Public Option Is Next Big Hurdle in Health Debate  —  WASHINGTON — As the White House and Congressional leaders turned in earnest on Wednesday to working out big differences in the five health care bills, perhaps no issue loomed as a greater obstacle than whether to establish a government-run competitor to the insurance industry.

Sources: Checketts to drop Limbaugh  —  Rush Limbaugh is expected to be dropped from a group bidding to buy the St. Louis Rams, according to three NFL sources.  —  Dave Checketts, chairman of the NHL's St. Louis Blues and the point man in the Limbaugh group attempting to buy the Rams …

Harry Reid abdicates his leadership role  —  Bill Frist never had 60 votes.  Bill Frist never cared.  Republicans ran the Senate as if they owned the place, even when enjoying razor-thin majorities.  —  Yet when Democrats took the chamber, the first thing Harry Reid did was complain …

Why Joe Biden Should Resign  —  Joe Biden met with CENTCOM chief Gen. David Petraeus this morning to talk about Afghanistan — an issue that has pushed the vice president into the spotlight, landing him on the cover of the latest Newsweek.  —  I have an idea for how he can capitalize on all the attention …

When Your Neighbor Loses His Job It's A Recession.  When You Screw A Whore Behind Your Wife's Back, Get Caught, And Lose Your Job, It's A Catastrophic Economic Meltdown  —  Disgraced criminal Eliot Spitzer has for reasons unknown been occupying a columnist spot at Slate.com for some period of time.

Profile of Anita Dunn, White House Communications Director  —  Interim Media Strategist Leads Salvo Against Fox  —  Earlier this week, Anita Dunn inserted two words into the conservative electronic echo chamber: Anita Dunn.  —  With her CNN appearance on Sunday attacking Fox News as …

Militant attacks kill at least 37 in Pakistan  —  ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) — Militants launched a string of bold strikes in Pakistan on Thursday, leaving at least 37 police officers and civilians dead, authorities said.  —  At least 11 militants also died in the fighting, while others were missing.

‘Dead’ al Qaeda terrorist surfaces for media  —  Doubts raised on drone tactics  —  A key al Qaeda military planner thought dead by the United States and Pakistan gave an interview this week to a Pakistani reporter, illustrating the uncertainties of a military strategy based on air strikes by unmanned drones.

CNN Admits That On-Air Commentator Has Ties To Insurance Industry, Promises Full Disclosure  —  Looks like the insurance industry has another PR mess on its hands.  —  CNN has acknowledged in a statement to me that a high-profile Republican commentator who frequently discusses health care …

GOP senator's protest grinds Senate to a halt  —  Oklahoma's Coburn tries a filibuster after pet idea dropped from bill  —  WASHINGTON - The Senate ground to a halt Wednesday in a display of what an individual senator can do to protest his treatment by some of Capitol Hill's most powerful barons.

Hillary Clinton Now More Popular Than Barack Obama  —  Secretary of state viewed favorably by 62% of Americans, president by 56%  —  PRINCETON, NJ — Hillary Clinton lost the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination to Barack Obama, but in one respect she now ranks ahead of Obama.

French troops were killed after Italy hushed up ‘bribes’ to Taleban  —  When ten French soldiers were killed last year in an ambush by Afghan insurgents in what had seemed a relatively peaceful area, the French public were horrified.  —  Their revulsion increased with the news …

Election 2010: Pennsylvania Democratic Senate Primary  —  2010 Pennsylvania Democratic Primary: Specter 46%, Sestak 42%  —  So much for Arlen Specter's party switch to avoid a risky primary.  The incumbent Pennsylvania senator's 2010 Democratic Primary race against challenger Joe Sestak is now a toss-up.

President Obama's Crucial Afghanistan Decision  —  Afghanistan could be the most important decision of Barack Obama's presidency.  Maybe that's why he is, in effect, making it twice.  —  What's odd about the administration's review of Afghanistan policy is that it is revisiting issues …

Maverick fallout: GOP won't retaliate  —  Mitch McConnell and his deputies in the Senate Republican leadership are responding very cautiously to Olympia Snowe's decision to become the first GOP vote for a Democratic health care reform bill.  —  That's about all they can do.

Third-party pooper: GOP's N.J. dilemma  —  The surging campaign of third-party candidate Chris Daggett has turned the New Jersey governor's race into a dead-heat and left Republicans divided over the seriousness of the threat he poses to GOP nominee Chris Christie.

Tonight... We Are All Rush Limbaugh  —  Earlier this evening, as most of you now know, one of our own, Rush Hudson Limbaugh, while taking withering fire, crashed and burned.  —  Tonight, Rush is no longer ‘just’ a radio personality.  —  Tonight, Rush is no longer ‘just’ a NFL owner denied

New book pins ‘debategate’ on Dem  —  In the annals of Washington scandals, “debategate” in 1983 may have set some sort of record for flare followed by fizzle.  It looked to some reporters, for a brief moment, like it could topple a CIA director, a White House chief of staff and maybe even a president.

Poll: Crist approval rating dips below 50  —  A new poll out Wednesday indicates that Gov. Charlie Crist's statewide popularity has dipped below the halfway mark for the first time.  —  The survey of 523 registered voters by InsiderAdvantage indicated that Crist still has positive numbers across Florida …

Cap-and-Trade Climate Bill Would Slow U.S. Economy, CBO Head Says  —  A House-passed bill that targets climate change through a cap-and-trade system of pollution credits would slow the nation's economic growth slightly over the next few decades and would create “significant” …