Obama strategy: Marginalize critics  —  This is the first of a two-part look at the marginalization of the GOP.  Tomorrow: GOP officials fear that the party's image is being defined increasingly by boisterous conservative commentators.  —  President Obama is working systematically …

U.S. to Order Steep Pay Cuts at Firms That Got Most Aid  —  WASHINGTON — Responding to the growing furor over the paychecks of executives at companies that received billions of dollars in federal bailouts, the Obama administration will order the companies that received the most aid to deeply slash …

NY-23: Scozzafava Photo-Op Goes Horribly Wrong  —  Michael Patrick Leahy, the Tea Party activist who has been going after NY-23 GOP candidate Dede Scozzafava with hammer and tongs, produces this photo of the candidate stumping today outside of one of Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman's offices.

House Dems want Medicare for everyone  —  Say hello to “Medicare Part E” — as in, “Medicare for Everyone.”  —  House Democrats are looking at re-branding the public health insurance option as Medicare, an established government healthcare program that is better known than the public option.

Why we had to get rid of GM's CEO  —  The man who led the auto bailout tells about his shock at the state of the carmaker's finances and management. … Everyone knew Detroit's reputation for insular, slow-moving cultures.  Even by that low standard, I was shocked by the stunningly poor management …

Volcker Fails to Sell a Bank Strategy  —  Listen to a top economist in the Obama administration describe Paul A. Volcker, the former Federal Reserve chairman who endorsed Mr. Obama early in his election campaign and who stood by his side during the financial crisis.

‘Doc fix’ collapses, Reid tells colleagues AMA led him astray  —  A group of Democrats joined all Republicans in blocking a 10-year freeze of scheduled cuts to doctors' Medicare payments, legislation that was considered important to getting a broader healthcare bill through later this year.

BREAKING** ACORN Video: Prostitution Scandal in Philadelphia, PA Part I  —  *UPDATE Below*  —  Alinsky Rule #1: “Power isn't only what you have, it's what the enemy thinks you have.”  —  [There is a video that cannot be displayed in this feed.  Visit the blog entry to see the video.]

Coffee-making naked guy rebuffed by exposure charge  —  SPRINGFIELD, Va. - Eric Williamson faces an indecent exposure charge after a passerby saw him in the buff in his own home making coffee.  —  It happened at 5:30 a.m. Monday.  —  Channel 5 reports the woman and 7-year-old boy who saw …

San Francisco Alters When Police Must Report Immigrants  —  SAN FRANCISCO — The San Francisco board of supervisors voted Tuesday to overturn a city policy that has been at the center of a national debate over offering illegal immigrants sanctuary.  —  The policy, ordered by Mayor Gavin Newsom …

Goldman Sachs's Griffiths Says Inequality Helps All  —  Oct. 21 (Bloomberg) — A Goldman Sachs International adviser defended compensation in the finance industry as his company plans a near-record year for pay, saying the spending will help boost the economy.

Senators Express Discomfort With Health Overhaul  —  Greg Hitt reports on the politics of health care legislation.  —  With floor debate over health care looming, Republican and Democratic senators in the political middle are becoming more assertive about their concerns.

McDonnell pulling away  —  Bob McDonnell has opened up a double digit lead over Creigh Deeds in his quest to be Virginia's next Governor.  He now leads 52-40, up from 48-43 three weeks ago.  —  McDonnell's standing is largely the result of two things: considerable support from independents and a disengaged Democratic electorate.

Franken Schools Right-Wing Analyst On Medical Bankruptcies In Countries With Universal Care: 'It's Zero'  —  Yesterday, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing titled “Medical Debt: Can Bankruptcy Reform Facilitate a Fresh Start.”  The hearing examined medical bankruptcies in America …

Will lower health-care costs mean higher wages?  —  As we went over yesterday, the theory of the excise tax is that employers will buy less costly health-care plans and put the money they save into wages.  Most of you had one question in response to that, which was well expressed …

Iran Agrees to Draft of Deal on Exporting Nuclear Fuel  —  VIENNA — The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency said Wednesday that Iranian negotiators had agreed to a draft of a deal to ship much of Iran's stockpile of nuclear fuel to Russia, but cautioned that it would still …

The Financial-Crisis Lit Cheat Sheet  —  This week marks the official publication of the longest, most comprehensive, and highest-priced ($32.95!) work of Crisis Lit yet, New York Times reporter Andrew Ross Sorkin's epic Too Big to Fail, which clocks in at a whopping 539 pages (minus the index).

The GOP's New York Fiasco  —  Republicans try to lose a House seat.  —  Printer  —  Friendly  —  Republicans are telling themselves that a political wave is building that could carry them to big election gains next year.  Judging by their performance so far in a special election in New York …

Oprah hopes Palin has the right stuff to win back viewers  —  Oprah Winfrey, on a campaign to climb back from last season's ratings slump, will attempt to kiss and make up with conservative viewers on Nov. 16 when she has Sarah Palin on her syndicated talk show .

How Paulson gave Goldman the Lehman heads-up  —  The secret Paulson-Goldman meeting wasn't the only time that Hank Paulson treated his buddies at Goldman Sachs especially well while at Treasury.  In fact, it wasn't the only time he did so before he got the now-famous waiver.

Vitter dodges question about interracial marriage in Louisiana.  —  Although both Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) and Sen. Mary Landrieu (D) have publicly condemned Justice of the Peace Keith Bardwell for refusing to issue marriage licenses to interracial couples, Sen. David Vitter (R) has stayed noticeably silent.

The convenient obsession with the dollar  —  Over at Politico, Eamon Javers notes an odd trend in the Drudge Report: … Drudge isn't the only one obsessed about the dollar.  Last week, James Pethokoukis blogged the following for Reuters: … OK, let's be as plain as possible about this …

Court papers claim Madoff's offices were full of cocaine, topless women  —  Bernie Madoff, cocaine kingpin?  —  New additions to a lawsuit against the jailed Ponzi schemer charge that he presided over an office so fueled by the drug that it was known as the “North Pole.”

Megan Williams to recant Logan County sex-torture testimony  —  CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Seven people pleaded guilty for their part in abusing Megan Williams — but now Williams says that abuse never happened.  —  She will hold a press conference Wednesday in Columbus, Ohio, to recant her claims of abuse …