President Obama Changes Tone Ahead of State of the Union Address  —  But GOP Leader Mitch McConnell Calls for a Change of Course  —  On the eve of President Obama's State of the Union address and the end of his first year in office, Republican Scott Brown's astonishing win …

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 …

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 …

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 …

Giannoulias, Kirk continue to lead Senate races  —  Tribune/WGN-TV poll shows undecided voters could still swing Feb. 2 primary  —  State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias entered the final days of the campaign for the Democratic U.S. Senate nomination with a significant advantage over rivals Cheryle Jackson …

Ask Obama About Don't Ask, Don't Tell  —  Gay voters are growing impatient for equality.  —  As a candidate for president, Barack Obama told the country's leading gay rights group, the Human Rights Campaign, “America is ready to get rid of the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy.  All that is required is leadership.”

G.O.P. Seeks to Widen Field of Play in Fall Elections  —  WASHINGTON — Republicans are luring new candidates into House and Senate races, and the number of seats up for grabs in November appears to be growing, setting up a midterm election likely to be harder fought than anyone anticipated …

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.

The Bernanke Conundrum  —  A Republican won in Massachusetts — and suddenly it's not clear whether the Senate will confirm Ben Bernanke for a second term as Federal Reserve chairman.  That's not as strange as it sounds: Washington has suddenly noticed public rage over economic policies …

Debate grows in aftermath of quake: Should U.S. let more Haitians immigrate?  —  From morning until night, Dieula Celestin's cellphone rings in Miami's Little Haiti.  It is her younger brother, Roger Paul, calling from Port-au-Prince, where he and their 65-year-old mother live with no food …

Biden Misinterpreted; Leads To Unnecessary Panic Among Dems  —  The headline over Harry Thermal's column is definitive: “VP Biden: Beau doesn't want to run  —  ” Thermal, a veteran Delaware reporter, had just spoken to the Vice President via telephone and relates this exchange as follows:

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 …

Democrats, Get Down to Business  —  SCOTT BROWN'S victory last week in the Massachusetts Senate race, following the Republican gubernatorial triumphs in New Jersey and Virginia, marked the third time in three months that the Democratic Party has lost the support and trust of independent voters.

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) …

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 …