Obama Moves to Centralize Control Over Party Strategy  —  WASHINGTON — President Obama is reconstituting the team that helped him win the White House to counter Republican challenges in the midterm elections and recalibrate after political setbacks that have narrowed his legislative ambitions.

Ellie Light: Obama Astroturfer?  Or Very, Very, Very Energetic But Independent Letter Writer?  With Houses All Over the Nation?  —  A woman has written the same letter defending Obama to dozens of publications across the country, getting them published in at least 42 newspapers in 18 states …

White House Is Confident Bernanke Will Be Confirmed  —  WASHINGTON — After a full-scale mobilization, White House and Senate officials expressed confidence on Saturday that they had successfully contained a populist uprising among Democratic senators that had threatened President Obama's nomination …

Obama Turns Up Heat Over Ruling on Campaign Spending  —  WASHINGTON — President Obama took aim at the Supreme Court on Saturday, saying the justices had “handed a huge victory to the special interests and their lobbyists” with last week's 5-to-4 decision to lift restrictions on campaign spending by corporations and unions.

(2 of 2)  —  “We don't make you take a drug test.  We ought to.  We don't even make you show up to your child's parent-teacher conference meeting or to the PTA meeting,” Bauer said.  —  “You go to a school where there's an active participation of parents and guess what?  They have the highest test scores.

Jury duty for President Obama?  —  To serve or not to serve?  Is that the question?  —  • Translation: TV titan Oprah Winfrey may have honored her Cook County Circuit Court Jury summons, but it's a good bet President Obama won't.  —  • To wit: Sneed has learned Obama's name …

Phil Griffin's Memo To MSNBC Talent: Stop Fighting With Each Other  —  WHAT'S YOUR REACTION?  —  On the heels of yet another public incident between his anchors, MSNBC president Phil Griffin reined in his talent in a staff memo Friday afternoon.  —  Griffin sent a memo …

U.S. to Appeal Blackwater Case Dismissal, Biden Says  —  BAGHDAD — Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. promised Iraqi leaders on Saturday that the United States would appeal the dismissal of manslaughter charges against five Blackwater Worldwide security contractors involved in a deadly shooting …

Bill's Late Father Irving Kristol: ‘My Poor Son Has Got It Wrong Again’  —  Despite all the failures of the neoconservative movement in foreign policy over the last eight years, Newsweek writes that we are witnessing “the return of the neocons.”  However, the article provides little hard evidence …

They Still Don't Get It  —  How loud do the alarms have to get?  There is an economic emergency in the country with millions upon millions of Americans riddled with fear and anxiety as they struggle with long-term joblessness, home foreclosures, personal bankruptcies and dwindling opportunities for themselves and their children.

Obama's evolution as commander-in-chief  —  Never a soldier himself, but suddenly their commander-in-chief, President Barack Obama wanted to learn the job from the ground up.  —  Including the salute.  —  Under the guidance of an expert, aides say Obama privately repeated his salute over and over again until he got it down.

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.

Justice Kennedy was key to conservatives' win in campaign finance decision  —  If there was a new boldness from the Supreme Court's conservative majority in last week's landmark ruling on campaign finance laws, there was also an underlying and familiar truth: