Poll: Obama's rating at all-time high  —  NBC/WSJ poll shows gap between popularity of president and his policies  —  WASHINGTON - After Barack Obama's first six weeks as president, the American public's attitudes about the two political parties couldn't be more different, the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll finds.

White House Knocks Jim Cramer For Calling Obama Budget “Greatest Wealth Destruction By a President”  —  NBC's Tom Costello, on duty at the White House today, asked press secretary Robert Gibbs about some comments made by his CNBC colleague Jim Cramer.  On the Today show this morning …

GOP to Michael Steele: Quiet About Rush Limbaugh or You're Fired  —  Apology to Rush Limbaugh aside, new Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele is coming under fire from his own GOP troops to shut up and focus on his job of organizing the party and raising money, not fighting with his own political kind.

Moderates uneasy with Obama plan  —  Moderate and conservative Democrats in the Senate are starting to choke over the massive spending and tax increases in President Barack Obama's budget plans and have begun plotting to increase their influence over the agenda of a president who is turning out to be much more liberal than they are.

Obama Officials Defend Budget  —  Republicans Criticize Tax Increases, Plan to Cap Pollution  —  Two of the administration's top economic officials defended President Obama's $3.6 trillion budget plan yesterday, arguing that the proposal would finance a historic investment in critical economic priorities …

What Are the Odds of a Depression?  —  International evidence suggests there is a 20% chance our stock-market crash will lead to much worse.  —  Central questions these days are how severe will the U.S. economic downturn be and how long will it last?  —  The most serious concern …

How Quigley claimed Democratic nomination in Rahm Emanuel race  —  Cook County Commissioner Mike Quigley claimed the Democratic nomination to replace Rahm Emanuel in Congress by carrying liberal areas close to the lakefront and doing well enough in many Northwest Side precincts …

Russian President Won't “Haggle” Over US Missile Defense Plans  —  Russian President Dimitry Medvedev's comments came in response to a New York Times report that US President Barack Obama had written a secret letter to his Russian counterpart offering to halt the planned missile shield …

Conservative group funds ads in race to replace Gillibrand  —  (CNN) - A conservative group has launched an ad campaign in support of Republican Jim Tedisco's fight for Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand's former House seat.  —  The conservative Our Country Deserves Better Committee, an independent PAC …

Democratic Revolt May Slow Obama Agenda  —  Democratic Reps. Jim Matheson of Utah and Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona have joined a quiet revolt in the House that could slow some of President Obama's fast-moving priorities.  —  The two are among 49 Democrats from congressional districts …

NRA forces Pelosi retreat  —  Democrats may be running the House, but the National Rifle Association (NRA) can still stop a bill in its tracks.  —  House Democratic leaders on Tuesday pulled legislation from the floor that seemingly had nothing to do with guns because the NRA disliked it.

Ex-Leaders at Countrywide Start Firm to Buy Bad Loans  —  CALABASAS, Calif. — Fairly or not, Countrywide Financial and its top executives would be on most lists of those who share blame for the nation's economic crisis.  After all, the banking behemoth made risky loans to tens of thousands of Americans …

Job Losses Show Breadth of a Recession  —  What does the worst recession in a generation look like?  —  It is both deep and broad.  Every state in the country, with the exception of a band stretching from the Dakotas down to Texas, is now shedding jobs at a rapid pace.

Stage of Fools  —  If only Shakespeare had known how to Twitter.  —  There was a bit of King Lear in the scene on the Senate floor, a stormy, solitary John McCain on “this great stage of fools,” as the Bard wrote, railing against both parties and the president in fiery speeches and rapid-fire tweets.

Wall Street on the Tundra  —  Iceland's de facto bankruptcy—its currency (the krona) is kaput, its debt is 850 percent of G.D.P., its people are hoarding food and cash and blowing up their new Range Rovers for the insurance—resulted from a stunning collective madness.

Limbaugh declares Ed Henry a “butt boy,” but “Jake Tapper is the one guy that's outside of the butt boy bubble in the White House press room”  —  You are right, I dont hear you saying any of those things.  But what I do hear you saying is things are better than they are.  —  You are wrong Rush.

Palin foe gets administration job  —  (CNN) - Alaska State Sen. Kim Elton, one of the leading officials to pursue an investigation of Gov. Sarah Palin during the heat of the presidential campaign, has taken a high-level job in the Interior Department.  —  Palin reacted in a short statement Monday …

You're Dead?  That Won't Stop the Debt Collector  —  MINNEAPOLIS — The banks need another bailout and countless homeowners cannot handle their mortgage payments, but one group is paying its bills: the dead.  —  Dozens of specially trained agents work on the third floor of DCM Services here …