Liberal Suicide March  —  It was interesting to watch the Republican Party lose touch with America.  You had a party led by conservative Southerners who neither understood nor sympathized with moderates or representatives from swing districts.  —  They brought in pollsters to their party conferences …

Most will carry Obama press conference; time shifted after NBC balked  —  UPDATED: After some hesitation and a time shift, three major broadcast networks have agreed to carry Barack Obama's latest primetime news conference.  —  The event was announced Friday afternoon as Obama battles …

Lawyer's Statement on the Arrest of Henry Louis Gates Jr.  —  Charles Ogletree gives Gates' side of the story in controversial arrest of The Root's editor-in-chief.  —  Statement on Behalf of Henry Louis Gates, Jr. — by Charles Ogletree  —  This brief statement is being submitted on behalf of my client …

W.H. gains momentum in F-22 fight  —  With a vote set for high noon on Tuesday, the political tide in the Senate has shifted to now favor the White House and Pentagon in their pivotal fight to strike new procurement funds for the F-22 fighter.  —  Just last week, conventional wisdom held …

Health-Care Firms Have Supported Lawmakers Debating Reform  —  As liberal protesters marched outside, Sen. Max Baucus sat down inside a San Francisco mansion for a dinner of chicken cordon bleu and a discussion of landmark health-care legislation under consideration by his Senate Finance Committee.

The Fed's Exit Strategy  —  The depth and breadth of the global recession has required a highly accommodative monetary policy.  Since the onset of the financial crisis nearly two years ago, the Federal Reserve has reduced the interest-rate target for overnight lending between banks (the federal-funds rate) nearly to zero.

Amman begins stripping state's Palestinians of citizenship  —  Article's topics: Jordan, Palestinians, West Bank, PLO  —  Jordanian authorities have started revoking the citizenship of thousands of Palestinians living in Jordan to avoid a situation in which they would be “resettled” …

Budget accord reached  —  Calling for deep cuts and avoiding broad tax hikes, Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders agree on ways to close California's $26.3-billion deficit.  —  Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders announced today that they have reached a deal …

New NASA Images Indicate Object Hits Jupiter  —  Scientists have found evidence that another object has bombarded Jupiter, exactly 15 years after the first impacts by the comet Shoemaker-Levy 9.  —  Following up on a tip by an amateur astronomer, Anthony Wesley of Australia, that a new dark …

Top Earners' Pay Erodes Social Security  —  Fund Expected to Be Exhausted in 2037  —  The nation's wealth gap is widening amid an uproar about lofty pay packages in the financial world.  —  Executives and other highly compensated employees now receive more than one-third of all pay in the U.S. …

Benjamin: Too Heavy to Be Nation's Top Doc?  —  Leading Experts Say Dr. Benjamin, Though Stellar Nominee, Gives Wrong Message  —  Dr. Regina M. Benjamin, Obama's pick for the next surgeon general, was hailed as a MacArthur Grant genius who had championed the poor at a medical clinic she set up in Katrina-ravaged Alabama.

Republicans Launch New Effort to Kill Health-Care Measures  —  Emboldened by divided Democrats and polls that show rising public anxiety about President Obama's handling of health care and the economy, Republicans on Monday launched an aggressive effort to link the two, comparing …

FL-Senate: Rubio's Running (Still)  —  Former Florida state House Speaker Marco Rubio (R) will not exit the state's open seat Senate race despite facing long odds and a cash deficit against Gov. Charlie Crist (R), according to sources familiar with his decision.

Fake Pro-Life Abortion Bill Expected in Congress, Ups Planned Parenthood Funds  —  Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — A former leader for one of the nation's largest pro-abortion groups and a congressman who abandoned his pro-life views to such a large extent that a pro-life group kicked him off …

More on centrist logic  —  Following up on yesterday's post, let me drill down a bit on the question of what I consider to be the political calculations of centrist Democrats.  —  Look at it this way.  There are four possible outcomes on healthcare, or any piece of legislation:

President Barack Obama authorizes extended Secret Service guard for former VP Dick Cheney  —  WASHINGTON - Former Vice President Dick Cheney's Secret Service protection has been extended for at least another six months, beginning Tuesday.  —  Normally, ex-veeps only get six months of protection at taxpayer expense.

Kristol: Shut Up, Obama Explained  —  “The time for talk is through.”  — President Obama, talking to liberal bloggers on a conference call Monday night.  —  The Democratic bills in the House and Senate are a thousand pages long.  They're still changing as committees try to mark them up …

For the record, today I was able to figure out the allegation about my staff flipping off protestors at my St Louis office on Friday.  There was only one male staffer at the office on Friday, and I knew he wouldn't do that.  He is an Iraq veteran, who handles almost all of our case work for our veterans.

Presidential approval tracker  —  The Gallup organization first started asking Americans how they approved of the job the president was doing in the 1940s.  See how each president since then has fared in the approval poll, look at some news events that influenced public opinion and compare …

Race for Vitter's Senate seat is wide open  —  pmurphy@wwltv.com  —  NEW ORLEANS - The race is more than a year away and there already seems to be a long list of candidate's lining up to challenge Louisiana Senator David Vitter's re-election.  —  Video: Watch the Story

VPOTUS, overheard: ‘Many beautiful women’  —  From Peter Spiegel's pool report from Kiev:  —  VPOTUS and Yushchenko were seated a table in the back of the pub with their two translators, the mayor and vice mayor of Kiev, and the head of the presidential secretariat....  Yushchenko was talking about Ukrainian churches.

Three Myths about the Consumer Financial Product Agency  —  This guest post was contributed by Elizabeth Warren, chair of the Congressional Oversight Panel and the Leo Gottlieb Professor of Law at Harvard University.  (Update: more on the case for a CFPA in her YouTube video, released yesterday.)