Uncivil War: Conservatives to challenge a dozen GOP candidates  —  In what could be a nightmare scenario for Republican Party officials, conservative activists are gearing up to challenge leading GOP candidates in more than a dozen key House and Senate races in 2010.

Reid reassures left Lieberman on board  —  Sen. Joe Lieberman has reached a private understanding with Majority Leader Harry Reid that he will not block a final vote on healthcare reform, according to two sources briefed on the matter.  —  The unpredictable Democrat-turned-Independent …

VIDEO** Terrified Voter says NJ Dems Using Gangbangers for GOTV  —  How would you like to be a New Jersey police officer and look out your window and see several known criminals, including a man you arrested several weeks ago and another who had just been released from prison for shooting a cop?

Gore's Dual Role: Advocate and Investor  —  WASHINGTON — Former Vice President Al Gore thought he had spotted a winner last year when a small California firm sought financing for an energy-saving technology from the venture capital firm where Mr. Gore is a partner.

CNN Poll: 54 percent approve of Obama  —  Washington (CNN) — One year after he won a historical presidential election, a slight majority of Americans approve of the job Barack Obama's doing in the White House.  —  Fifty-four percent of people questioned in a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation …

Palin sowed confusion on Election Night, new book claims  —  WASHINGTON (CNN) - Tensions within John McCain's presidential campaign boiled over on Election Night last November when Sarah Palin, McCain's running mate, repeatedly ignored directions from senior staffers who told her she would not be delivering her own concession speech.

Why I Am Not a Zionist  —  Last week I was disinvited from my second Jewish conference in two months for poems I'd written in solidarity with Palestinians, poems that make an unapologetic call for justice.  Subsequently I, and the poet I was to read with at the conference, wrote a response to being censored.

Bear kills militants in Kashmir cave  —  A bear killed two militants after discovering them in its den in Indian-administered Kashmir, police say.  —  Two other militants escaped, one of them badly wounded, after the attack in Kulgam district, south of Srinagar.

Healthcare provision seeks to embrace prayer treatments  —  A little-noticed measure would put Christian Science healing sessions on the same footing as clinical medicine.  Critics say it violates the separation of church and state.  —  Reporting from Washington - Backed …

Allen v. Roig-Franzia: From the Beginning  —  When one man hauls off and punches another in the face, the conflict often has a long-tailed provenance.  Such appears to be the case with Washington Post Style section staffers Manuel Roig-Franzia and Henry Allen.

45% for Obama, 49% Against - If Election Were Held Right Now  —  Americans are a little less enthusiastic about the presidential candidacy of Barack Obama this time around.  —  A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 45% of adults say they would be at least somewhat likely …

Reconstruction for the USA  —  Ryan Avent asks what would happen if for just one year we spent as much on infrastructure investments as we do on the Department of Defense: … Ryan's link was to my post comparing America's 2007 defense spending to other countries:

The myth of Fox News' ratings spike  —  Fact: The breathless claim that Fox News' ratings recently spiked thanks to the White House's public critique is bogus hype — hype that Fox News and the Beltway press have relentlessly pushed.  —  It's just not true.

[video] Victim In Fatal Car Accident Tragically Not Glenn Beck  —  An honors student died in the crash today, leaving the nation to wonder why the grisly experience of burning alive was not reserved for Glenn Beck.

Houston Tea Party rally draws more than 10,000  —  More than 10,000 people turned out Monday night for a North Houston Tea Party Patriots gathering to protest proposed health care reform and what they called big government spending and overzealous government leadership, according to preliminary attendance figures.

Obama One Year Later: The Audacity of Winning vs. The Timidity of Governing  —  I had arranged to meet David Plouffe on Saturday afternoon at a Starbucks on Wisconsin Avenue in Washington.  The night before, a copy of his new book, The Audacity to Win: The Inside Story and Lessons …

Some Democrats concerned over abortion provision in health bill  —  Bloc could withhold support over fears of a governmental role  —  While House leaders are moving toward a vote on health-care legislation by the end of the week, enough Democrats are threatening to oppose the measure …

DNC's “Organizing for America” is asking Maine voters to help NJ race, not Maine's own anti-gay ballot measure  —  Correction: The nation, minus the Democratic Party.  —  Joe wrote last night about how the DNC's “Organizing for America” organization (formerly known as “Obama for America") …

Perry leads KBH by 12  —  Gov. Rick Perry leads U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison by 12 percentage points in the Republican primary for governor, but she does better than him in hypothetical matchups with Democrats in next November's general election.  —  In the inaugural University …

Lack of Paid Sick Days May Worsen Flu Pandemic  —  Public health experts worried about the spread of the H1N1 flu are raising concerns that workers who deal with the public, like waiters and child care employees, are jeopardizing others by reporting to work sick because they do not get paid for days they miss for illness.

Cellphones, Texts and Lovers  —  Since April 2007, New York magazine has posted online sex diaries.  People send in personal accounts of their nighttime quests and conquests.  Some of the diaries are unusual and sad.  There's a laid-off banker who drinks herself into oblivion and wakes up in the beds of unfamiliar men.