He Wasn't The One We've Been Waiting For  —  Health care reform — which is crucial for millions of Americans — hangs in the balance.  Progressives are desperately in need of leadership; more specifically, House Democrats need to be told to pass the Senate bill, which isn't what they wanted but is vastly better than nothing.

Justices Block Key Part of Campaign Law  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has ruled that corporations may spend freely to support or oppose candidates for president and Congress, easing decades-old limits on their participation in federal campaigns.  —  By a 5-4 vote …

Edwards admits fathering child with mistress  —  Former presidential candidate promises to support his 2-year-old daughter  —  John Edwards' attorneys say he's been providing financial support for 2-year-old Quinn for about a year, and just signed a child support agreement with Rielle Hunter.

Obama to Propose Limits on Risks Taken by Banks  —  WASHINGTON — President Obama on Thursday will publicly propose giving bank regulators the power to limit the size of the nation's largest banks and the scope of their risk-taking activities, an administration official said late Wednesday.

Election 2010: Missouri Senate  —  2010 Missouri Senate: Blunt (R) 49%, Carnahan (D) 43%  —  Republican Roy Blunt now holds a six-point lead over Democrat Robin Carnahan in Missouri's race for the U.S. Senate.  —  A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of likely voters in the state finds Blunt ahead of Carnahan 49% to 43%.

Courting Disaster with Christiane Amanpour  —  Marc Thiessen is the author of Courting Disaster: How the CIA Kept America Safe and How Barack Obama Is Inviting the Next Attack , about which he wrote for us here.  As White House speechwriter for George Bush, Thiessen was locked in a secure room …

Dems fret: ‘Every state is in play’  —  The Republican victory in Massachusetts has sent a wave of fear through the halls of the Senate, with moderate and liberal Democrats second-guessing their party's agenda — and worrying that they'll be the next victims of voters' anger.

AYLA BROWN: ‘AVAILABLE’ COMMENT ‘OFF SCRIPT’  —  Newly elected Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown told the world Tuesday night that his daughters are “available,” and the world apparently listened.  —  “Scott Brown Family Photos” was the eighth most searched term on Google Trends as of Wednesday morning.

The Massachusetts Election  —  If anyone should have seen it coming in Massachusetts, it is President Obama — the long-shot candidate who rode to electoral victory on a wave of popular impatience and an ability to identify and address voters' core anxieties.

Relieved  —  I want to recommend that everyone read the email we just got from a Senate staffer who will have to remain anonymous.  Here's one part of the email that stood out to me.  The whole thing is after the jump ...  Here's the whole thing.

Cindy McCain Poses for NOH8  —  The NOH8 Campaign on Wednesday announced that Cindy McCain, the wife of former Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain, has posed to demonstrate her support of marriage equality.  NOH8's Adam Bouska has photographed thousands of subjects since California passed Proposition 8 in 2008.

Buffett Says He Can't See Rationale for Bank Levy  —  Jan. 20 (Bloomberg) — Warren Buffett opposes President Barack Obama's proposed levy on financial institutions because firms including Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Wells Fargo & Co. already repaid bailout funds.

The Libertarian Vote in the Age of Obama … Libertarian — or fiscally conservative, socially liberal — voters are often torn between their aversions to the Republicans' social conservatism and the Democrats' fiscal irresponsibility.  Yet libertarians rarely factor into pundits' and pollsters' analyses.

Obama's first year: What went wrong  —  As the Obama administration marks its first birthday, there is no reason to shop around for the perfect present.  What President Barack Obama needs most is obvious: a new political strategy — ideally one more grounded in the realities of governance than the one he embraced a year ago Wednesday.