Obama delays Copenhagen, raises stakes  —  by Jim Tankersley and updated 4:50 pm EST  —  President Barack Obama will push back his visit to the international climate change treaty negotiations in Copenhagen from the first week of the conference to its final scheduled day, a senior White House official said this afternoon.

Palin Puts The Trig Question Back On The Table  —  Sarah Palin has now made two very clear public statements in the last day about the legitimacy of questions about the maternity of her son Trig.  Here's the first, transcribed from the interview above: … And here's the second, a later Facebook attempt to walk back some of this:

Exclusive: Beck's movie bombs in New York, Boston — and Washington, D.C.  —  In New York, Beck sold 17 tickets.  In Boston, another 17.  And in Washington, D.C., the hotbed of political activism, his tearful film drew only 30, Raw Story has found.  —  Glenn Beck's new movie The Christmas Sweater …

Aetna Forcing 600,000-Plus To Lose Coverage In Effort To Raise Profits  —  WHAT'S YOUR REACTION?  —  Health insurance giant Aetna is planning to force up to 650,000 clients to drop their coverage next year as it seeks to raise additional revenue to meet profit expectations.

Prostitutes Offer Free Climate Summit Sex  —  Copenhagen Mayor Ritt Bjerregaard sent postcards to city hotels warning summit guests not to patronize Danish sex workers during the upcoming conference.  Now, the prostitutes have struck back, offering free sex to anyone who produces one of the warnings.

McCain's madder than he's ever been  —  Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz) says he's “madder than he's ever been.”  —  And that's saying something.  —  Don Imus and the Arizona Republican were talking Friday morning about the February stimulus vote when McCain, who kept his famous temper at bay during the '08 campaign, went Howard Beale.

Baucus Girlfriend Withdrew as U.S. Attorney Candidate  —  A Department of Justice official who is in a relationship with Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) withdrew as a finalist for Montana U.S. Attorney to live with the senator in Washington, a Baucus spokesperson confirmed to Main Justice today.

The $700 billion man  —  NEVADA COUNTY, CALIF. — He wears no coat though it's freezing, shines no light though it's near midnight, carries no shotgun though he's tramping on the pine-needled tracks of black bears.  —  He wants to be lost in these woods.  —  “Come on, you bums,” …

White House Pleased By Unemployment Dip  —  Not long ago, an American unemployment rate of 10 percent would have been disturbing news at the White House.  But on Friday, it was seen as an early Christmas gift of sorts, a bright spot in a challenging spell for President Obama.

NV-Sen: Dear Harry, Kicking Your Ass is Going to be Fun  —  Harry Reid has raised a small fortune for his reelection campaign, and it's not working: … I've been talking to a lot of people in Arkansas recently, and they all say that Blanche Lincoln traded her vote on health care for her chairmanship of the Ag Committee.

Sen. Sherrod Brown joins Republicans in demanding that Congress go on ‘public option,’ too  —  WASHINGTON, D.C. — Whenever Democrats talk about their proposed federally backed insurance plan, or public option, in the ongoing health-care debate, critics pipe up.

Gregg's Health Care Solution: 'If You Work For The Government, You'll Have The Same Health Care I Have'  —  In recent days, Sen. Judd Gregg (R-NH) has been circulating a memo among his Republican colleagues, outlining the various tactics that the GOP can use to kill the health care legislation in the Senate.

Can Congress cut Medicare costs?  —  Jim Horney is the director of federal fiscal policy at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.  Before that, he worked on the Senate Budget Committee, and before that, he served as chief of the Projections Unit in the Budget Analysis Division of the Congressional Budget Office.

CNN Poll: Obama approval under 50 percent  —  Washington (CNN) - Support for President Barack Obama's Afghanistan policy is fairly high, but that hasn't stopped his approval rating from dropping below 50 percent for the first time in a CNN poll.  —  According to a CNN/Opinion Research …

Going for gold: Rudy Giuliani takes job as security consultant for Rio 2016 Olympic Games  —  Further proof that Rudy Giuliani is less than focused on running for office has emerged in an unlikely spot - Rio de Janeiro.  —  Brazilian officials, joined by Giuliani in sunny Rio …

Palin, Frank to Speak at Gridiron Dinner  —  This might not make the Sarah Palin Twitter feed.  —  The former Alaska governor and one-time vice presidential candidate has been traveling the country in recent weeks, promoting her book and disparaging Democrats, the Washington establishment and the media elite.

Houston Mayor Bill White to run for Texas governor  —  rtgarrett@dallasnews.com  —  HOUSTON - Houston Mayor Bill White, vowing to fix Texas' public schools and clean its polluted air, announced today that he'll seek the Democratic nomination for governor.  —  With a high profile …

Apple Strikes Deal to Buy the Music Start-Up Lala  —  SAN FRANCISCO — In the most recent sign that Apple is looking at alternative ways for people to store and play their digital music, the company has agreed to buy Lala, a four-year-old start-up based in Palo Alto, Calif., a person with knowledge of the deal said Friday.

Good news is bad news  —  Today's unemployment report was good news.  But in a real sense good news is bad news, because this month's not-too-bad number deflates the sense of urgency.  —  The fact remains that realistic projections show unemployment staying disastrously high for many years.

107 slave laborers freed in Mexico City  —  Mexico City, Mexico (CNN) — Mexican authorities have freed 107 indigenous people who officials say were being held as slave laborers in a Mexico City factory disguised as a drug rehabilitation center.  —  Twenty-three suspects were arrested in Thursday's raid …