Obama to Offer Aid for Families in State of the Union Address  —  WASHINGTON — President Obama will propose in his State of the Union address a package of modest initiatives intended to help middle-class families, including tax credits for child care, caps on some student loan payments …

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 …

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 …

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 …

CNN Poll: Majority of Americans say much of stimulus wasted  —  Washington (CNN) - Nearly three out of four Americans think that at least half of the money spent in the federal stimulus plan has been wasted, according to a new national poll.  —  A CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey …

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.”

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 …

Obama's Approval Most Polarized for First-Year President  —  Shows much greater party differences than approval for any prior first-year president  —  PRINCETON, NJ — The 65 percentage-point gap between Democrats' (88%) and Republicans' (23%) average job approval ratings for Barack Obama …

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.

‘Make Them Filibuster’: Gov. Rendell Tells President Obama, Democrats, to Play ‘Hardball’  —  Gov. Ed Rendell of Pennsylvania has some advice for his fellow Democrats skittish about health care reform in the wake of the Republican upset in that Massachusetts special election.

Glacier scientist: I knew data hadn't been verified  —  The scientist behind the bogus claim in a Nobel Prize-winning UN report that Himalayan glaciers will have melted by 2035 last night admitted it was included purely to put political pressure on world leaders.

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 …

Losing Kennedy's seat a gift, Dem says  —  Washington (CNN) - Democrats' stunning loss of the Senate seat held for more than 4 decades by a liberal icon is an early warning sign that the party should heed, a prominent Democratic strategist said Sunday.  —  National Democrats are reeling …

Haiti awash in doctors; nurses in short supply  —  Port-au-Prince, Haiti (CNN) — So many doctors are answering Haiti's call for medical aid that the largest hospital in Port-au-Prince has a new problem: organizing and finding good use for them all.  —  “I think there is a lot of confusion …

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 …

Biden office disputes report on Beau  —  Vice-President Joe Biden's office is disputing the characterization of a newspaper interview in which Biden appears to indicate that his son, Beau, won't run this year for a Delaware Senate seat.  —  In a piece printed in Sunday's Wilmington News-Journal …