How an Insurance Mandate Could Leave Many Worse Off  —  AMERICANS seem to like the idea of broadening health insurance coverage, but they may not want to be forced to buy it.  With health care costs high and rising, such government mandates would make many people worse off.

Leaderless: Senate Pushes For Public Option Without Obama's Support  —  WHAT'S YOUR REACTION?  —  President Barack Obama is actively discouraging Senate Democrats in their effort to include a public insurance option with a state opt-out clause as part of health care reform.

Afghan candidate says ‘dramatic’ surge needed, backs McChrystal  —  Afghanistan's opposition candidate backed Gen. Stanley McChrystal's recommendations for more troops Sunday, saying “the future of the country is at risk” without a “dramatic increase” in troop levels.

Veteran reporter's 5 lessons for Obama  —  Editor's note: Columnist and author Helen Thomas, 89, was a United Press International correspondent for 57 years and covered every U.S. president since John F. Kennedy.  Craig Crawford is a TV commentator and political writer.

White House on Beirut Marine Barracks Bombing—Can't Remember Who Murdered 241 Americans  —  [Please subscribe.  There's too much news from the Middle East to miss a single article; and too little good analysis in the media to miss a single analysis.]  —  By Barry Rubin

Obama outs Fox, but reveals a big flaw  —  Surely President Barack Obama and his advisers don't really think that their feud with Fox News will do anything but enhance the cable network's viewership.  A deeper problem is what the flap reveals about Team Obama, which seems to be more comfortable with campaigning than governing.

GOP officials: We won't abandon Dede  —  The National Republican Congressional Committee remains committed to embattled GOP nominee Dede Scozzafava in the upstate New York House special election, even as many of the party's top names throw their support to Conservative Party nominee Doug Hoffman.

WILL PUTS ON LEATHER JACKET, DONS SKIS, EYES SHARK.... When my friend Mustang Bobby emailed yesterday to tell me George Will had written an entire column praising Rep. Michele Bachmann, I thought he was kidding.  Will may be conservative, but he considers himself something of an intellectual and serious thinker.

If Lenders Say ‘The Dog Ate Your Mortgage’  —  FOR decades, when troubled homeowners and banks battled over delinquent mortgages, it wasn't a contest.  Homes went into foreclosure, and lenders took control of the property.  —  On top of that, courts rubber-stamped the array of foreclosure charges …

Democratic Party encounters ‘Obama hangover’ in state, local elections  —  The president hits the campaign trail on behalf of Democrats, but the electricity of 2008 is tough to recapture.  —  Reporting from Kennett Square, Pa. - As he is quick to point out, President Obama is presiding over two wars …

Iraq Ministries Targeted in Car Bombings; Over 130 Dead  —  BAGHDAD — For the second time in two months, synchronized suicide car bombings struck at the heart of the Iraqi government, severely damaging the Justice Ministry and Provincial Council complexes in Baghdad on Sunday …

Geraldo Rips Lou Dobbs For Latino-Bashing Rhetoric, Says He ‘Is Not Coming To Fox News’  —  Speaking at a luncheon sponsored by the Spanish newspaper El Diario La Prensa on Thursday, Fox News host Geraldo Rivera said, “One of the aspects of our reality in the United States now is the defamatory tone …

Prosecutors Turn Tables on Student Journalists  —  EVANSTON, Ill. — For more than a decade, classes of students at Northwestern University's journalism school have been scrutinizing the work of prosecutors and the police.  The investigations into old crimes, as part of the Medill Innocence Project …

In Defense of the ‘Balloon Boy’ Dad  —  FOR a country desperate for good news, the now-deflated “balloon boy” spectacle would seem to be the perfect tonic.  As Wolf Blitzer of CNN summed up the nation's unrestrained joy upon learning that the imperiled boy had never been in any peril whatsoever …

Can They Cover 350 Like They Covered Teabaggers?  —  There are protests all over the world today in support of reversing climate change.  Sponsored by the organization 350, named after the parts per million of carbon dioxide.  Scientists believe that's the limit for heat-trapping carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.