For GOP: all pain, no gain  —  Four months after John McCain's sweeping defeat, senior Republicans are coming to grips with the fact that the party is still - in stock market terms - looking for the bottom.  —  Republicans this week are processing two sobering new polls that found …

Obama Taps Clinton Ideas but Not Clinton Herself  —  WASHINGTON — Hillary Rodham Clinton has not participated in any of the White House's planning sessions on health care, the issue that defined her public persona during the 1990s.  Intent on establishing herself as a powerful secretary of state …

Democrats' Diversionary Tactics  —  In the first two months of 2009, the Democratic Congress and the White House have spent more money than the combined cost of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars and the response to Hurricane Katrina.  After they doled out taxpayer dollars at such a blistering pace …

First Lady Michelle Obama shows even she has a gift for the gaffe  —  It was all going so well.  The dresses, the brains, the Vogue cover shoot - everything so far about Michelle Obama has left us wide-mouthed in admiration.  It seemed there was no end to her fabulousness.  Then Mr and Mrs Brown came to stay.

RNC member calls on Steele to quit  —  Michael Steele should resign as Republican National Committee (RNC) chairman, according to a committee member from North Carolina.  —  In an e-mail to fellow RNC members obtained by The Hill, Dr. Ada Fisher, North Carolina's national committeewoman …

2 cops lightly hurt, terrorist shot dead in Jerusalem attack  —  A Palestinian driver rammed a bulldozer into a bus and a police car on a Jerusalem highway Thursday, lightly wounding two officers before he was shot dead - the latest in a string of attacks by Palestinian terrorists using heavy machinery against Israeli civilian targets.

An IG for Chas Freeman  —  Chas Freeman, designated head of the National Intelligence Council, has all the right enemies.  And his enemies are going after him because they don't like the fact that he's criticized Israel in strong terms in the past.  But that said, just because his enemies …

Sex Appeal May Have Hurt Sarah Palin  —  In a Sept. 4, 2008 column, just after Sarah Palin accepted the Republican nomination for vice-president, Will Wilkinson wrote admiringly of her “sexual power,” adding: “I think she is a tremendously sexy woman.  How this will affect the race, I have no idea, but it's just got to.”

Jon Stewart's rant: Santelli re(un)wound  —  Apparently Rick Santelli - famous for “Santelli's rant” on the floor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, a broadcast diatribe against the Obama administration's bailout of bad mortgages - should have shown up on The Daily Show.

Obama surprises daughters with new swing set  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — First daughters Malia and Sasha Obama got a big surprise after school Wednesday: a brand-new swing set.  —  They squealed with delight upon seeing it, a spokeswoman for the first lady said.

Brown says he hasn't filed federal, state taxes in 2 years  —  ATLANTA — Nearly 10 percent of Georgia state legislators are late filing or paying their state taxes, and state Sen. Robert Brown is apparently among them.  —  Brown, D-Macon, said Wednesday he's not sure whether he actually owes …

Matters of Principal  —  TO stanch the hemorrhage of foreclosures, we don't need another bailout.  What we need is a fix — and the wisdom to see what is in our own self-interest.  —  An avalanche of foreclosures is coming — as many as eight million in the next several years.

GM: ‘Substantial doubt’ about survival  —  Automaker's annual report says it hopes to get $7.7 billion from the government to remain viable.  —  NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — General Motors Corp. said in a government filing Thursday that its accounting firm has found there is “substantial doubt” about the automaker's ability to survive.

One France Is Enough  —  The French writer François Mauriac once said during the cold war that he loved Germany so much, he was glad there were two of them.  After what an undivided Germany had done to France in World War II and before, that was understandable.

Professor Takes Heat for Calling Cops on Student Who Discussed Guns in Class  —  A professor in Connecticut reported one of her students to the police after he gave a class presentation on why students and teachers should be allowed to carry concealed weapons on campus.

For Young President, Flecks of Gray  —  WASHINGTON — Well, that didn't take long.  Just 44 days into the job, and President Obama is going gray.  —  It happens to all of them, of course — Bill Clinton still had about half a head of brown hair when he took office but was a silver fox two years later …

White House Rethinks Tax Hikes  —  Obama Open to Revising Plan to Cap Breaks on Mortgage Interest and Donations  —  WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama is meeting strong Democratic Party resistance to his proposal to reduce tax deductions enjoyed by upper-income Americans and could be forced to drop or modify the idea.

Unlucky or Unwise, Some Owners Are Left Out of Plan  —  Chadi Moussa lives in a house valued at more than $1 million in Dublin, Calif., in the desirable East Bay area.  Unfortunately, he owes nearly twice that much on his mortgage.  Mr. Moussa, who runs a used luxury car dealership, is by any definition a troubled homeowner.