BREAKING FROM NBC: White House official calls gays part of “Internet left fringe”  —  UPDATE FROM PAM: … And let me just add that if we're all insignificant children who don't understand politics, and who the White House doesn't worry about, then why did a White House official feel the need …

Insurance Group Says Health Bill Will Mean Higher Premiums  —  Report Issued Before Key Committee Vote  —  After months of collaboration on President Obama's attempt to overhaul the nation's health-care system, the insurance industry plans to strike out against the effort on Monday …

Heckuva Job, Barack  —  This was Barack Obama's chance.  —  Here was an opportunity to cut himself free, in a stroke, from the baggage that's weighed his presidency down — the implausible expectations, the utopian dreams, the messianic hoo-ha.  —  Here was a place to draw …

Pelosi Key to GOP 2010 Playbook  —  Republicans Hope Linking House Speaker to Democrats Can Turn Centrist Districts  —  WASHINGTON — Republicans are stepping up attacks on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, deciding that a major part of their 2010 electoral strategy will be linking Democratic candidates to her.

Gov. Crist and Freedom's Watch funder plan to fundraise together  —  Florida Gov. Charlie Crist will head to Las Vegas at the end of the month for a well-backed, high-priced fundraiser with perhaps the Republican Party's wealthiest donor.  —  Crist will benefit from a fundraiser …

Cable News Irony Alert: CNN, Fox and The Disappearing General Audience  —  White House Communications Director Anita Dunn appeared Sunday morning on Howard Kurtz's CNN show Reliable Sources to discuss her comments in my TIME magazine story this week.  She continued her criticism of Fox News:

Civilian Goals Largely Unmet in Afghanistan  —  WASHINGTON — Even as President Obama leads an intense debate over whether to send more troops to Afghanistan, administration officials say the United States is falling far short of his goals to fight the country's endemic corruption …

‘Conceptual language’ hides health care's cost  —  Senior Political Analyst  —  Some of the headlines in recent days are not worthy of belief.  No, I'm not referring to the headlines that Barack Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize, however odd that many seem to many (including, it seems, Obama himself).

What if Tom Campbell had money?  —  (Paul Sakuma / Associated Press / September 16)  —  The Republican is not far from the California mainstream, but his race for governor needs dollars.  —  Capitol Journal  —  From Sacramento  —  Tom Campbell is one of those “what if?” political candidates with intriguing potential scenarios.

Why Email No Longer Rules...  And what that means for the way we communicate  —  Services like Twitter, Facebook and Google Wave create a constant stream of interaction among users—for better or worse.  —  Email has had a good run as king of communications.  But its reign is over.

Jackson sees ‘complications’ for Dems in 2010 if no public option  —  Democrats may suffer “complications” among supporters in next year's midterm elections if they fail to pass a health bill containing a public option, Rep. Jesse Jackson (D-Ill.) warned Monday.