Senate on Verge of Health Bill  —  Measure With Stiffer Penalties on Employers and Public Plan Could Come This Week  —  WASHINGTON — Top Senate Democrats are close to finalizing their health bill and could unveil a measure as soon as early this week that would include stiffer penalties …

Conservatives Maintain Edge as Top Ideological Group  —  Compared with 2008, more Americans “conservative” in general, and on issues  —  PRINCETON, NJ — Conservatives continue to outnumber moderates and liberals in the American populace in 2009, confirming a finding that Gallup first noted in June.

Samuelson on the fake debate on the public health plan  —  In the health-care debate, the “public plan” is all things to all people.  For supporters, it would discipline greedy private insurers and make health-care coverage affordable.  For detractors, it's a way station on the path …

U.S. tested 2 Afghan scenarios in war game  —  Obama and advisers evaluating exercise that used different troop levels  —  The Pentagon's top military officer oversaw a secret war game this month to evaluate the two primary military options that have been put forward by the Pentagon …

U.S. Considers Reining In ‘Too Big to Fail’ Institutions  —  WASHINGTON — Congress and the Obama administration are about to take up one of the most fundamental issues stemming from the near collapse of the financial system last year — how to deal with institutions that are so big …

PRESIDENT OBAMA TIES GEORGE W. BUSH ON GOLF  —  President Barack Obama has only been in office for just over nine months, but he's already hit the links as much as President Bush did in over two years.  —  CBS' Mark Knoller — an unofficial documentarian and statistician of all things White House-related …

The Great American Ideological Crackup  —  From the magazine issue dated Nov 2, 2009  —  Shortly after the 2004 presidential election, I was chatting with a senior figure in the Democratic Party when, inevitably, the talk turned to why John Kerry had lost.

Gov. Pawlenty: Obama Corrosive to Freedom, Liberty  —  President Obama has used bait-and-switch tactics first to get elected and now to push his healthcare proposal, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty tells Newsmax.  —  During the campaign, Obama portrayed himself as a centrist but has governed as a …

Newt Gingrich Considering Run for President in 2012  —  Newt Gingrich, the former House Speaker and perennial big thinker in the Republican party, said this morning that he will likely run for president in 2012 if he and his wife, Callista, assess the field of candidates in 2011 and feel “a requirement as citizens that we run.”

Benedict's Gambit  —  The Church of England has survived the Spanish Armada, the English Civil War and Elton John performing “Candle in the Wind” at Princess Diana's Westminster Abbey funeral.  So it will probably survive the note the Vatican issued last week, inviting disaffected Anglicans to head Romeward …

Is it morning in America, or has hope given way to malaise?  —  (CNN) — Nearly a year after the presidential election, the excitement of Barack Obama's campaign has faded into the reality of an Obama White House.  —  As observers try to determine what time it is in American politics, they arrive at opposite conclusions.

Recession Drives Surge in Youth Runaways  —  MEDFORD, Ore. — Dressed in soaked green pajamas, Betty Snyder, 14, huddled under a cold drizzle at the city park as several older boys decided what to do with her.  —  Betty said she had run away from home a week earlier after a violent argument with her mother.