champion of the research, said that last week, he explicitly asked White House officials about it.

New York Times: Obama's Ethics Reform Promise Faces Early Test

Every four or eight years a new president arrives in town, declares his determination to cleanse a dirty process and invariably winds up trying to reconcile the clear ideals of electioneering with the muddy business of governing. Mr. Obama on his first day in office imposed perhaps the toughest ethics rules of any president in modern times, and since then he and his advisers have been trying to explain why they do not cover this case or that case.

Wall Street Journal: Lobbyists Raise Stimulus Price Tag

Competing lobbying efforts are likely to drive up the overall cost of the stimulus package that President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats hope to enact by the end of next week. Florida citrus growers, California wine growers and a range of agricultural interests are pushing a tiny change that would allow farmers to more quickly depreciate new fields. High-tech and pharmaceutical companies want to save billions in taxes by including a plan that would allow them to bring overseas profits back home at lower tax rates.

Bloomberg: GM May Face a $7 Billion Tax Bill Unless Congress Intervenes

General Motors Corp., the automaker getting $13.4 billion in U.S. aid to avoid bankruptcy, may face a tax liability of as much as $7 billion unless Congress intervenes, a person familiar with the matter said. GM is trying to persuade lawmakers to amend the $819 billion stimulus legislation pending in Congress so the tax bill can be avoided, according to the person, who declined to be identified because discussions about the plan are being pursued privately.

USA Today: U.S. libraries on borrowed time?

Dwindling tax dollars are forcing libraries to close branches, cut hours and end programs just as more people are turning to them for services. "Libraries rely on public dollars, and we know there are less public dollars," says Sari Feldman, vice president of the Public Library Association and executive director of the Cuyahoga County Public Library in Ohio.

ClickZ: Is Latest DNC Use of Obama Database Crossing the Line?

Or maybe the better question is, "Where is the line?" The latest use of the massive Obama for America database is an e-mail missive from Organizing for America, the Democratic National Committee project established last month that serves as the post-campaign extension of the Obama marketing machine.

Chicago Tribune: William Ayers Calls Push for His Firing 'Frivolous'

Calling a state senator's push to get him axed from his public university job "frivolous," William Ayers on Thursday said lawmakers have more important things to do than to go after him. Ayers, a former member of the radical Weather Underground and a topic of heated discussion during the 2008 presidential and primary campaigns, was responding to a Downstate Republican's proposal to forbid a public university from employing someone who has "committed a violent act" against the United States or Illinois.

Grand Forks Herald: Coleman, Franken plan differently for Senate

Each U.S. Senate candidate says he is poised to be senator, but Democrat Al Franken and Republican Norm Coleman are preparing differently as they await an outcome in their Senate election, now three months overdue.

Manchester Union Leader: Now that She's a Senator, Where Does She Stand?

Unless the grand plan that sends Judd Gregg to President Barack Obama's cabinet and J. Bonnie Newman to Capitol Hill goes unexpectedly awry, New Hampshire will soon have a U.S. Senator who never had to campaign for the post. No television ads, no debates, no press conferences, no position papers. And so far at least, no interviews.

Bloomberg: IMF Says Advanced Economies Already in Depression

Advanced economies are already in a depression and the financial crisis may deepen unless the banking system is fixed, International Monetary Fund Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn said.

Houston Chronicle: Obama Package Focuses Mostly On Alternative Power Sources

The mammoth economic stimulus bill that is winding its way through Congress largely bypasses Houston-based energy giants and fossil-fuel development in favor of funding new technologies to glean power from crops, the sun and heat trapped beneath the earth

Wall Street Journal: Political Tensions Hamper Search for NASA Chief

Disagreements between the White House and some senior Democratic lawmakers have complicated the choice of the next U.S. civilian space chief -- and led to the emergence of a possible compromise candidate.

New York Times: Furloughs in California Close Many State Offices

In the starkest example of the intensifying budget crisis befalling most states, more than 200,000 California state workers were ordered to stay home Friday, the first of the semimonthly work furloughs across state agencies intended to trim $1.3 billion from California's $143 billion budget.

International Herald Tribune: Startled Iraqis Welcome, Sort Of, Their First Tourist

BAGHDAD: "I am a tourist" were his first words. The telephone line from Falluja was bad, but there could be no mistake. Possibly Iraq's, and certainly Falluja's, first Western leisure visitor was in town. Not for long though. A guard at a checkpoint caught sight of Luca Marchio among the Iraqi passengers on a bus that was heading from Baghdad to the once-notorious - and still tense - western city and alerted his superiors.

Wall Street Journal: Senior Democrat Snubbed by Iran in Outreach Bid

The chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs tried to meet a top aide to Iran's supreme leader in mid-December but was rebuffed at the last minute, a snub that illustrates the challenges to dialogue with Tehran pushed by President Barack Obama. Rep. Howard Berman, a California Democrat, notified Mr. Obama's transition team and the Bush White House of the planned meeting in Bahrain, according to senior Obama administration officials.

Daily Yomiuri (Japan): Obama to Lift China Talks to New Level

The administration of U.S. President Barack Obama has decided to launch a new comprehensive strategic dialogue with China that includes high-level discussions on political, economic and security issues, it was learned Sunday. "We believe that comprehensive bilateral exchanges at the senior-most levels are vital to the creation of a more positive, cooperative relationship between the U.S. and China," a ranking State Department official told The Yomiuri Shimbun.

New York Times: In Daschle's Tax Woes, a Peek Into Washington

Tom Daschle, the former Democratic Senate leader, had been voted out of office. His close friend Leo Hindery, a Democratic donor and media mogul, was out of a job too, having just sold his latest company, Yes Networks. So in early 2005 the two men decided to team up. The partnership has now come back to haunt Mr. Daschle, with the disclosure that he had failed to pay $128,000 in taxes on the car and driver Mr. Hindery's firm provided him, threatening to derail his confirmation as secretary of health and human services.

New York Daily News: Schumer Unlikely to See Competition in 2010 Reelection

Sen. Chuck Schumer has long been among the most powerful elected officials in New York. Now, he may also be the luckiest. The two-term Democrat is unlikely to face any real opposition in his reelection bid next year because of a fluke in the electoral calendar - and a state Republican Party in disarray, GOP leaders are conceding.

The Nation: Dirty Trickster Steele Is New RNC Chair

When Michael Steele ran for Maryland's open US Senate in 2006, his backers hired 300 mostly poor African Americans from Philadelphia -- most if not all of them unemployed, many of them homeless -- fed them donuts and then packed the crew onto Trailways buses for an Election Day trip that would make a bit of political history.

Weekly Standard: Triangulation II

What was striking last week about the House's consideration of the stimulus package was the glimpse it offered of a potentially valuable political strategy for Republicans. Call it "Triangulation II"--the GOP effort to gain advantage by dividing Democrats in Congress from President Obama.

New York Times: A New Symbol of Elite Access: E-Mail to the Chief

It is now the ultimate status symbol in a town obsessed by status. President Obama was spotted last week trying out his new BlackBerry - or actually a more sophisticated, encrypted variation - and aides say that he uses a computer in the study next to the Oval Office but that he has agreed to limit the number of people he would exchange e-mail with. In the process, he created a new measure for Washington to judge who really has the ear, or the thumb, of the president.

Washington Post: Daschle Delayed Revealing Tax Glitch

Tom Daschle waited nearly a month after being nominated to be secretary of Health and Human Services before informing President Obama that he had not paid years of back taxes for the use of a car and driver provided by a wealthy New York investor.

Los Angeles Times: Obama Preserves Renditions as Counter-Terrorism Tool

Under executive orders issued by Obama recently, the CIA still has authority to carry out what are known as renditions, secret abductions and transfers of prisoners to countries that cooperate with the United States.

Daily Beast: Obama's 10 Best Moves and 5 Worst Stumbles So Far

He's had enough success to be polling better than a fairy-tale hero right now, but if his miscues start to add up, his popularity rating may fall to "troll."

Chicago Tribune: Unlikely Rise to the Top for Blagojevich Succesor

Gov. Pat Quinn is an "outsider" who's been bouncing around politics for 37 years and once left state government amid a ghost-payrolling probe. And he's an ethics advocate who defended Blagojevich from corruption accusations until after both were safely re-elected. Now the longtime populist warrior finally gets to see if his approach measures up to the reality of having to govern Illinois at one of the state's most desperate times.

Wall Street Journal: Democrats' Stealth Care

Tom Daschle is still waiting to be confirmed as secretary of health and human services, not that he's in any rush. Democrats are already enacting his and Barack Obama's agenda of government-run health care -- entirely on the QT. With the nation occupied with the financial crisis, and with that crisis providing cover, Democrats have been passing provision after provision to nationalize health care.

New York Daily News: President 's Super Bowl party Has a Political Purpose

He's got a party plan, using social settings and good times to ease the path for his White House policies in a way that no one could have imagined from early-to-bed George W. Bush.