Support for Stimulus Package Falls to 37%  —  Support for the economic recovery plan working its way through Congress has fallen again this week.  For the first time, a plurality of voters nationwide oppose the $800-billion-plus plan.  —  The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found …

Cheney warns of new attacks  —  Former Vice President Dick Cheney warned that there is a “high probability” that terrorists will attempt a catastrophic nuclear or biological attack in coming years, and said he fears the Obama administration's policies will make it more likely the attempt will succeed.

THANKS A LOT, DUDE  —  I think it's understandable, though unfortunate in terms of the future of the country and the interests of justice, that Sen. Gregg (R-NH) made it a condition of his accepting the Commerce appointment that he'd be replaced by a Republican.

Florida Student Asks Scalia a Question — and Gets Scolded  —  Where others fear to tread, a 20-year-old college student from Tequesta, Fla.,boldly stepped forward Tuesday to ask Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia a question he did not like during a public appearance in West Palm Beach.

The Impending Obama Meltdown  —  Some of us have been warning that it was not healthy for the U.S. media to have deified rather than questioned Obama, especially given that they tore apart Bush, ridiculed Palin, and caricatured Hillary.  And now we can see the results of their two years of advocacy rather than scrutiny.

EXCLUSIVE: Obama backs out on Iraq appointment  —  The Obama administration asked retired Marine Gen. Anthony Zinni to be U.S. ambassador to Iraq but abruptly withdrew the appointment without explanation, Gen. Zinni said Tuesday.  —  Gen. Zinni, a former commander of Central Command …

Palin takes on Ashley Judd's ‘extreme fringe group’  —  (CNN) - Alaska governor Sarah Palin's support for aerial wolf-hunting has sparked a heated cross-country war of words between the governor and an environmental ad campaign fronted by the actress Ashley Judd, with Palin calling …

Well, That Certainly Didn't Take Long  —  On 9/11, President Bush learned of disaster while reading “The Pet Goat” to grade-school kids.  On Tuesday, President Obama escaped from disaster by reading “The Moon Over Star” to grade-school kids.  —  “We were just tired of being in the White House …

PHIL BREDESEN AS DASCHLE'S REPLACEMENT?  —  He's not the only candidate.  But an array of sources say he's a serious candidate.  And he'd be a very risky choice.  —  Phil Bredesen is the governor of Tennessee.  Before he was the governor of Tennessee, he made his money in the managed care revolution …

Vatican turnaround: Holocaust denier must recant  —  VATICAN CITY - The Vatican, bowing to the growing furor over Pope Benedict VXI's decision to accept a return to the church of a prelate who denied the Holocaust, made a dramatic turnaround Wednesday and demanded the bishop recant.

Solis Lingers; Acting Secretary Appointed  —  Amid threats of a Republican hold on Labor Secretary nominee Hilda Solis, President Obama has asked a top department official to serve as Acting Labor Secretary until she's confirmed.  Edward Hugler, currently the deputy assistant secretary for administration …

Why Not Gingrich for HHS?  —  Quick, name three past secretaries of HHS.  Okay, two?  One?  Don't even know what HHS stands for?  Don't worry, most Americans probably would fail this little quiz.  If you passed, take your honors as a super geek.  —  In normal times, the head of the Department …

Death Of A Blogger  —  A prolific blogger is dead.He wroter diaries on the progressive blog, The Daily Kos.  Here's the beginning of the post written by a friend in his spot on the site, under his byline: … Go to the link to read it.  Yes, he left a political message …

California farms, vineyards in peril from warming, U.S. energy secretary warns  —  'We're looking at a scenario where there's no more agriculture in California,' Steven Chu says.  He sees education as a means to combat threat.  —  Reporting from Washington — California's farms and vineyards …

DENIAL AS POLITICAL STRATEGY  —  Behind all the back and forth over the Stimulus Bill is a simple fact: the debate in Washington is rapidly moving away from any recognition that the US economy — and the global economy, for that matter — is in free-fall.  The range of outcomes stretches …

Obama To Circumvent Media By Selling Stim Package Directly To Public Via Video  —  Here it is: President Obama's first major effort to use his massive campaign email list and communications apparatus to get around the filter of the big news orgs in order to personally sell his agenda directly to the American people.

CNBC's Clueless Mark Haines Calls Me “Clueless” on Morning Joe: I Respond  —  I was on Morning Joe this morning, talking about the bailout.  —  Right after my segment, CNBCs Mark Haines came on and, armed with lots of hostility and no facts, started taking shots at me, calling me “clueless” …

The Karl Rove of the Commode?  —  Call it a pipe dream come true: When members of the Conservative Working Group held their weekly strategy meeting on the Hill on Tuesday morning, they were joined by none other than Joe “the Plumber” Wurzelbacher, who had come to offer his thoughts on the economic recovery bill.

WHAT CHANGE LOOKS LIKE.  —  My reporting has been similar to that of Jon Cohn.  Everyone I've spoken to in the administration has expressed total shock over Daschle's withdrawal.  As recently as last night, they were counting votes and felt certain the nomination was on track for a bumpy but comfortable confirmation.

Ethics Panel to Clear Rangel?  —  House Ways and Means Chairman Charles B. Rangel predicted, on C-SPAN's Newsmakers program that aired Sunday, Feb. 1, 2009, that his multitude of ethics woes would soon disappear.  “I think that next Tuesday you will see a break in this and as soon …

A Barack Too Far?  New Rochelle Public Schools Assign Seven Year Olds to Obama Campaign  —  Students at an elementary school in New Rochelle, NY, a largely Democratic suburb of New York City with a City Council and School Board dominated by Democrats, were recently assigned an in-class assignment …

Coburn Fights Generational Theft Act, AKA Senate Stimulus Bill  —  Modifies bailout to states, eliminates Hollywood bailout, other non-stimulus items  —  (WASHINGTON, D.C.) - U.S. Senator Tom Coburn, M.D. (R-OK) today began offering amendments to the deeply-flawed Senate stimulus bill …

TARP Recipients Paid Out $114 Million for Politicking Last Year  —  The companies that have been awarded taxpayers' money from Congress's bailout bill spent $77 million on lobbying and $37 million on federal campaign contributions, Center finds.  The return on investment: 258,449 percent.

Pelosi: 500 million jobs lost every month  —  Dear lord, it really is a Depression: At this rate, we'll lose 6 billion jobs this year.  Or rather 5,997,000,000, thanks to those 3 million the stimulus is going to “save or create.”  Assuming, of course, it passes, which is suddenly less certain than it used to be.