Winning Dede: How Dems got her nod  —  Fearful that the party had almost no chance of winning the Nov. 3 New York special election after Republican nominee Dede Scozzafava abruptly announced Saturday that she was dropping out, high-ranking national Democrats immediately began working to secure …

An insurance industry CEO explains why American health care costs so much  —  On Friday, I sat down with Kaiser Permanente CEO George Halvorson to talk about health-care reform.  The conversation was long and ranging and will take a while to transcribe.  But before we really got into the weeds …

The Worst Bill Ever  —  Epic new spending and taxes, pricier insurance, rationed care, dishonest accounting: The Pelosi health bill has it all.  —  Printer  —  Friendly  —  Speaker Nancy Pelosi has reportedly told fellow Democrats that she's prepared to lose seats in 2010 if that's …

Boehner regrets backing Scozzafava  —  The top-ranking House Republican told reporters on Monday that he regrets having supported former GOP House candidate Dede Scozzafava.  —  Scozzafava, the official Republican Party candidate in the special election in New York's 23rd district …

New Jersey Gov Race Tips To Christie By 2 Points, Quinnipiac University Poll Finds; Daggett Voters Key As Race Is Too Close To Call  —  In the see-saw New Jersey Governor's race, Republican challenger Christopher Christie has 42 percent to Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine's 40 points …

Controversial New Video of Obama's Pastor  —  A new video of Jeremiah Wright has surfaced, showing Barack Obama's pastor of 20 years praising Marxism and discussing his ties to communists in El Salvador and Nicaragua and the Libyan government.  Equally important, Wright is being introduced …

Obama Strategy on Health Care Legislation Appears to Be Paying Off  —  WASHINGTON — After months of plodding work by five Congressional committees and weeks of back-room bargaining by Democratic leaders, President Obama's arms-length strategy on health care appears to be paying dividends …

Planned Parenthood Director Leaves, Has Change of Heart … Planned Parenthood has been a part of Abby Johnson's life for the past eight years; that is until last month, when Abby resigned.  Johnson said she realized she wanted to leave, after watching an ultrasound of an abortion procedure.

Rick Moran and the Comatose Nuthouse  —  Shorter Moran: ‘passion’ == ‘bad’.  —  In The Anti-Reason Conservatives, we're treated to a post that only Bob Dole could love.  Let's review a few points:  — The country is broke.  — Incumbency is killing us.  — Entitlements are a mike foxtrot.

Republican adviser faces health care's costly bite  —  Former McCain strategist is about to lose his health insurance  —  If history had taken a different course, Doug Holtz-Eakin would be inside the McCain White House driving the Republican president's domestic agenda, including health-care reform.

Chris Christie Rips Off Monty Python, Risks Copyright Infringement  —  Chris Christie, the Republican candidate for Governor of New Jersey in Tuesday's knife-edge gubernatorial election, has been called out as a copyright thief.  The 47-year-old lawyer, who was controversially appointed …

Rep. Foxx: Health care reform is a bigger threat than ‘any terrorist right now in any country.’  —  Few Republican congressional members have served as a greater fount for hyperbolic and uninformed ranting about health care reform as has Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC).

Senator Hatch: Healthcare reform bills threaten survival of two-party system  —  The healthcare reform proposals before Congress threaten the existence of the two-party system, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) alleged Monday morning.  —  Hatch asserted that the health bills, which he believes represent a …

Scozzafava, at Owens event, urges focus on local issues  —  CANTON — Republican Dierdre K. Scozzafava crossed paths with Democrat William L. Owens on the campaign trail Sunday during a stop in Canton, and urged her former rival to avoid the “hateful and divisive” tactics that helped drive her out of the race for Congress.

If Fox Is Partisan, It Is Not Alone  —  The Obama White House's decision to challenge Fox News appears driven equally by strategy and frustration.  It is also a test case for politicians in both parties.  —  That is because partisan fragmentation throughout America's news media and their audiences has grown significantly.

JohnR  —  All this blather about “saved” jobs is just to shore up the Left's confidence; to give them a (half baked) talking point to justify Obama's economic performance.  It doesn't matter though.  The only number that really matters with voters is that unemployment number, and so far Obama hasn't figured how to “cook” it.

Matrix maker plans Muhammad film  —  Barrie Osborne, part of the Oscar-winning team behind the Lord of the Rings films, says the new production ‘will educate people about the true meaning of Islam’  —  Producer Barrie Osborne cast Keanu Reeves as the messiah in The Matrix and helped defeat …

Jittery Companies Stash Cash  —  After Crisis, Big Businesses Hoard Most Bucks in 40 Years; Google's $22 Billion Cache  —  Stung by the financial crisis, companies are holding more cash — and a greater percentage of assets in cash — than at any time in the past 40 years.

Too Little of a Good Thing  —  The good news is that the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, a k a the Obama stimulus plan, is working just about the way textbook macroeconomics said it would.  But that's also the bad news — because the same textbook analysis says that the stimulus …

Lobbyists Terminating Their Federal Registrations at Accelerated Rate  —  WASHINGTON — Lobbyists this year began terminating their formal registrations with the federal government at significantly higher levels than usual, a joint study by OMB Watch and the Center for Responsive Politics has found.