McCain Campaign Spent $110,000 on Palin's Stylists  —  Gov. Sarah Palin's traveling makeup artist was paid $68,400 and her hair stylist received more than $42,000 for roughly two months of work, according to a new campaign finance report filed with the Federal Election Commission.

Jobless Rate Soars to 6.7% in November  —  With the economy deteriorating rapidly, the nation's employers shed 533,000 jobs in November, the 11th consecutive monthly decline, the government reported Friday morning, and the unemployment rate rose to 6.7 percent.

Milestone in Baghdad  —  The barbarism in Mumbai and the economic crisis at home have largely overshadowed an otherwise singular event: the ratification of military and strategic cooperation agreements between Iraq and the United States.  —  They must not pass unnoted.

Truthers to the left of me, truthers to the right  —  Creators Syndicate  —  Did you know that Sarah Palin-haters are still trying to prove she didn't give birth to her youngest son, Trig?  These tinfoil hat-wearers are as obnoxious and unhinged as the 9/11 Truth cultists who insist …

SCOTUS considers Obama citizenship  —  The U.S. Supreme Court will decide Friday whether to take up a case over president-elect Barack Obama's citizenship — one of a few around the country seeking to nullify his election, but this one has an interesting lineage.

‘At Least Bush Kept Us Safe’  —  The two words Democrats don't want tacked onto that sentence.  —  Washington  —  To drive through the suburbs of Northern Virginia is to marvel still at the widespread wealth, the mansions and mini-mansions that did not exist a quarter-century ago and that now thicken the woods and hills.

Who Will He Choose?  —  As in many other areas, the biggest education debates are happening within the Democratic Party.  On the one hand, there are the reformers like Joel Klein and Michelle Rhee, who support merit pay for good teachers, charter schools and tough accountability standards.

Democrats: Obama Needs Hands-On Economic Approach  —  WASHINGTON — Democrats are growing impatient with President-elect Barack Obama's refusal to inject himself in the major economic crises confronting the country.  Obama has sidestepped some policy questions by saying there is only one president at a time.

Next on Obama's Dance Card, Mother Nature  —  The Obama transition team, moving along smartly to fill Cabinet posts, is planning to trot out nominees as early as next week for three jobs much watched by enviros: the secretaries of energy and the interior and the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.

Critics rap MSNBC, Matthews  —  MSNBC and its talk show host Chris Matthews are coming under increasing criticism as more and more details have emerged to reveal the extent of the pundit's preparations to challenge Republican Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania.

Team of Heavyweights  —  President-elect Barack Obama has appointed an extraordinary team for national security policy.  On its face, it violates certain maxims of conventional wisdom: that appointing to the Cabinet individuals with an autonomous constituency, and who therefore are difficult to fire …

New lending deals won't bring back 2006  —  THE GREAT housing cycle of the aughts - the 73 percent increase in housing prices between 2001 and 2006 and the 22 percent decline since then - was built on three illusions.  Too many homebuyers thought housing prices would go up forever.

Bush: Iraq war longer, more costly than expected  —  Featured Topics: - Barack Obama - Presidential Transition  —  WASHINGTON - President Bush said Friday that the fight in Iraq has been longer and more costly than expected, but he defended the U.S.-led invasion, saying the world …

Obama's choice of Xavier Becerra revives 2001 clemency case  —  Becerra, offered the post of U.S. trade representative, was involved in the 2001 commutation of a prison sentence for cocaine dealer Carlos Vignali.  So was attorney general nominee Eric Holder.

Feds taped Blagojevich  —  Adviser cooperated with corruption probe, sources say  —  Federal investigators recently made covert tape recordings of Gov. Rod Blagojevich in the most dramatic step yet in their corruption investigation of him and his administration, the Tribune has learned.