Harkin says he has the votes to pass public option bill in the Senate  —  The Senate has the votes to pass a healthcare reform bill including a public option, a key Senate chairman said Tuesday.  —  Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa.), the chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) …

GOP Rep. Trent Franks Calls Obama “An Enemy Of Humanity”  —  WHAT'S YOUR REACTION?  —  A Republican member of the House of Representatives accused President Barack Obama of being “an enemy of humanity” during a conservative values forum this past weekend.  —  In a speech Saturday …

The Politico Gets Played By ACORN  —  One thing that journalists don't seem to get about ACORN is that it is a strange, complex creature with tentacles that reach into the highest levels of the United States government, the Democratic Party, corporate America, the labor movement …

Poll: Blanche Lincoln Trails Republican Challengers  —  A new Rasmussen poll has some bad news for Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-AR), who is up for re-election in 2010: She's trailing all four of her Republican challengers in a state that has been trending more to the GOP.

S.D. ghostwriter mum on Sarah Palin memoir  —  One San Diegan knows all the details of Sarah Palin's soon-to-be released memoir, but don't ask her about it.  She can't tell.  —  Lynn Vincent, Palin's ghostwriter, has signed a non-disclosure agreement.  She has been hard at work on the book …

First lady says ‘gloves are off’ in bid for Olympics  —  WASHINGTON (CNN) — First lady Michelle Obama vowed Monday to “take no prisoners” as she and her husband launch an unprecedented bid for Chicago's 2016 Olympic bid.  —  “It's a battle — we're going to win — take no prisoners,” …

Europe's Socialists Suffering Even in Downturn  —  PARIS — A specter is haunting Europe — the specter of Socialism's slow collapse.  —  Even in the midst of one of the greatest challenges to capitalism in 75 years, involving a breakdown of the financial system due to “irrational exuberance …

Right-Wing Panel Agrees Obama Is The ‘First Muslim American President’  —  At the How to Take Back America conference last weekend, attended by several Republican lawmakers, former Reagan official and prominent neoconservative Frank Gaffney, right-wing historian Bill Federer …

NEWLY DISCOVERED: COMMUNITY ORGANIZERS APPEAR TO ‘PRAY’ TO PRESIDENT-ELECT OBAMA  —  The Gamaliel National Clergy Caucus held “a New Orleans style funeral procession as they deliver a casket symbolizing the death of old ways of providing health care and pray for a new day for health care in America.”

Generals: Cheneys scaremongering  —  About a dozen retired generals and admirals, trying to add momentum to President Barack Obama's effort to close the Guantanamo Bay military prison, are accusing former Vice President Dick Cheney and his daughter Liz of scaremongering about the dangers of closing it.

Bill  —  I can think of nothing more disturbing than the use of fallen soldiers as political fodder.  Shame on you, you political hacks.  May God forgive you.  —  So the Pres doesn't have time to discuss the General's troop request, but has time to continue pushing Heathcare reform 60% …

Berkeley may sign onto U.N. treaties  —  Berkeley would become the first city in the United States to independently try to comply with U.N. treaties on torture, civil rights and racial discrimination, if the City Council passes a measure on the issue tonight.

Morning Fix: Attack Dog Needed?  —  AP Photo/St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Dawn Majors  —  The national debate over President Obama's health care plan has exposed a weakness in the Democratic Party apparatus: it lacks a high profile surrogate to push back — hard — against the rhetorical arguments put forward by Republicans.

Start making your case.  —  Use the entry form to send us a short opinion essay (400 words or less) pegged to a topic in the news and an additional paragraph (100 words or less) on yourself and why you should win.  Entries will be judged on the basis of style, intelligence and freshness of argument …

Did ACORN Elect Al Franken?  —  Robert Samuelson scorns the egomaniacal “quest for glory” of Congressional Democrats who are trying to pass health care reform.  But of course the quest for glory may be the only reason a worthwhile reform could still pass.  It ain't going to pass it because it's popular!

Public Support For Health Reform Increases in September, Reversing Summer Declines as Congress Takes Up Legislation  —  Survey Finds Support For New Proposals For Fees And Taxes on Insurance Companies to Help Pay For Overhaul  —  MENLO PARK, CA — Public support for health reform ended its summer slide …

Time for Obama to Act Like a President  —  Sooner or later it is going to occur to Barack Obama that he is the president of the United States.  As of yet, though, he does not act that way, appearing promiscuously on television and granting interviews like the presidential candidate he no longer is.

Democratic Donor Gets 24-Year Term  —  NEW YORK — A federal judge Tuesday sentenced Democratic fund-raiser Norman Hsu to more than 24 years in prison for illegally funneling money to U.S. political candidates and for defrauding investors in a multimillion-dollar Ponzi scheme.