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 …

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.

House to Senate: We're Ready On Health Care If You Are  —  Leading Democrats in the House still insist that “all options are on the table” to move ahead on health care.  But for the first time since last Tuesday's special election in Massachusetts, it's clear that they're coalescing around …

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 …

Book Report: ‘The Politician’ By Andrew Young  —  If Washington Wire readers are interested in reading Andrew Young's forthcoming tell-all on his decade behind the scenes with John Edwards, the story heats up on page 154 when Young begins to recount how the 2008 presidential hopeful …

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?

Bringing Sexy Back  —  He's The One, all right.  —  The handsome, athletic pol with the comely wife and two lovely daughters who precipitously rose from the State Legislature to pull us all together.  —  The fresh face and disarming underdog America's been waiting for …

‘Obama Girl’ now falling out of love  —  First, Massachusetts turned on the president.  —  Now, the bikini-clad “Obama Girl” — who fa mously cooed about her “crush” throughout the presidential campaign on YouTube videos — admits the thrill is gone.  —  Amber Lee Ettinger …

U.S. military teams, intelligence deeply involved in aiding Yemen on strikes  —  U.S. military teams and intelligence agencies are deeply involved in secret joint operations with Yemeni troops who in the past six weeks have killed scores of people, among them six of 15 top leaders …

Ben Nelson Planned To Filibuster Conference Report, Admits Current Law Already Prevents Public Money From Funding Abortion  —  During last year's health care debate, Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE) insisted on inserting specific language into the Senate health care bill that prevented public dollars …

Adults Only, Please  —  Maybe it's just me, but I've found the last few weeks in American politics particularly unnerving.  Our economy is still very fragile, yet you would never know that by the way the political class is acting.  We're like a patient that just got out of intensive care …

Salt Lake County GOP cancels keynote address after New Orleans arrest  —  Plan B » Party's big annual fundraiser will find new featured speaker instead of O'Keefe.  —  Salt Lake County Republicans are scrambling to line up a new keynote fundraising speaker after the arrest Tuesday …

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.

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:

NPR Poll Shows Vulnerability Of Obama, Democrats … text sizeAAA  —  Wednesday night's State of the Union speech is an opportunity for President Obama to reconnect to voters who are frustrated about the state of the economy and the progress he's been making toward fulfilling his campaign promises.

Teleprompter Shot of the Day — By: Rich Lowry  —  Here's Obama dropping in for a chat with his middle-class task force.  And people made fun of Reagan because of his notecards!

'I'm Ellie Light,' California man says: Obama letter writer talks … WASHINGTON — Ellie Light, the ubiquitous letter writer whose name appeared in newspapers nationwide praising President Barack Obama, appears to really be a male health care worker from California.

Live Blogging the iPad Product Announcement  —  Apple chief executive, Steve Jobs, unveils the iPad.  —  10-Hour Battery Life  —  Update |  1:38 p.m. “We been able to achieve 10 hours of battery life” Mr. Jobs says.  “I can take a flight form San Francisco to Tokyo and watch video the whole way.”