(3 of 3)  —  He didn't mention it, but Biden himself was a virtual unknown quantity when he won his first term against the popular J. Caleb Boggs in 1972 in perhaps as much of an upset.  —  It certainly seems as if the president's coattails are very short these days, since not only did Coakley lose …

Arkansas Rep. Marion Berry to retire  —  Arkansas Rep. Marion Berry is expected to announce his retirement tomorrow morning, according to three sources briefed on the decision.  —  Berry will become the sixth Democrat in a competitive seat to leave in the last two months but the first to announce …

Ed Schultz Tells Robert Gibbs He's ‘Full Of Sh*t’ And 'You're Losing Your Base'  —  Last night, MSNBC's Ed Schultz spoke at Minnesota progressive talk radio AM950's Blue State Bash at the Minneapolis Convention Center.  During his remarks, Schultz revealed that he recently had a testy confrontation …

Why I Regret Voting For President Obama  —  I am a registered Independent.  I voted for Barack Obama.  And for that, I am sorry.  —  I'm not sorry for you.  I'm sorry for me.  Because I voted for Obama for me, not for you.  I voted for hope and change and all the intangibles that Obama …

CNN poll: 56 percent oppose stimulus program  —  Washington (CNN) - A majority of Americans oppose the economic stimulus program, according to a new national poll.  —  Fifty-six percent of people questioned in a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released Sunday say they oppose the stimulus package, with 42 percent supporting it.

How to Squander the Presidency in One Year  —  Hey, Conan Obama: How About Now?  Can You Hear Us Now?  —  There's only one political party in the entire world that is so inept, cowardly and bungling that it could manage to simultaneously lick the boots of Wall Street bankers and then get blamed …

The Phantom Policy Conflict  —  The idea that Obama made a mistake by focusing on health care instead of the economy seems to be catching on on the left as well as on the right.  But my question remains: what are we talking about, specifically?  —  There was a window early last year …

Brown's win shows GOP how to seize Obama's old Senate seat  —  In a year when populism is good politics, Scott Brown has given Republicans a model for how to harness voters' frustration.  —  Voters are “angry and concerned.  But I would say it's overwhelmingly based on policy — anti-spending …

2009 Democratic agenda severely weakened by Republicans' united opposition  —  The breathless pace that President Obama set after taking office last January jolted lawmakers from the soporific haze of the final George W. Bush years, revving up dormant committees and lighting up phone lines with a frenzy of dealmaking.

U.S. enables Chinese hacking of Google  —  Editor's note: Bruce Schneier is a security technologist and author of “Beyond Fear: Thinking Sensibly About Security in an Uncertain World.”  Read more of his writing at www.schneier.com.  —  (CNN) — Google made headlines when it went public …

UN climate panel blunders again over Himalayan glaciers  —  The chairman of the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), has used bogus claims that Himalayan glaciers were melting to win grants worth hundreds of thousands of pounds.  —  Rajendra Pachauri's Energy and Resources Institute …

Golden couple Brad Pitt & Angelina Jolie sign contract to split £205m fortune  —  TROUBLE AHEAD: Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie  —  HOLLYWOOD golden pair Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have seen DIVORCE lawyers and signed a £205 million split deal, we can reveal.

France: Devout Muslim Family Beats, Blinds Girl — Held Hostage by Her Brothers for Surfing the net  —  Nidra Poller just translated this article for Atlas (with no editorial comment). … Indeed.  —  Translation by Nidra Poller  —  Le Parisien  —  Violence  —  She surfs on the Net, her brothers beat her

Amis in row over ‘euthanasia booths’  —  • Novelist wants euthanasia booths for elderly  —  • Warning of ‘civil war’ between young and old  —  Martin Amis has never fought shy of an argument, whether it be with the critic Terry Eagleton (over Islamist extremism) …

Report: New bin Laden tape emerges  —  (CNN) — A new audio tape allegedly from al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden claims responsibility for an attempt to blow up a plane en route to Michigan on Christmas Day and warns the United States of more attacks.  —  The tape, which aired on Al Jazeera on Sunday …