The audacity of nope  —  The state of the union is obstreperous.  Dyspepsia is the new equilibrium.  All the passion in American politics is oppositional.  The American people know what they don't like, which is: everything.  —  That sounds like nihilism, but they're against that, too.

The Landrieu Phone Case: Not A Bugging After All?  —  While initial media reports (including on TPM) described the episode at Sen. Mary Landrieu's New Orleans office as an attempted bugging, that term does not appear in the affidavit and the lawyer for one of the charged men tells TPMmuckraker, “the complaint is not about a wiretap.”

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.

Howard Zinn, historian who challenged status quo, dies at 87  —  Howard Zinn, the Boston University historian and political activist who was an early opponent of US involvement in Vietnam and a leading faculty critic of BU president John Silber, died of a heart attack today in Santa Monica …

Bob McDonnell Speech (FULL TEXT): Republican State Of The Union Response  —  WHAT'S YOUR REACTION?  —  The Huffington Post obtained a copy of Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell's Republican response to the State of The Union Address as prepared for delivery:

Pelosi floats two-track health reform  —  House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday floated the idea of a two-track plan for health care reform — with Congress pursuing easier-to-pass incremental changes now and comprehensive reform later.  —  “We believe that it's possible …

Obama to call for repealing 'don't ask, don't tell'  —  Washington (CNN) — President Obama will ask Congress Wednesday night to repeal the military's “Don't Ask, Don't Tell” policy that bars gays and lesbians from openly serving in, White House Senior Adviser David Axelrod told CNN.

Obama in the Balance  —  How does this president handle a crisis?  Thus far, the answer is not at all encouraging.  The current crisis is the election in Massachusetts of Scott Brown, now the forty-first Republican senator.  His arrival in Washington has sent Democrats into panic mode …

Clinton signals not a two-term Secretary of State  —  In an interview to air at 8pm tonight on PBS's Tavis Smiley Reports, Hillary Clinton tells Smiley she does not envision serving as Secretary of State for a second term.  She also tells Smiley she is “absolutely not interested” in another presidential run:

Senate Aides To House Dems: Back Off  —  Okay, I've got a bit more for you on what's going on in discussions between the Senate and House on how to proceed with health care, and it helps explain the hold-up.  —  The latest: Senior Senate aides say they've hit an impasse …

For immediate release  —  Information received since the Federal Open Market Committee met in December suggests that economic activity has continued to strengthen and that the deterioration in the labor market is abating.  Household spending is expanding at a moderate rate but remains constrained …

John and Elizabeth Edwards Legally Separated  —  In Tell-All-Book, Ex-Edwards Aide Says Couple Discussed How Cancer Would Help in the Polls  —  With John Edwards' electrifying U.S. Senate win in 1998, it was his wife Elizabeth Edwards who captivated the nation.

Sen. Hutchison will not attend State of the Union address  —  Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison will be skipping tonight's State of the Union address to meet with constituents in the Dallas area.  —  Jennifer Baker, Hutchison's gubernatorial campaign spokeswoman, declined to elaborate on the decision …

CIA Man Retracts Claim on Waterboarding  —  A study in “enhanced reporting techniques.”  —  Well, it's official now: John Kiriakou, the former CIA operative who affirmed claims that waterboarding quickly unloosed the tongues of hard-core terrorists, says he didn't know what he was talking about.

Oregon voters pass tax increasing measures by big margin … Oregon voters bucked decades of anti-tax and anti-Salem sentiment Tuesday, raising taxes on corporations and the wealthy to prevent further erosion of public schools and other state services.  —  The tax measures passed easily …

D.C. judge Janet Albert accuses ex-lover of stalking her  —  Days after D.C. Superior Court Magistrate Judge Janet Albert broke up with her girlfriend, the judge found her former companion unconscious in her attic, above her bedroom, with some food and an ice bucket fashioned into a makeshift toilet, authorities say.