Plouffe stepping up role as adviser to White House  —  David Plouffe, the man who managed President Barack Obama's campaign, will be taking on an expanded role as an outside adviser to the White House, according to sources familiar with the plan, a move that comes just days after a stunning defeat …

24 States' Laws Open to Attack After Campaign Finance Ruling  —  In Wisconsin, conservative and pro-business groups said Friday that they were considering a lawsuit to block a proposed law that would ban corporate spending during political campaigns.  —  In Kentucky and Colorado …

Right-Wing Flame War!  —  Charles Johnson has been writing a blog for almost as long as the word “blog” has existed.  A bearish, gentle-voiced, ponytailed man who for three decades enjoyed a successful career as a jazz guitarist accompanying the likes of Al Jarreau and Stanley Clarke …

J.D. Hayworth says he'll run against John McCain  —  Former Arizona Congressman J.D. Hayworth says he is planning to run against John McCain for his U.S. Senate seat.  —  Hayworth, a Republican, told The Associated Press late Friday he stepped down as host of his radio program on KFYI-AM, a conservative radio talk show in Phoenix.

Obama's Train Wreck of a Town Hall in Ohio — By: Jim Geraghty  —  Earlier this week, during a radio interview, I had said that Obama's appearance for Martha Coakley on Sunday was the least effective stump appearances I had seen from a president.  A lot of factors contributed to that …

White House nightmare persists  —  At the end of Barack Obama's worst week since taking power a year ago, the US president's fortunes look set only to deteriorate over the coming days.  Following the shock defeat of the Democratic candidate in Massachusetts on Tuesday, a move that deprived …

More Bitter Ironies  —  Two great reads from two great Boston newspapers, in the post-Brown election era.  —  Gray ladies* first.  Boston Globe: “Liberal bastions lament the blue fades.” … That's a pretty bitter irony.  Sounds like those people need to get out more.

Bayh Claims 'There's A Fighting Chance' Obama Will Call For A Spending Freeze  —  In an interview yesterday with Bloomberg's Al Hunt, Sen. Evan Bayh (D-IN) — who met with members of the administration's economic team this week — said that he believes there's a “fighting chance” …

Did the Obama administration blow an opportunity in the Flight 253 case?  —  UMAR FAROUK Abdulmutallab was nabbed in Detroit on board Northwest Flight 253 after trying unsuccessfully to ignite explosives sewn into his underwear.  The Obama administration had three options: It could charge him in federal court.

Paul Krugman For The Fed  —  The case for Ben Bernanke's reappointment was weak to start with, weakened with his hearings, and is now held together by string and some phone calls from the White House.  Bernanke is an airline pilot who pulled off a miraculous landing, but didn't do his preflight checks …

Et Tu, Fox News Channel?  —  It's a horrible, unspeakable tragedy that gets you right in the core of your humanity.  The poorest country in the Western Hemisphere is flattened by a huge earthquake.  Hundreds of thousands killed, thousands of children orphaned, more than 1.5 million now homeless.

Enough Is Enough  —  Why we can no longer remain on the sidelines in the struggle for regime change in Iran.  —  From the magazine issue dated Feb 1, 2010  —  Two schools of thought have traditionally competed to determine how America should approach the world.