Iran's senior ayatollah slams election, confirming split  —  Mousavi supporters streaming down Vali Asr Street in Tehran Tuesday.  —  TEHRAN, Iran — Supporters of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his main rival in the disputed presidential election, Mir Hossein Mousavi …

Ensign Acknowledges Extramarital Affair  —  UPDATE, 6:55 p.m.: In a press conference moments ago, Ensign admitted the affair but seemed resolved to remain in political life.  “Last year I had an affair,” said Ensign.  “I violated the vows of my marriage.”  Ensign did not name the woman …

W.H.: Fired IG ‘confused, disoriented’  —  President Barack Obama removed a government agency's internal watchdog last week and plans to fire him in part because he was “confused” and “disoriented” at a meeting last month, the White House said in a letter to Congress Tuesday night.

U.S. to Extend Its Job Benefits to Gay Partners  —  President Obama will sign a presidential memorandum on Wednesday to extend benefits to same-sex partners of federal employees, administration officials said Tuesday evening, but he will stop short of pledging full health insurance coverage.

Dems reel on healthcare  —  Congressional Democrats and the White House are scrambling to regain their footing after a series of setbacks has stalled political momentum to reform the nation's healthcare system.  —  Despite having a popular president in the White House and comfortable majorities in Congress …

Obama Blueprint Deepens Federal Role in Markets  —  Plan to Overhaul Financial Regulation Focuses on Consumer Protection, Risk  —  The Obama administration last night detailed a series of proposals to involve the government more deeply in private markets, from helping to steer borrowers …

Letterman protest draws more media than activists  —  NEW YORK (CNN) — A protest rally against David Letterman over a failed joke about Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and her daughter attracted more members of the media than protesters Tuesday afternoon.  —  A crowd of 15 protesters upset …

E-Mail Surveillance Renews Concerns in Congress  —  WASHINGTON — The National Security Agency is facing renewed scrutiny over the extent of its domestic surveillance program, with critics in Congress saying its recent intercepts of the private telephone calls and e-mail messages of Americans …

Obama frets on debt, sees U.S. unemployment rising  —  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama said on Tuesday that worrying about the U.S. government's finances “keeps me awake at night” and the country needed to start planning now to tackle soaring deficits.

Obama's Conundrum: Shunning Iran's Opposition  —  The turmoil in Iran since last week's election has confused the foreign policy debate here in the United States in interesting ways.  Supporters of President Obama, who until very recently had railed against the Bush administration's …

The Politics of Controlled Crisis  —  Longtime AI commenter John Thacker, at Marginal Revolution: … I have asked this question a number of times, less pithily.  Few wonks are even willing to acknowledge that expanding a program does not usually make it then easier to reform.