Senate Aides Identify Key Roadblock To Passing Reform Via Reconciliation  —  Senate leadership aides have identified what they see as a key roadblock to passing a fix to their bill via reconciliation — and parliamentarians in the Senate and House are hard at work trying to identify a solution, aides say.

U.S. Attorney Steps Down From O'Keefe Case  —  James O'Keefe, accused of trying to tamper with the phones of Louisiana Sen. Mary Landrieu, was “framed” by the media and the U.S. attorney's office, Andrew Breitbart, publisher of BigGovernment.com, told Fox News Monday.

Election 2010: Florida Republican Primary for Senate  —  Florida GOP Senate: Rubio 49%, Crist 37%  —  Former state House Speaker Marco Rubio has now jumped to a 12-point lead over Governor Charlie Crist in Florida's Republican Primary race for the U.S. Senate.

Sarah Palin endorses  —  National political icon and conservative leader Sarah Palin has endorsed Dr. Rand Paul in his bid for United States Senate from Kentucky.  The Paul campaign has received a generous donation from Governor Palin's PAC.  —  Sarah Palin has clearly seen that Rand Paul supports smaller …

Frank Luntz Pens Memo To Kill Financial Regulatory Reform  —  WHAT'S YOUR REACTION?  —  Nine months after he penned a memo laying out the arguments for health care legislation's destruction, Republican message guru Frank Luntz has put together a playbook to help derail financial regulatory reform.

Deficit to Grow $100 Billion Under New Obama Budget  —  WASHINGTON — President Obama sent Congress on Monday a proposed budget of $3.8 trillion for the fiscal year 2011, saying that his plan would produce a decade-long reduction in the deficit from $1.6 trillion this year …

Bill Kristol agrees that Obama's ‘been doing all kinds of crazy stuff that risks destroying America’  —  One of the key points President Obama made in his back-and-forth with House Republicans seems to be really sticking in the craw of the right-wing pundit class: … Bill Kristol, yesterday on Fox News Sunday:

Bill Watterson, creator of beloved ‘Calvin and Hobbes’ comic strip looks back with no regrets  —  This marks the 15th year since “Calvin and Hobbes” said goodbye to the comics pages.  Creator Bill Watterson, who grew up in Chagrin Falls and still makes Greater Cleveland his home …

Obama Budget Would Impose Host of Tax Increases  —  Obama budget plan would imposes host of tax increases on businesses, wealthy families  —  While President Barack Obama is proposing to cut some taxes for companies that hire workers, his budget would raise a host of other taxes on businesses and wealthy individuals.

Getting real about Congress  —  “No single vote by any single senator could possibly illustrate everything that is wrong with Washington today,” writes Fred Hiatt.  “No single vote could embody the full cynicism and cowardice of our political elite at its worst, or explain by itself why problems do not get solved.”

Gates Sacks Stealth Jet Chief, Blasts ‘Troubling Record’ of Crucial Plane  —  If the Pentagon doesn't get its Joint Strike Fighter just right, the U.S. military is screwed.  Which is why its a such serious, serious problem this stealthy, all-purpose jet has had such a “troubling performance record …

Sarah Palin Uses PAC to Buy Her Own Book  —  Political Action Committee Paid More than $60,000 for Copies of ‘Going Rogue’ in Late 2009  —  Sarah Palin has been using her political action committee to buy up thousands of copies of her book, “Going Rogue,” in order to mail copies of the memoir to her donors …

Chris Matthews Compares Conservative Republicans to Murderous Khmer Rouge Regime  —  Appearing on the January 29 “Rachel Maddow Show,” fellow MSNBCer Chris Matthews compared Republican conservatives to the Khmer Rouge, the murderous Communist regime that racked up a body count of some two million during its reign of terror:

Dem. senators spent weekend with bank, energy, tobacco lobbyists  —  Twelve Democratic Senators spent last weekend in Miami Beach raising money from top lobbyists for oil, drug, and other corporate interests that they often decry, according to a guest list for the event obtained by POLITICO.

Poll: Republicans Think Obama Is A Socialist, And Palin More Qualified To Be President  —  A new Daily Kos/Research 2000 poll, conducted among 2,000 self-identified Republican respondents nationwide, gives an interesting peek into the psyche of the minority party's base.

Arianna and Glenn  —  Audio Available:  —  Fox News President Roger Ailes appearing on ABC Sunday...  GLENN: Could we play the Arianna Huffington thing here real quick?  Here's Arianna Huffington.  She was on Roger Ailes was on this week with Barbara Walters, and Roger Ailes and the president and I think CEO of Fox News.

Leaked climate emails scientist ‘hid’ data flaws  —  Exclusive: Key study by East Anglia professor Phil Jones was based on suspect figures  —  • How the location of weather stations in China undermines data  —  Phil Jones, the beleaguered British climate scientist at the centre …

Huge Deficits May Alter U.S. Politics and Global Power  —  WASHINGTON — In a federal budget filled with mind-boggling statistics, two numbers stand out as particularly stunning, for the way they may change American politics and American power.  —  The first is the projected deficit in the coming year …

Media Notes: Jon Stewart's Obama barbs on ‘The Daily Show’ are creating buzz  —  Days before the 2008 election, Jon Stewart jokingly asked Barack Obama whether his “white half” would have trouble making a decision in the voting booth.  —  “Yeah,” the candidate said, “I've been going through therapy to make sure that I vote properly.”

CREW URGES PRESIDENT AND MEMBERS OF CONGRESS NOT TO ATTEND SHADOWY FELLOWSHIP'S NATIONAL PRAYER BREAKFAST  —  1 Feb 2010 // Washington, D.C. - Today, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) urged President Obama and all members of Congress not to attend …

Specter To Sestak: Imma Let You Finish ...  At a Pennsylvania Progressive forum this Saturday, Sen. Arlen Specter (D-PA) and Rep. Joe Sestak (D-PA) were supposed to be doing separate Q&As, one after the other.  —  But Specter apparently jumped the gun and climbed onstage while Sestak was giving …

Pelosi's Children and Grandchildren Used Military Jets As Cross-Country Shuttle Service So They Could Avoid Dealing With the Rabble … Is it a legitimate use of military jets to transport the Speaker of the House and her favored Congressional coterie for routine travel?

Georgia's Christian right comes out against bills aimed at child prostitution  —  The season's most disputed issue may have just surfaced at the state Capitol.  —  The weight of the state's Christian right movement just came down in opposition to a pair of bills that would steer young girls under …

Officials OKd Miranda warning for accused airline plotter  —  At least four U.S. agencies were involved in a decision to read Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab his rights, sources say, after it was clear that he had stopped sharing information.  —  Director of National Intelligence Dennis C. Blair …

The Age of Obama: Anno Domini 2  —  Abstract: In the real world, as opposed to what French President Nicolas Sarkozy calls President Barack Obama's “virtual world,” America faces the reality of Iran's intransigence and aggressiveness; China's headlong pursuit of its own national, regional …

The Quiet Revolution  —  Obama has reinvented the state in more ways than you can imagine.  —  These days, liberals don't know whether to feel betrayed by or merely disappointed with Barack Obama.  They have gone from decrying his willingness to remove the public option from his health care plan …

Unemployment Forever  —  Ryan Avent brings us the bad news from Christina Romer's budget talk: … Some historical context:  —  We're looking, in other words, at years worth of “recovery” during which the unemployment rate will be at what would normally be deemed recession levels.

Limbaugh Endorses Andrzejewski  —  “Holy mackerel!”  Adam Andrzejewski said when I called him just now after learning that he'd been endorsed by Rush Limbaugh this afternoon on the nation's No. 1 radio program.  —  “We're gonna win this race . . . That's got to be the closer,” said Andrzejewski …