BREAKING NEWS: Ridge won't run for Senate  —  After much speculation, former Gov. Tom Ridge today announced that he would not seek the GOP nomination for Senate next year.  —  In a statement, Ridge said he had been heartened by the support and encouragement he received from within the party …

Republicans in Distress: Is the Party Over?  —  These days, Republicans have the desperate aura of an endangered species.  They lost Congress, then the White House; more recently, they lost a slam-dunk House election in a conservative New York district, then Senator Arlen Specter.

Obama's Budget Knife Yields Modest Trims  —  Plan Likely to Face Tough Fight on the Hill  —  President Obama has said for weeks that his staff is scouring the federal budget, “line by line,” for savings.  Today, they will release the results: a plan to trim 121 programs by $17 billion …

Newspaper Narcissism  —  Our pursuit of glory led us away from readers  —  American journalism is in trouble, and the problem is not just financial.  My profession is in distress because for more than a decade it has been chasing the false idols of fame and fortune.

New Deal: Specter Gets a Subcommittee Chairmanship  —  Senate Democratic leaders have reached agreement with Sen. Arlen Specter to partially restore the party switcher's status on the Judiciary Committee, by granting Specter the chairmanship of the Crime and Drugs Subcommittee.

Obama is Spock: It's quite logical  —  “Star Trek” is a cultural comet.  From its tiny, ancient core — a mere 79 episodes, airing before we set foot on the moon — a seemingly infinite tail has grown, its glow still bright after 43 years.  The original series (featuring James T. Kirk …

Franken schools heckler  —  Politicians and stand-up comedians both get plenty of hecklers.  And it looks like Al Franken, as both a comedian and the still-disputed senator from Minnesota, is getting his fair share these days.  —  On Tuesday night, at Bobby Van's on 15th Street near the White House …

Free cars for poor fuel road rage  —  Gov. Deval Patrick's free wheels for welfare recipients program is revving up despite the stalled economy, as the keys to donated cars loaded with state-funded insurance, repairs and even AAA membership are handed out to get them to work.

The ‘Free Choice’ Act Is Anything But  —  George Meany and binding arbitration.  —  Printer  —  Friendly  —  The recent news that Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter has become a member of the Democratic caucus has given new life to legislation that many thought had been put to rest for this Congress …

Hatch: Sotomayor has ‘a problem’  —  Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) said Thursday that Judge Sonia Sotomayor's past statement that the “court of appeals is where policy is made” would be a problem for her if she were nominated for the Supreme Court.  —  “That's a problem,” Hatch said during …

The GOP Doesn't Understand Sex  —  Blogs and Stories  —  Bristol Palin's new abstinence campaign shines a light on the Republican Party's unhealthy attitude about sex and desire.  —  The first time I ever heard about oral sex was during the Lewinsky scandal.

National Security Adviser Jones Says He's ‘Outsider’ in Frenetic White House  —  President Obama's national security adviser, James L. Jones, looks for rare opportunities to ride his bike from his McLean home to work at the White House.  On occasion, he has pedaled back across the Potomac River for lunch.

Threesome Marriages  —  Blogs and Stories  —  First came traditional marriage.  Then, gay marriage.  Now, there's a movement combining both—simultaneously.  Abby Ellin visits the next frontier of nuptials: the “triad.”  —  Less than eighteen months ago, Sasha Lessin and Janet Kira Lessin held …

Presenting ... The GOP's New “Keep Terrorists Out Of America Act”!  —  A House GOP staffer sends over a summary of the “Keep Terrorists Out Of America Act,” which the GOP leadership plans to unveil later today at a press conference, in keeping with the stepped-up national security attacks on Obama I noted here yesterday.

Feds Order GMAC to Raise $13.1 Billion to Shore Up Finances  —  The federal government has ordered the financing arm of General Motors to raise $13.1 billion in new capital to ensure the firm's stability in the face of heavy losses in mortgage and auto lending and costs related to taking …

Thou Shall Not Mock Obama's Mustard  —  My post the other day, MSNBC Hides Obama's Dijon Mustard (aka Dijongate), has hit a nerve unlike anything else I have written.  —  The post concerned the lunch trip of Obama and Biden to a burger shop to get a “Hell Burger.”

Ill. House leader proposes wholesale purge of Blago's people  —  SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan wants to “fumigate” state government with the wholesale dismissal of all appointees of ex-governors Rod Blagojevich and George Ryan - some 3,000 agency officials, and board and commission members.

Any Remorse, Mr. President?  —  The International Committee of the Red Cross confirmed yesterday that “dozens of people, including women and children,” were killed in U.S. air strikes on villages in Western Afghanistan Monday night.  —  You might think something like this would way heavily on President Obama's heart.

ACORN workers charged with forging voter registrations  —  Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen Zappala today charged seven employees of ACORN — the left-leaning Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now — with forgery and election law violations, saying they filed hundreds …

Dem centrists press Pelosi to shelve climate bill  —  Democratic centrists are pressing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to set aside a flagging climate change bill to focus on what they think is a more achievable goal: overhauling the nation's healthcare system.  —  But those close to Pelosi …

BofA And Citi Given 30 Days To Fire Their CEOs  —  The results of the stress test are due to be released at 5:00 PM to ensure minimum news cycle impact, and the Feds have released a statement on what to expect.  By this point, there's been so much leaking and throat clearing, it almost seems like an old story at this point.

Naked in the Naked Public Square  —  We both worried when Miss California showed up at a press conference for our friends at the National Organization for Marriage (NOM).  It was hard to believe the gay-marriage proponents would let this brave young woman get away with her free exercise of free speech without some serious retribution.

Critics: Specter site for campaign cash  —  In two national TV appearances Sunday, Sen. Arlen Specter plugged specterforthecure.com — a website he said he launched to “put more pressure on Congress” to increase funding for medical research.  —  What Specter didn't say …

Obama Offers Compromise on D.C. Tuition Vouchers  —  Tuition Grants Would Continue for Private School Students Already in Program  —  President Obama will propose setting aside enough money for all 1,716 students in the District's voucher program to continue receiving grants …

Sessions open to a gay-tending justice  —  “I don't think a person who acknowledges that they have gay tendencies is disqualified per se for the job,” Sessions tells Mark Halperin on Morning Joe.  —  That doesn't really answer the question of whether he thinks somebody who is openly gay …

Conservatives Prep Dossiers, Polls for Court Fight  —  Clockwise from top left: Curt Levey, Gary Marx and Kellyanne Conway (YouTube, Judicial Confirmation Network)  —  Curt Levey sometimes wears a lapel pin with the faces of Justices John Roberts and Samuel Alito and the legend “Thanks, W.”