Tea-Party Activists Complicate Republican Comeback Strategy  —  PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. — The rise of conservative “tea party” activists around the country has created a dilemma for Republicans.  They are breathing life into the party's quest to regain power.  But they're also waging war …

A Hatchet Job So Bad It's Good  —  In the past, the insurance industry's power has been a major barrier to health-care reform.  Most notably, the industry paid for the infamous “Harry and Louise” ads that helped kill the Clinton plan.  But times have changed.

Don't Call Me a Slut  —  Blogs and Stories  —  Hours after The Daily Beast's Meghan McCain posted a self-portrait on Twitter it made national news and she was a pariah.  But she says it's the media who are the real boobs.  —  On Wednesday I posted a hastily-taken self-portrait on Twitter …

John Edwards, Sarah Palin Both See Favorable Ratings Slide  —  Edwards' popularity down 27 points since January 2008  —  PRINCETON, NJ — Former presidential and vice presidential candidate John Edwards, embroiled in personal scandal, is rated favorably by 21% of Americans and unfavorably by 59%.

Exclusive: How Dems set stage for corporate-backed health care campaign  —  At a meeting last April with corporate lobbyists, aides to President Barack Obama and Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) helped set in motion a multimillion-dollar advertising campaign, primarily financed by industry groups …

Charlie Crist supporters worried  —  The most persistent rumor this week: Gov. Charlie Crist 44 percent Marco Rubio 30 percent in the race for U.S. Senate.  The poll allegedly is the Florida Chamber of Commerce's, but president Mark Wilson isn't calling us back.  —  Is it true?  We have no idea.

No Nobel Results From Obama Foreign Policy  —  About the only thing more comical than Barack Obama's Nobel Peace Prize was the reaction of those who deemed the award “premature,” as if the brilliance of Obama's foreign policy is so self-evident and its success so assured that if only the Norway Five …

The Reality Moment  —  That which can't continue doesn't.  A nation can spend and spend, pile debt upon debt, but eventually there comes a reality moment when some leader emerges to say enough is enough and when decent people, looking around at themselves and their own best nature, respond by demanding a return to responsibility.

A Bloomberg endorsement in NJ?  —  Even as he's running in his own re-election contest, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is being urged by members of both parties to get involved in the New Jersey governor's race, according to a source in position to know.  —  Supporters of both Gov. Jon Corzine …

Interview Sets Off Skeptics of Balloon Drama  —  Falcon Heene, fearful of being punished for messing around with his father's balloon, had been hiding out above the garage at the family's home in Fort Collins, Colo., his parents said.  —  But on Thursday evening, after Falcon and his family appeared on CNN …

It's All Going According to Plan!  —  Peter Beinart thinks Obama's on track to success.  Actually, Beinart understates the favorability of the circumstances.  If, like me, you assume that the most desirable and popular part of Obama's agenda is health care reform, while the rest of it is studded …

At State, as in the Senate, she often talks softly—but that doesn't mean she doesn't carry a big stick.  —  Hillary Clinton was on the trot again this week, with an itinerary that took her from Zurich to London to Dublin to Belfast to Moscow and a nonstop schedule of diplomatizing on topics ranging …

CBO Estimates House Health Bill at $905B or Less  —  Congressional budget analysts have given House leaders cost estimates for two competing versions of their plan to overhaul the health-care system, concluding that one comes within striking distance of the $900 billion limit set by President Obama and the other falls below it.

Lieberman says he would vote to let health care reform motion proceed  —  U.S. Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman, I-Conn., whose vote could be crucial to breaking an expected GOP filibuster on health care legislation, Thursday said he would consider voting to move the bill forward …

A Tea Party greets Obama in San Francisco  —  Even in San Francisco, Pres. Obama cannot escape protesters.  He held a fundraiser at the St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco tonight (Thursday) and a crowd turned out across the street on Union Square to let him know what they thought …

Jones will headline J Street conference  —  The White House is placing a major vote of confidence in J Street, the left-leaning Jewish group whose conference later this month has become the focus of a battle over the group's place in American Middle East politics.

“Grab A Mop”  —  “What I reject is when some folks say we should go back to the past policies when it was those very same policies that got us into this mess in the first place.  Another way of putting it is when, you know, I'm busy and Nancy is busy with our mop cleaning up somebody else's mess —

Hedge Fund Executive Is Charged With Insider Trading  —  Federal prosecutors for the Southern District of New York accused Raj Rajaratnam, 51, with illegally obtaining and trading on information on these companies, which also included Polycom, Hilton Hotels, Google and People Support.

Obama Criticized as Too Cautious, Slow on Judicial Posts  —  President Obama has not made significant progress in his plan to infuse federal courts with a new cadre of judges, and liberal activists are beginning to blame his administration for moving too tentatively on what they consider a key priority.

FPL linked to biz group's demand for investigation of utility regulator Argenziano  —  Associated Industries of Florida sent a press release demanding an investigation of Public Service Commissioner Nancy Argenziano to Florida Power & Light Co. for review yesterday, officials for both groups said.

The Army says it exceeded its 2009 recruiting goals.  But the numbers are very fishy.  —  The Pentagon boasted this week that the U.S. armed forces have exceeded their recruitment goals for this year.  Some officials attributed the success to high unemployment in the civilian job market, others to a spurt in civic-mindedness.