Top Dems at war - with each other  —  President Barack Obama, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid will be all smiles as the president arrives at the Capitol for his State of the Union speech Wednesday night, but the happy faces can't hide relationships that are fraying and fraught.

Oregon Voters Deliver Game-Changing Victory  —  Pundits like to claim California voters are anti-tax.  Of course, we've raised various kinds of taxes at the state level, including the Prop 10 cigarette taxes in 1998, and the Prop 63 millionaire's tax for mental health programs passed in 2004.

Oregon's Rich Tax is Not a Victory for Liberals  —  Yesterday, Oregon voters ratified two tax increases, one on high earners, and another a revision of the state's corporate income tax.  This is their strategy for plugging an enormous budget gap, like the ones that have opened up in state budgets around the country.

MSM Leaping to Conclusions — While Big Government Waits for Facts  —  Wait until the facts are in.  —  Mainstream Media, ACORN, Media Matters (all the supposed defenders of due process and journalistic ethics) are jumping to conclusions over the arrest today of James O'Keefe …

In Speech, Obama to Admit Missteps in First Year  —  WASHINGTON — For all the questions circulating in Democratic quarters as President Obama tries to weather the worst storm of his administration, perhaps none is as succinct as this: Are the missteps at the White House rooted in message or substance?

Waiting for Barack  —  Every Hill office I've spoken to in the past week has had the same complaint.  “Where,” they ask, “is the White House?”  —  There's been no clear message on the way forward for health-care reform.  No clear articulation of preferences.  No public leadership to speak of.