Election 2010: Pennsylvania Republican Senate Primary  —  Pennsylvania Senate Primary: Toomey 51% Specter 30%  —  Incumbent Senator Arlen Specter trails former Congressman Pat Toomey by 21 points in an early look at Pennsylvania's 2010 Republican Primary.  Fifty-one percent (51%) …

Key Dem Senator Likely To Vote Against Top Obama Legal Nominee  —  Uh oh.  This could signal real trouble for a key Obama nominee under assault by the right: Office of Legal Counsel chief Dawn Johnsen, a fierce Bush critic who would be at the center of the war over whether Obama …

Reconciliation Now Has a Date: October 15  —  It's been in the works for a while and now, according to senior Captiol Hill staffers, it's a done deal: The final budget resolution will include a “reconciliation instruction” for health care.  That means the Democrats can pass health care reform …

Obtained: Cheney's Request Form Detailing The Two CIA Torture Docs He Wants  —  I've just obtained from the National Archives the actual request form that Dick Cheney submitted for CIA documents he claims will prove that torture worked.  —  Cheney requested all of two CIA documents, a total of 21 pages.

Gingrich vs. Gore in global warming showdown  —  It's Gingrich vs. Gore at Friday's global warming hearing.  —  The House Energy and Commerce subcommittee has added former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) to the roster of witnesses for its hearing on a climate bill Friday.

Video: Frank in 2005 — Bubble?  What bubble?  —  Barney Frank argued this week that he had always warned about the excesses of pushing home ownership and had advocated for rentals instead.  Our friends at Verum Serum couldn't believe their ears, because Frank has long been one of the loudest …

Minnesotans won't know second Senator until at least June  —  The state Supreme Court set the schedule today for the legal showdown between Democrat Al Franken and Republican Norm Coleman over the Senate seat that has been vacant since January.  —  Minnesotans won't know who will be their second U.S. Senator until at least June.

Obama avoids calling Armenian slaughter ‘genocide’  —  In a statement on Armenian Remembrance Day, Obama defers to the realpolitik of relations with Turkey and backs off a pledge to call the Armenian genocide “genocide.”  —  Instead, he uses an Armenian term for the events, and refers to them as …

Regulators Disclose Criteria for Bank ‘Stress Tests’  —  Federal regulators released the criteria they used to assess the financial health of the nation's 19 biggest banks on Friday, but provided little new information for investors to distinguish the industry's weak players from the strong.

Ambushing Bill O'Reilly's Ambusher  —  Gawker has some questions for Jesse B. Watters, the Fox News producer that Bill O'Reilly likes to send out to ambush his enemies.  So we're outside his building in Long Island.  Right now.  (Hi, Jesse!)  —  This apartment building is the last known address …

Reclaiming America's Soul  —  “Nothing will be gained by spending our time and energy laying blame for the past.”  So declared President Obama, after his commendable decision to release the legal memos that his predecessor used to justify torture.  Some people in the political and media establishments have echoed his position.

US to release prisoner abuse pictures  —  Official says up to 2,000 pictures taken between 2001 and 2006 are not as bad as Abu Ghraib but ‘not good’ either  —  The Obama administration is set to intensify the torture debate by releasing scores of new pictures showing abuse of prisoners held by the US in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Why Don't We All Focus On “Looking Forward”  —  There's a bar in the East Village that offers five shots of anything for ten bucks.  I'm going there tonight, and taking 10 shots of anything the crowd reccommends.  Then I'm going to stand on the street soliciting random women for sex.

Taliban Spokesman Blames American Women  —  Update |  1:25 p.m. Britain's Channel 4 News aired a video report on Thursday night showing Taliban forces on the streets of the strategically important Pakistani town of Buner, just 70 miles from the country's capital, Islamabad.

BANANA REPUBLICS.... To paraphrase Inigo Montoya, Republicans keep using this phrase, but I don't think it means what they think it means.  —  On Tuesday, Karl Rove argued on Fox News that accountability for Bush administration officials who broke the law would make United States …

Palin, Fundraising Firm Part Ways  —  Campaign Solutions, a Republican consulting firm advising Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's political action committee, has parted ways with the former Republican vice presidential nominee.  —  The group had been working with the Palin operation to raise money …