Bumps in the Road: Obama's HHS Secretary Nominee Faces Tax Questions Over Car and Driver  —  ABC News has learned that the nomination of former Senator Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., to be President Obama's secretary of health and human services has hit a traffic snarl on its way through the Senate Finance Committee.

5 Facts About The New RNC Chairman  —  Former Maryland Lt. Governor Michael Steele was just elected chairman of the RNC.  Here are five facts about the new leader of the Republican party:  —  1. Steele compared stem cell research to Nazi experiments during the Holocaust.

Angry senator wants pay cap on Wall Street ‘idiots’  —  WASHINGTON (CNN) — One day after President Obama ripped Wall Street executives for their “shameful” decision to hand out $18 billion in bonuses in 2008, Congress may finally have had enough.  —  An angry U.S. senator introduced legislation Friday …

Unlike Bush's ‘Google Bomb,’ Google Quickly Defuses Obama's  —  It took four years for Google to address the “Google bomb” that was lobbed at former President Bush.  —  But it took the Internet behemoth only a few days to defuse the same attack on President Obama.

White House Lawyers Look to Limit Commercial Use of President  —  Jan. 30 (Bloomberg) — Barack Obama's popularity makes him a marketer's dream.  Now, the honeymoon may be over for those trying to profit from his appeal.  —  White House lawyers want to control the use of the president's image …

Why Limbaugh is the new Bush  —  I've been hunting around for polling data to explain why Democrats are so eager to make Rush Limbaugh the face of the Republican Party, and lo, Mark Blumenthal finds some.  —  The numbers are pretty clear.  When this poll was taken last fall …

Richest Americans' Income Doubled as Tax Rate Slashed  —  Jan. 30 (Bloomberg) — The average tax rate paid by the richest 400 Americans fell by a third to 17.2 percent through the first six years of the Bush administration and their average income doubled to $263.3 million, new IRS data show.

Dems: House GOP's Stimulus Plan Would Actually Raise Taxes For Many Americans  —  GOP leaders — led by John Boehner and Eric Cantor — have spent days bashing the economic stimulus package being touted by President Obama and Democrats because it doesn't sufficiently cut taxes.

What getting kicked to the curb in the age of new media looks like … What this means is that as of April 1, I am officially out of work.  So save going to a pay model, this site will likely have to shut down.  —  Small price to pay for helping PJM pick up an audience and credibility during its “formative years.”

Face Of The Day  —  An Iraqi Army soldier gestures from the top of a Humvee parked outside a polling station which will be used in tomorrow's election on January 30, 2009 in Basra, Iraq.  Security in Iraq's second city is being increased with a curfew and total vehicle movement ban imposed …

Sen. Conrad: 'I'd have a very hard time voting' for recovery package as it stands.»  —  Earlier today, Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE) said he is “undecided” on whether to support President Obama's recovery plan.  Another “undecided” Democratic senator is Sen. Kent Conrad (D-ND).

Feds allege plot to destroy Fannie Mae data  —  Fired Fannie Mae worker charged with planting virus to destroy mortgage giant's computer data  —  HAGERSTOWN, Md. (AP) — A fired Fannie Mae contract worker pleaded not guilty Friday to a federal charge he planted a virus designed to destroy …

Analysis: Stimulus bill that's not all stimulating  —  WASHINGTON - They call it “stimulus” legislation, but the economic measures racing through Congress would devote tens of billions of dollars to causes that have little to do with jolting the country out of recession.