Scott Brown to be sworn in as Massachusetts senator Thursday  —  Sen.-elect Scott Brown, the successor to the late Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.), will be sworn in to office Thursday afternoon, giving Republicans 41 seats in the upper chamber.  —  “Once we get his certificate we expect to swear …

Lincoln presses Obama on party ‘extremes’ at Q and A  —  Centrist Sen. Blanche Lincoln (Ark.) on Wednesday asked arguably the most contentious question during a discussion between Senate Democrats and President Barack Obama, hitting at conservatives and liberals.

Powell Favors Repeal of 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell'  —  Gen. Colin L. Powell, who as the nation's top military officer in the 1990s opposed allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly in the military, switched gears today and threw his support behind efforts to end the “don't ask, don't tell” law he helped shepherd in.

D-Day at CBS News  —  On the evening of Monday, Feb. 1, Katie Couric, anchor of the CBS Evening News, was wearing red.  For the next half-hour, she tore through the headlines.  There were allegations of bigotry among the federal air marshals in the U.S., an American church group accused …

Palin, Emanuel.  Pot, Kettle  —  Did she really just call for Rahm Emanuel to be fired because he allegedly used the term “f**king retarded” to refer to fellow Democrats in a private meeting?  Last summer?  Did she really?  —  I don't like the term myself.  I think it is offensive.

Special Olympics: Apology not accepted [UPDATED]  —  The Special Olympics is disputing the White House claim that its chairman, Tim Shriver, accepted Rahm Emanuel's apology for calling liberals “retarded.”  —  Seeking to damp down the controversy over Rahm Emanuel's reported …

James O'Keefe's race problem  —  A photo of the righty stuntman at a white-nationalist confab illustrates a career marked by racial resentment  —  Many of the conservatives who gleefully promoted James O'Keefe's past political stunts are feigning shock at his arrest on charges …

Countdown begins for end of Keith Olbermann's ‘Countdown’?  —  Remember Keith Olbermann?  —  He was the one-time must-see anti-Bush ranter who helped rescue MSNBC (yes, it's still on at night) from even worse oblivion years ago.  —  Well, quietly last month while no one was looking …

White House Privately Signaling Support For House Passing Senate Bill With Fix, Aides Say  —  White House aides have privately told Dem Congressional aides that the White House supports the House passing the Senate health reform bill with a reconciliation fix, something that could give a bit …

Official Carly Fiorina Video Wins Current Hour Of Internet  —  OH MY GOD “Carlyfornia” Senate candidate Carly Fiorina has struck again on the Internet and the results are monstrous.  It's best at the beginning and end, especially the end, picking up steam at exactly 2:26.

Muslim chaplain ‘smuggled’ box cutters into jail  —  A Muslim chaplain for the city Department of Correction was arrested this morning for allegedly trying to smuggle in three box-cutters to a lower Manhattan jail.  —  The imam, Imam Zul-Qarnain Shahid, has worked as a DOC jail chaplain for three years …

Edwards hit wife during heated fight: report  —  Disgraced former presidential candidate John Edwards reportedly beat his cancer-stricken wife during a horrific marriage-ending fight.  —  “John lost his temper big time,” a close friend of Elizabeth's revealed to the National Enquirer.

Las Vegas mayor: Obama is “a real slow learner”; Update: Reid questioning Obama's patriotism?  —  Las Vegas mayor Oscar Goodman lambasted Barack Obama yesterday after Obama made a reference to his city in a speech demanding better fiscal discipline earlier in the day.

The primacy of process  —  “Yesterday,” Josh Marshall writes, “I did a handful of posts about how Hill Democrats seem much less adept at mixing politics and policy together than their Republican counterparts.”  —  This crystallized something I've been struggling to put into words.

‘We Might As Well Be Able To Vote For Disney’: Tea Partiers Slam Citizens United Ruling  —  Some Tea Partiers are expressing vocal opposition to the Supreme Court's recent ruling striking down the ban on corporate political spending — a stance that puts them at odds with the Republican Party and the broader conservative movement.

Remarks by the President at the Senate Democratic Policy Committee Issues Conference The Newseum, Washington, D.C.  —  THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, guys.  Thank you.  Thank you very much.  Thank you.  Everybody please have a seat.  Thank you.  —  Listen, you guys had to listen …

Warning sign in Illinois  —  I think last night's Illinois primary results indicate some difficulties ahead in the state for Democrats that have nothing to do with who the winners and losers were.  —  Based on the current numbers 885,268 voters were cast in the Democratic primary for Senate compared to 736,137 on the Republican side.

Four Legs Good, Taxes Baaaad  —  Carly Fiorina, running for the GOP Senate nomination in California, attacks Tom Campbell:  —  The funny thing about this ad, aside from the clumsy over-the-top quality, is the metaphor.  The message of the ad is that Campbell is an ideological deviant.

Is the Senate majority now in play?  —  The victories in Illinois by Rep. Mark Kirk (R) and state Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias (D) coupled with former Indiana Sen. Dan Coats' (R) decision to challenge Evan Bayh (D) in the fall is likely to stir chatter about the possibility that Republicans …

Holder: ‘I made the Decision’ on Abdulmutallab — By: Daniel Foster  —  Attorney General Eric Holder has taken ownership of the decision to treat Christmas Day bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab as a civilian criminal.  —  “I made the decision to charge Mr. Abdulmutallab with federal crimes …

U.S. May Lose 824,000 Jobs as Employment Data Revised: Analysis  —  Feb. 3 (Bloomberg Multimedia) — The U.S. may lose 824,000 jobs when the government releases its annual revision to employment data on Feb. 5, showing the labor market was in worse shape during the recession than known at the time.

The Internet vs. Obama  —  Could we give Barack Obama a break?  —  Even among his supporters, opinions about his handling of health care reform range from the view that he messed up to the view that he really, really messed up.  —  True, the more charitable critics grant …

GOP donors say they didn't know of fundraiser's lucrative contract  —  TALLAHASSEE - For the past year, Delmar Johnson mixed and mingled with the well-heeled and powerful, chasing checks from large Republican donors from fishing piers in Key West to a football stadium in Boston.

Rush Limbaugh: 'I love the women's movement — especially when walking behind it.'  —  Last week, hate radio host Rush Limbaugh judged the Miss America pageant.  Today he went on Fox and Friends and spoke to host — and former Miss America winner — Gretchen Carlson to respond to the criticism he has been receiving.