BREAKING: Gregg withdraws  —  WASHINGTON (CNN) — Republican Sen. Judd Gregg of New Hampshire released a statement Thursday withdrawing from consideration to be President Obama's Commerce Secretary.  —  Full statement follows:  —  “I want to thank the President for nominating me to serve in his Cabinet as Secretary of Commerce.

Press, Milbank Protest David Plouffe's Speech  —  Barack Obama's campaign manager, David Plouffe, is slated to appear at the National Press Club to deliver the keynote speech for the Georgetown University and Politico sponsored event “Transition 2009.”  Except, before he even took the stage, things started to unravel.

Juan Williams, NPR and Fox News  —  Juan Williams.  —  NPR has more than 400 reporters, editors, producers and analysts on its news team, and none is more of a lightning rod than Juan Williams.  But it's usually not for anything he says on NPR.  —  Williams joined NPR in 2000 …

Pelosi's mouse slated for $30M slice of cheese  —  UPDATED:  —  Talk about a pet project.  A tiny mouse with the longtime backing of a political giant may soon reap the benefits of the economic-stimulus package.  —  Lawmakers and administration officials divulged Wednesday …

No Mandate for Criminal Probes of Bush Administration  —  Most favor investigations into controversial terror techniques, possible abuse of Justice Dept.  —  PRINCETON, NJ — Earlier this week, Sen. Patrick Leahy called for a special commission to investigate possible government wrongdoing …

Joe The Plumber Conducts Live Hearing On Long-Term Economic Ramifications Of Stimulus Bill  —  I guess those clowns at Pajamas Media are gluttons for ridicule (beginning of video here).  —  After it's over, you must watch Joe's “investigation” of the stimulus bill, in which he shares priceless insights such as,

Greenspan Says He Was Mystified by Subprime Market  —  Alan Greenspan, the former chairman of the Federal Reserve, told CNBC in a documentary to be shown Thursday night that he did not fully understand the scope of the subprime mortgage market until well into 2005 and could not make sense …

True Cost of Stimulus: $3.27 Trillion  —  All of the major news outlets are reporting that the stimulus bill voted out of conference committee last night has a meager $789 billion price tag.  This number is pure fantasy.  No one believes that the increased funding for programs the left loves …

FIRST THOUGHTS: STIMULUS WINNERS, LOSERS  —  From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, and Domenico Montanaro  —  *** Stimulus winners and losers: For the fourth-consecutive day, President Obama hits the road to sell his stimulus — this time visiting Caterpillar in Peoria, IL, before heading to Springfield …

WSJ Editorial Page: Can a newspaper be more misleading than this?  —  Wall St. Journal Editorial Page, today: … Ari Fleischer, Tuesday night, The Bill O'Reilly Show: … Eric Boehlert, Lapdogs: … Michael Crowley, The New York Observer: … Deliberate deceit or complete editorial recklessness …

More Employers Fight Unemployment Benefits  —  In Record Numbers, Employers Move to Block Unemployment Payouts  —  It's hard enough to lose a job.  But for a growing proportion of U.S. workers, the troubles really set in when they apply for unemployment benefits.

Bill Ayers has an idea for Palin  —  (CNN) - Sarah Palin once accused Barack Obama of “palling around with terrorists,” a catchphrase intended to highlight Obama's connection to former Weather Underground member Bill Ayers.  —  Now that the campaign rhetoric has subsided, Ayers has an idea for a new show starring his Alaskan nemesis.

Bush to give speech at private event in Canada  —  lstahl@dallasnews.com  —  Former President George W. Bush's first confirmed speaking engagement since leaving office will take him from Crawford to Canada.  —  Invitations to the event, billed as “a conversation with George W. Bush,” …

John DiStaso's Granite Status: Nashua man's two cents worth $100,000  —  A GRASSROOTS EFFORT.  Fred Tausch of Nashua is a frustrated, well-to-do businessman who got tired of watching politicians of both parties spending taxpayers' money.  And so, spending $100,000 of his own money, he's trying to do something about it.

TRB: In Defense of Waste  —  Note to Republicans: The whole point of the stimulus is to spend money!  —  Republicans like to accuse Democrats of wasting taxpayer dollars and being condescending eggheads.  But if President Obama's economic stimulus fails to prevent a depression …

Runaway Stimulus  —  The president, convinced that the only thing America has to fear is an insufficiency of fear, has warned that “disaster” and “catastrophe” are the certain alternatives to swift passage of the stimulus legislation.  One marvels at his certitude more than one envies his custody of this adventure.

The Loyalists  —  So far, the experiences of Obama and Clinton are similar in one respect.  Not a single House or Senate Republican voted for Clinton's economic agenda in 1993, either on initial passage or when it returned to each chamber from a House-Senate conference committee.

HOW MANY WILL BREAK RANKS?.... By now, the numbers are familiar — zero House Republicans supported the stimulus package when it reached the floor, and only three Senate Republicans voted for it.  I've assumed, as have others, that we'd see similar vote totals when the chambers consider the compromise version announced yesterday.

Obama Campaigning Builds Support for Stimulus Program  —  President Obama's prime-time press conference and his campaign-style events this week have boosted support for the economic recovery plan working its way through Congress.  —  The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds …

Obama Misreads His Mandate  —  Reagan didn't assume his landslide was a license for whatever he wanted.  —  President Barack Obama's honeymoon period seems to have ended quickly.  That's because Mr. Obama doesn't grasp the essentials of presidential leadership.

Hoyer: GOP can't write half of every bill  —  House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) on Thursday dismissed Republican complaints about not being able to “write exactly half of every bill” as a “deeply elitist idea.”  —  Speaking at a forum sponsored by Georgetown University and Politico …

Facebook Removes Conservative Group's Anti-Stimulus Petition  —  (CNSNews.com) - Facebook, one of the Internet's top social networking sites, has kicked out a conservative group's Web site —"NoStimulus.com" — from its paid advertising space.  —  NoStimulus.com, which is promoting a petition …

StimPack Summary  —  After the jump, the latest summary from the House Appropriations Committee.  —  To accomplish these goals, The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act provides $311 billion in appropriations, including the following critical investments:  —  Investments in Infrastructure and Science - $120 billion

Laid-Off Foreigners Flee as Dubai Spirals Down  —  DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Sofia, a 34-year-old Frenchwoman, moved here a year ago to take a job in advertising, so confident about Dubai's fast-growing economy that she bought an apartment for almost $300,000 with a 15-year mortgage.

CNAS Continues its Occupation of the Obama Administration  —  In November, I pointed out that the irregular warfare-heavy think tank known as the Center for a New American Security was basically President Obama's shadow Pentagon.  Well, it's pretty much entirely out of the shadows.

Economists' Hopes for Second-Half Recovery Fade, Survey Finds  —  Prospects for an economic recovery this year are fading.  —  Economists in the latest Wall Street Journal forecasting survey, while still mostly projecting growth in the U.S. gross domestic product by the third quarter …

The new D.C.: Same as it ever was  —  So much for post-partisanship.  —  Not a single House Republican crossed the aisle to vote for the stimulus package, and just three GOP senators made the leap.  Last week, Speaker Nancy Pelosi brushed off calls for a bipartisan consensus as mere …

Senator Charles Schumer in Hot Water With Local Arts Organizations  —  Arts organizations were hoping for some help from the economic-stimulus package.  But they may be left empty-handed, and they're blaming Senator Schumer, though Schumer's office says he was “not aware” …

Tortured to Death  —  While Bush Administration torture-apologists continue to plead that the evidence cannot conclusively establish links between Rumsfeld Pentagon policies and the torture of detainees, the Senate Armed Services Committee concluded otherwise.

Here it is: All 1,434 pages of the porkulus conference report; Detailed spending tables added; More paper waste to come; Update: Look what's back  —  Scroll for updates...updated with more details, docs...  Okay, people.  Now, hurry up and digest this entire 1,434 legislative text …

Apply for a job  —  We're happy to announce that the jobs application feature is now live on WhiteHouse.gov. The Jobs Application feature enables people everywhere to apply to be considered for a political appointment in President Obama's Administration.  You can get to it by clicking on the …

Details of a Trimmer Stimulus Emerge  —  WASHINGTON — The new stimulus package seemed to defy Washington's peculiar laws of physics, where numbers that go up don't often come back down.  —  But by producing a compromise with a sticker price of about $789 billion — less than the amount approved …