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.

‘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.

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 …

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 …

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.

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.

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.

Comedian Jon Stewart takes the hot seat with Bill O'Reilly  —  In a vigorous, policy-laden debate, ‘The Daily Show’ host blasts Fox's ‘panic attack’ coverage of Obama and the economy.  O'Reilly says ‘the narrative of a couple of guys’ doesn't represent the whole network.

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.

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 …

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.

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 …

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.

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 …

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.

US debt to hit proposed ceiling by end-February: Treasury  —  WASHINGTON — The US debt is on track to hit a congressionally proposed debt ceiling of 14.3 trillion dollars by the end of February, the Treasury said Wednesday, a day ahead of a key vote to raise it to that level.

Currency Dispute Likely to Further Fray U.S.-China Ties  —  WASHINGTON — To the growing list of grievances between the United States and China, add one more: the Obama administration is reviving American pressure on China to stop artificially depressing its currency, a policy that fuels its persistent trade gap with the United States.

New questions in 2005 arrest of Democratic lieutenant governor nominee  —  UPDATED at 8:24 p.m. with additional Quinn comment; originally posted by David Heinzmann and Ray Long at 7:55 p.m.  —  The newly minted Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor said Wednesday he doesn't think a …

Motivational speaker charged in sweat lodge deaths  —  FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. — Motivational speaker James Arthur Ray was arrested Wednesday afternoon on three counts of manslaughter for deaths that happened after a sweat lodge ceremony he led in northern Arizona last year.

Amazon Said to Buy Touch Start-Up  —  In a sign that Amazon wants to upgrade its Kindle e-reader to compete head-on with the Apple iPad, Amazon has acquired Touchco, a New York-based start-up specializing in touch-screen technology, a person briefed on the deal said Wednesday.

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.