Democrats Set Sights on Republican Senators Who Oppose Stimulus Plan  —  WASHINGTON — Senator Judd Gregg awoke to the bad news on Thursday morning that a coalition of Democratic groups had planned to run television advertisements in his state to pressure him to support President Obama's economic recovery plan.

U.S. Eyes Two-Part Bailout for Banks  —  The nation's top economic officials are discussing a new way to stabilize the financial system by buying a portion of banks' bad assets and offering guarantees against future losses on some of the remainder, in an effort to help banks while trying to mitigate the cost to taxpayers.

Bush lawyer directs Rove not to talk to Congress—once again  —  Just four days before he left office, President Bush instructed former White House aide Karl Rove to refuse to cooperate with future congressional inquiries into alleged misconduct during his administration.

Professor who slammed Clinton will be Obama aide  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — Samantha Power, the Harvard University professor who earned notoriety for calling Hillary Rodham Clinton a “monster” while working to elect Barack Obama president, will take a senior foreign policy job at the White House, The Associated Press has learned.

On His Way Out, Blagojevich Makes a Day of It  —  CHICAGO — As the nine-seat airplane raced through the skies on Thursday somewhere between Springfield and here, an onboard telephone began to ring.  —  Rod R. Blagojevich, the soon-to-be ex-governor of Illinois, instructed his aides not to answer.

Steep Slide in U.S. Economy, but Not as Dire as Forecast  —  The United States economy shrank at its fastest pace in a quarter century from October through December, the government reported on Friday, in the broadest accounting yet of the toll of the credit crisis.

Obama Distorts America's Stance on Muslims  —  Every new president flatters himself that he, kinder and gentler, is beginning the world anew.  Yet, when Barack Obama in his inaugural address reached out to Muslims by saying “to the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward …

Option ARMs See Rising Defaults  —  Woes Mount in $750 Billion Home-Loan Market; Analysts' Dim Views  —  Defaults on a popular form of mortgage that gave home buyers a choice of how much to pay each month are rising and could rival those on subprime loans, potentially causing more trouble for investors and banks.

Time to put middle class front and center  —  For years, we had a White House that failed to put the middle class front and center in its economic policies.  —  President Obama has made it clear that is going to change.  And it's why he has asked me to lead a task force on the middle class.

Health Care Now  —  The whole world is in recession.  But the United States is the only wealthy country in which the economic catastrophe will also be a health care catastrophe — in which millions of people will lose their health insurance along with their jobs, and therefore lose access to essential care.

Sticking It to Rahm  —  We Hate Rahm: Inside the GOP's Obama Revolt by John Batchelor  —  Blogs and Stories  —  Emanuel, working with his old boss and ally, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, made it easy for the Republicans to resist.  Every penny in the more than 600-page bill came …

Army suicides at record high, passing civilians  —  Featured Topics: - Barack Obama - Presidential Transition  —  WASHINGTON - Stressed by war and long overseas tours, U.S. soldiers killed themselves last year at the highest rate on record, the toll rising for a fourth straight year …

What a 1988 college thesis by the former vice president's daughter tells us about the Bush presidency.  —  When I worked at the library at Colorado College, I quickly discovered the job had few perks.  The free book loans on demand were little better than subprime mortgages when you realized anyone could get them.

After Jabs at Cheney, Biden Pursues an Activist Role  —  Vice President Follows Initial Gaffes by Diving Into Wide Range of Issues; Drawing Contrasts With Predecessor  —  WASHINGTON — Vice President Joe Biden, in a bid to become an influential second-in-command, is striving to carve out meaty roles for himself quickly.

Zimbabwe cholera cases top 60,000  —  More than 60,000 people in Zimbabwe have now been infected by cholera, the World Health Organization (WHO) says.  —  This figure had been described by the UN's health agency and other agencies as being the “worst case scenario” in the epidemic which broke out in August.

For first time, U.S. professors call for academic and cultural boycott of Israel  —  In the wake of Operation Cast Lead, a group of American university professors has for the first time launched a national campaign calling for an academic and cultural boycott of Israel.

For GOP, a Case of Misshapen Identity  —  Who am I?  Why am I?  Where am I going?  —  So very, very much for the Republican to ponder in this Winter of the Democrats' Contentment.  So many questions.  Even the reliable color scheme has gone blurry.  Isn't that big-shot GOP strategist …