President Obama Does First Formal TV Interview as President with Al-Arabiya  —  As special envoy to the Middle East, George Mitchell heads off to the region to begin work on negotiating a cease fire between Israel and the Palestinians, President Obama has sat for his first formal TV interview …

Officials: Family planning money may be dropped  —  Featured Topics: - Barack Obama - Presidential Transition  —  WASHINGTON - House Democrats are likely to jettison family planning funds for the low-income from an $825 billion economic stimulus bill, officials said late Monday …

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009  —  CBO has released a cost estimate for H.R. 1, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, which was introduced today in the House of Representatives.  A link to the full cost estimate can be found here.

PATERSON LYIN' KING OF STATE  —  KNOWS KENNEDY LEAKER  —  ALBANY - Gov. Paterson yesterday insisted he had no idea who did the slime job on Caroline Kennedy - although the source of the information is about as close to him during the day as his wife is at night.  —  He's a liar.

Senate passes bill to delay digital TV switch  —  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Senate passed a bill on Monday to delay the nationwide switch to digital TV signals, giving consumers nearly four more months to prepare.  —  The transition date would move to June 12 from February 17 under the bill …

Animal Spirits Depend on Trust  —  The proposed stimulus isn't big enough to restore confidence.  —  President Obama is urging Congress to pass an $825 billion stimulus package as soon as possible.  But even that may not be enough to stabilize the economy, since it fails to take into account …

Geography Is Dividing Democrats Over Energy  —  WASHINGTON — President Obama is moving quickly to act on the environmental promises that were a centerpiece of his campaign.  But tackling global warming will be far more difficult — and more costly — than the new emissions standards …

Power, politics, gossip on daily call  —  The conversations don't begin with hello.  They don't end with goodbye.  Most often they pick up with a low, drawling voice uttering something between a sentence and a grunt.  —  “Wahzgoanawn?”  —  For those not accustomed to hearing James Carville …

Gillibrand trapped in exile  —  New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand will be sworn in at 12:30 Tuesday, but she won't be handed the keys to Hillary Clinton's swanky Russell Senate Office Building suite for two whole months.  —  She'll be relegated instead to temporary quarters …

“VERY DIFFICULT”  —  Some train wrecks are just impossible to watch and impossible not to watch.  Here's ex-Merrill CEO John Thain explaining the whole $1.2 million office renovation story in an interview with CNBC's Maria Bartiromo this afternoon.  The first question is just about the office renovation …

Welch gives back $20K from Rangel  —  Rep. Peter Welch (Vt.), a new Democratic member of the House ethics committee, gave back nearly $20,000 in donations he received from Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.), who is under investigation by the panel for an array of ethics charges.

Obama's victory?  Burris credits Martin Luther King and himself  —  Gov. Blagojevich compared himself to Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Mohandas Gandhi and Nelson Mandela.  But he's not the only Illinois official stretching to elevate himself to high stature.

93-year-old man freezes to death indoors  —  93-year-old man had more than $1,000 in unpaid power bills  —  BAY CITY, Mich. - A 93-year-old man froze to death inside his home just days after the municipal power company restricted his use of electricity because of unpaid bills, officials said.

Egypt to Hamas: Take Gaza truce before Netanyahu is voted PM  —  Officials in Egypt are attempting to persuade Hamas to accept Israel's current offer of a cease-fire in Gaza before a far less accommodating government under Likud Chairman Benjamin Netanyahu is elected, the pan-Arab daily Asharq Al-Awsat reported Monday.

Who should replace Bill Kristol?  —  With William Kristol gone from the New York Times op-ed page, that leaves David Brooks — a fan of talking philosophy with Obama — as the lone conservative regularly on the page.  Since September 2003, when Brooks joined the op-ed page …

GORE HEARING ON WARMING MAY BE PUT ON ICE  —  Al Gore is scheduled before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday morning to once again testify on the ‘urgent need’ to combat global warming.  —  But Mother Nature seems ready to freeze the proceedings.

The B.O. Republicans who voted for Geithner — and video of Inhofe's statement  —  Here is the roll call vote on the Geithner nomination:  —  And here are the 10 B.O. (Barack Obama/Bend Over) Republicans who sided with Obama and the Dems:  —  Corker (R-TN)  —  Cornyn (R-TX)  —  Crapo (R-ID)