In Massachusetts, Anxiety for Favored Democrats  —  BOSTON — Martha M. Coakley, the Democrat running for Senator Edward M. Kennedy's seat in Massachusetts, had seemed so certain of winning the special election on Jan. 19 that she barely campaigned last month.  —  But the dynamic has changed in recent days.

Shock: Obama Forced to ‘Order’ Follow-Ups of Terrorist Tips  —  President Pledges ‘Accountability’ But No One Fired for Systemic Intel Failures  —  In a revealing admission, President Barack Obama said today he was directing U.S. intelligence agencies to begin to do something many had assumed …

Steele comments have GOP aides pleading, ‘Get him to stop’  —  Republican National Committee Chairman Michael S. Steele, under fire this week for a string of controversial statements he has made while promoting his new book, has so angered the party's congressional leaders that their aides …

Rudy Giuliani: ‘No Domestic Attacks Under Bush. ...  One Under Obama’  —  President Obama yesterday took personal responsibility for failures in the Christmas day terror plot, but Rudy Giuliani still isn't convinced.  —  I spoke to the former mayor of New York City this morning on GMA …

Can we stop the hysteria about AQAP please?  —  Greetings everyone.  Allthingsct is officially back on deck for 2010.  —  Tonight's cynical Friday task is some myth busting in relation to Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, especially since the Xmas Day plots have spawned a good deal …

Palin Scoops Politico — By: Robert Costa  —  Did Politico's Mike Allen read Going Rogue?  If he did, he'd know that his scoop on Sarah Palin is actually quite old.  Here's how Allen opens his story on Politico's homepage: … O, please.  Palin detailed all of this months ago on page 289 of her book:

Why Heads Should Roll  —  How courageous is Alhaji Umaru Mutallab, the father of terrorist Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab?  If, as it is argued, the Islamic world sees the War on Terror as a War on Islam, it must have been quite intimidating to walk into the U.S. Embassy in Nigeria.

National Unemployment Rate Unchanged at 10.0% in December  —  The national unemployment rate was unchanged in December at November's seasonally adjusted rate of 10.0%, says the Bureau of Labor Statistics.  The rate also matched consensus expectations.  Though the rate was unchanged …

Walk Away From Your Mortgage!  —  John Courson, president and C.E.O. of the Mortgage Bankers Association, recently told The Wall Street Journal that homeowners who default on their mortgages should think about the “message” they will send to “their family and their kids and their friends.”

New Jersey Senate Defeats Gay Marriage Bill  —  TRENTON — The State Senate on Thursday rejected a proposal that would have made New Jersey the sixth state in the nation to allow marriages involving same-sex couples.  The vote was the latest in a succession of setbacks for advocates of gay marriage across the country.

U.S. Job Losses in December Dim Hopes for Quick Upswing  —  The United States economy lost more jobs than expected in December, tempering hopes for a swift and sustained recovery from the Great Recession.  —  The Labor Department said on Friday that the economy shed another 85,000 jobs last month …

CBO estimates $390 billion budget deficit for first quarter of FY 2010  —  The Congressional Budget Office late Thursday released a report estimating that the federal budget deficit was $390 billion for the first quarter of fiscal year 2010.  —  During the same quarter in 2009 …

Iran State TV Suggests Neda's Iconic Death Was ‘Faked’  —  Iranian state television has made a documentary about the death of Neda Agha Soltan, a young Iranian woman who was shot dead during the June postelection protests in Tehran, suggesting she was an agent of the United States and Britain who staged her own death.

The Messiah Complex  —  Every age produces its own sort of fables, and our age seems to have produced The White Messiah fable.  —  This is the oft-repeated story about a manly young adventurer who goes into the wilderness in search of thrills and profit.  But, once there …