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 …

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 …

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.

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.

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 …

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.

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.

Dems Say Sen. Ben Nelson's Deal Was Setback For Health Care  —  Democrats are privately admitting the deal they made with Sen. Ben Nelson on Medicaid funding for Nebraska was a major factor in souring the America people on the health care reform bill.  —  Senate leadership inked a deal …

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 …

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.”

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:

2/1: Does MA Spell Trouble for NY Dems?  —  In the wake of Republican U.S. Senator-elect Scott Brown's win in Massachusetts, a notable proportion — 45% — of registered Democratic voters in New York State say they are worried that a Republican will defeat the state's Democratic senators running for office in November.

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.

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.”

Steve Poizner accuses Meg Whitman of ‘criminal’ campaign tactics  —  Political reporters were lured to Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Poizner's office Monday with the promise of a “major announcement” from his campaign.  —  The speculation began to swirl.  Was Poizner dropping out of the race?

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 …

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:

Breitbart Claim: Jailed O'Keefe Couldn't Access Attorney For Hours  —  Interviewed on Fox just moments ago, Andrew Breitbart claimed that alleged Landrieu phone tamperer James O'Keefe “sat in jail for 28 hours without access to an attorney.”  —  Breitbart, who has been on a public campaign defending O'Keefe …

The Obama Spell Is Broken  —  Unlike this president, John Kennedy was an ironist who never fell for his own mystique.  —  The curtain has come down on what can best be described as a brief un-American moment in our history.  That moment began in the fall of 2008, with the great financial panic …

Volcker rule unlikely to move forward in Senate, lawmakers say  —  This article is provided to FT.com readers by dealReporter—a news service focused on providing insightful intelligence on event driven situations to investors. www.dealreporter.com  —  A proposal by former Federal Reserve …

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 …

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?

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 …

The Hazards Of Loyalty  —  Hypocrisy, hubris and Rielle Hunter.  —  For a man whose first—and only—winning election campaign was waged against an inarticulate septuagenarian hog farmer, John Edwards made quite a splash when he arrived in Washington in 1999 as the new junior senator from North Carolina.

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 …