Deficit to Hit All-Time High  —  Obama's $3.8 Trillion Budget Forecasts a $1.6 Trillion Shortfall for 2010 Before It Drops  —  WASHINGTON—President Barack Obama will propose on Monday a $3.8 trillion budget for fiscal 2011 that projects the deficit will shoot up to a record $1.6 trillion this year …

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 …

‘Iran will deliver telling blow to global powers on Feb. 11’  —  Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says the nation will deliver a harsh blow to the “global arrogance” on this year's anniversary of the Islamic Revolution.  —  “The Islamic Revolution opened a window to liberty for the human race …

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.

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.

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 …

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.”

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.

Ponzi on the Potomac  —  The U.S. attorney general recently announced that the Justice Department is beefing up its efforts to fight financial fraud such as Ponzi schemes.  Good.  The agency should start by reviewing the spending habits of the federal government, which is running the largest Ponzi scheme our country has ever seen.

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 …

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 …

Forces Pushing Obama on 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell'  —  WASHINGTON — President Obama and top Pentagon officials met repeatedly over the past year about repealing “don't ask, don't tell,” the law that bans openly gay members of the military.  —  But it was in Oval Office strategy sessions …

Obama to Seek Sweeping Change in ‘No Child’ Law  —  The Obama administration is proposing a sweeping overhaul of President Bush's signature education law, No Child Left Behind, and will call for broad changes in how schools are judged to be succeeding or failing, as well as for the elimination …

Pelosi's Children and Grandchildren Used Military Jets As Private 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?

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 …

PUTTING THE PENTAGON BUDGET ON THE TABLE?.... When the White House started talking up the notion of a spending freeze (which isn't really a spending freeze) last week, officials outlined a proposal with modest reductions in discretionary spending not related to national security.

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 …

New Role Puts Anchor in Fox News Spotlight  —  First “America's Newsroom.”  Then “America's Election Headquarters.”  And on Monday, Megyn Kelly will begin anchoring a third all-about-America newscast, “America Live.”  —  “We're big on America here at Fox,” Ms. Kelly said in an interview last week.

Editorial Shake-Up as Harper's Tries to Stabilize in a Downturn  —  Just before noon last Wednesday, John R. MacArthur, the president, publisher and chief benefactor of Harper's Magazine, joined his editorial staff after its monthly meeting.  —  “We are going through a crisis,” Mr. MacArthur …

Democrats squabble over jobs bill  —  Democrats from the president on down say jobs are their No. 1 priority, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid expects to announce details of a bill this week.  But a squabble among Senate Democrats is complicating early efforts to bring a bill to the floor.

'It's worse than Eliot Spitzer!'  Wife of Mark Sanford reveals son's reaction in book on sex scandal  —  It's “worse than Eliot Spitzer!” exclaimed one of disgraced South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford's young sons after their mom revealed he was having an affair with a sexy Argentine mistress, his wife says in a new tell-all book.