Pelosi Backs Off Set Rates for Public Option  —  WASHINGTON — Under pressure from moderate-to-conservative members of the House Democratic caucus, Speaker Nancy Pelosi has decided to propose a government-run insurance plan that would negotiate rates with doctors and hospitals …

Obama Visits Returning War Dead  —  President Obama traveled to Dover Air Force Base early Thursday morning to meet with family members and pay his respects as the flag-draped coffins carrying bodies of 18 American troops killed this week in Afghanistan were returned to the United States.

U.S. Economy Started to Grow Again in the Third Quarter  —  For the first time in a year, the United States economy grew, the Commerce Department said on Thursday.  But even if a recovery is technically in the offing, job seekers likely will not begin to feel the benefits for months to come.

Nervous W.H. intervened in N.J. race; top Obama adviser now in charge  —  One of President Barack Obama's key political advisers has become the central strategist in New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine's bruising campaign for re-election, a race the White House desperately wants to win to avert …

DNC attacks Palin ‘lies’  —  The Democratic National Committee, keeping up its drumbeat of harsh new-media campaigns against GOP leaders, is rallying Democrats to attack Sarah Palin where she communicates — on Facebook.  —  In an email to its list (after the jump) and a web page …

Victory for Obama Over Military Lobby  —  When the Obama administration proposed canceling a host of expensive weapons systems last spring, some of the military industry's allies in Congress assumed, as they had in the past, that they would have the final say.

Can Human Rights Win the War?  —  Top U.S. military officials are starting to sound like human-rights advocates when it comes to detention policy in Afghanistan.  —  When Marine Reserve Gen. Douglas Stone addressed New America's Counterterrorism Conference last week, he almost sounded like a human-rights activist.

Iowa Republicans wince at Palin fee  —  A conservative Iowa group's effort to lure Sarah Palin to its banquet next month has had an unintended effect: Rather than exciting conservatives about the prospect of a visit from the former Alaska governor, the group's plan to raise a six-figure sum …

Romer on GDP  —  CEA Chief Christina Romer blogs on the GDP numbers: … One of the things that makes American politics weird is that nobody in the administration is really supposed to talk about the fact that this is much more up to Ben Bernanke than it is up to Barack Obama.

Politicians Butt In at Bailed-Out GM  —  Montana Rep. Denny Rehberg was no fan of the $58 billion federal rescue of General Motors Co., saying he worried taxpayer money would be wasted and the restructuring process would be vulnerable to “political pressure.”  Now the lawmaker says it's his “patriotic duty” to wade into GM's affairs.

Police: SC state attorney caught with stripper  —  COLUMBIA, S.C. — A deputy assistant attorney general who said he was on his lunch break when an officer found him with a stripper and sex toys in his sport utility vehicle has been fired, his boss said Wednesday.

Stimulus jobs overstated by thousands  —  WASHINGTON — An early progress report on President Barack Obama's economic recovery plan overstates by thousands the number of jobs created or saved through the stimulus program, a mistake that White House officials promise will be corrected in future reports.

How bad should I feel about taking hot showers?  —  I know that taking long, hot showers is an environmental no-no. But now that the weather's getting colder, I just can't face the day without one.  Exactly how much damage am I doing to the planet?  —  Guilt is a tricky thing to quantify.

Little “Obama Effect” on Views About Race Relations  —  Attitudes toward race not significantly improved from previous years  —  PRINCETON, NJ — A majority of Americans, 56%, believe that a solution to America's race-relations problem will eventually be worked out — a figure that is roughly …

Did Schwarzenegger say f**k you to legislature?  —  Did Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger mean to hide a message in this note?  —  (CNN) - Was Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's message to state lawmakers unhappy - or obscene?  —  That's the current debate in California after the governor sent a letter directed to …