Pols eye once-in-a-generation opening  —  The death of Democratic titan Sen. Ted Kennedy, which creates the first Senate opening in Massachusetts in 25 years, is likely to release the pent-up ambitions of a long line of Democrats who will find the upcoming special election hard to pass up.

AP: Bill Richardson Cleared in Fed's Probe  —  Source Says New Mexico Governor, Aides, Will Face No Criminal Charges in Alleged Pay-to-Play Deal  —  (AP) New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson and former high-ranking members of his administration won't be criminally charged in a yearlong federal investigation …

The Real CIA News  —  Interrogations were carefully limited, briefed on Capitol Hill, and yielded information that saved innocent lives.  —  Printer  —  Friendly  —  Whoever advised people to be skeptical of what they read in the papers must have had in mind this week's coverage of the documents about CIA interrogations.

Files prove Pentagon is profiling reporters … WASHINGTON — Contrary to the insistence of Pentagon officials this week that they are not rating the work of reporters covering U.S. forces in Afghanistan, Stars and Stripes has obtained documents that prove that reporters' coverage is being graded as “positive,” “neutral” or “negative.”

The Spend-And-Borrow Economy  —  What's the exit strategy from the monetary and fiscal easing?  —  In the last few months the world economy has been saved from a near-depression.  That feat has been achieved by a range of extraordinary government stimulus measures: In the U.S. and in China …

Palin billed as event speaker but she's not showing up  —  TONIGHT: Spokeswoman says ex-governor was never asked.  —  Organizers of an Anchorage event that has been billing Sarah Palin for weeks as a star speaker were left scrambling Wednesday after learning that the former governor …

Health care industry contributes heavily to Blue Dogs  —  WASHINGTON — As the Obama administration and Democrats wrangled over the timing, shape and cost of health care overhaul efforts during the first half of the year, more than half the $1.1 million in campaign contributions …

Ted Kennedy death gets expected coverage from cable news networks  —  To the casual viewer, cable news coverage of Sen. Edward Kennedy's death Wednesday lined up as neatly as the punch line in a joke about the alleged political agendas of those channels.  —  Starting from the safe premise …

‘Cruel and neglectful’ care of one million NHS patients exposed  —  One million NHS patients have been the victims of appalling care in hospitals across Britain, according to a major report released today.  —  In the last six years, the Patients Association claims hundreds of thousands …

Palin comes out in support of Fox's Beck over boycott  —  WASHINGTON — Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is jumping into the fray over Fox News talk show host Glenn Beck, whose assertion last month that President Barack Obama is “a racist” led to a boycott of the companies advertising on his show …

The Coming Air Force Crisis  —  David Petraeus makes a joke: … As Robert Farley says, this kind of thing is a pretty typical ground forces joke but “the AFA whining reveals a certain insecurity.”  —  It's worth observing that this issue is going to become much more severe in the years to come.

Loss of Health Care Champion Creates Uncertainty  —  WASHINGTON — The death of Senator Edward M. Kennedy has quickly become a rallying point for Democratic advocates of a broad health care overhaul, a signature Kennedy issue that became mired in partisanship while he fought his illness away from the Capitol.

Stung by the Perfect Sting  —  If I read all the vile stuff about me on the Internet, I'd never come to work.  I'd scamper off and live my dream of being a cocktail waitress in a militia bar in Wyoming.  —  If you're written about in a nasty way, it looms much larger for you than for anyone else.

Landrieu says she would likely oppose government insurance option  —  U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu told a relatively friendly overflow Monroe Chamber of Commerce crowd that she would likely oppose any government insurance option in health care reform and lobby against a proposed energy tax known as Cap and Trade.

New projection: 2.3 million fewer people working in 2010  —  Yesterday the Congressional Budget Office released their “summer update” publication, in which they update their baseline budget and economic projections for changes in the economy and legislation enacted so far this year.

Leak: How Mark Penn Converts His Wall Street Journal Column into P.R. Clients  —  Mark Penn, the strategist who dashed Hillary Clinton's presidential hopes, is the Wall Street Journal's “Microtrend"-spotting columnist.  He's also CEO of PR giant Burson-Marsteller.

Dominick Dunne: 1925-2009  —  Dominick Dunne, a best-selling author and special correspondent for Vanity Fair, died today at his home in Manhattan.  He was 83.  —  The cause of death was bladder cancer, said his son Griffin Dunne.  —  Dunne—who joined Vanity Fair in 1984 as a contributing editor …

3 days of rites begin with procession today  —  The path of remembrance for Senator Edward M. Kennedy will follow the trail of his celebrated life - from his beloved Hyannis Port to his fallen brother's presidential library in Dorchester, from the Mission Hill church where Kennedy prayed …

China admits death row organ use  —  China is trying to move away from the use of executed prisoners as the major source of organs for transplants.  —  According to the China Daily newspaper, executed prisoners currently provide two-thirds of all transplant organs.

Kennedy and Chappaquiddick—in the Obits  —  It's always fascinating to see where obituaries first bring up what might be called the biggest (sometimes single) black mark on a notable person's life.  Just last week we looked at when news outlets first mentioned the Plame case in covering the death of Robert Novak.

AARP Poll: 8 in 10 Back Public Option  —  A new survey commissioned by the AARP asks respondents to what degree they support or oppose “[s]tarting a new federal health insurance plan that individuals could purchase if they can't afford private plans offered to them” — a public option, in other words.