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

Tough talk comes after Obama exits  —  Senate Democrats held back from asking President Barack Obama about healthcare reform during a carefully scripted question-and-answer session in front of television cameras.  —  With the cameras rolling, a group of senators selected in advance …

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.

James O'Keefe vs. Max Blumenthal: How the Left Distorts, Invents and Lies  —  It started with a blog post at something called One People's Project, in which someone named Daryle Jenkins claimed: … The photograph that One People's Project shows as its proof (above) is cropped and just shows O'Keefe from the shoulders up.

Fractures emerge as Tea Party convenes  —  (CNN) — As the Tea Party's first national convention gets under way, members are united in their anger but divided over the future of the movement.  —  The convention is marketed as an opportunity to bring Tea Party leaders from across …

Congressional Democrats are nay-saying Obama's budget  —  Lawmakers are railing against certain items as a campaign strategy, establishing their distance from controversial aspects of the administration.  —  Reporting from Washington - As Congress begins picking through President Obama's …

IPCC chief Rajendra Pachauri under pressure to go over glacier error  —  The head of the UN's climate change body is under pressure to resign after one of his strongest allies in the environmental movement said his judgment was flawed and called for a new leader to restore confidence in climatic science.

Details surface of Scott Lee Cohen's 2005 domestric violence arrest  —  Scott Lee Cohen — a pawnbroker who shocked state Democratic leaders Tuesday night by winning the party's nomination for lieutenant governor — was arrested about four-and-a-half years ago and accused of holding a knife …

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.

China Shows Little Patience for U.S. Currency Pressure  —  BEIJING — A senior Chinese official said on Thursday that China would not bow to pressure from the United States to revalue its currency, which President Obama says is kept at an artificially low level to give China an unfair advantage in selling its exports.

Palin aide: Perry adviser's remark ‘crude’ and ‘disrespectful’  —  (CNN) - Sarah Palin is criticizing a Rick Perry campaign adviser accused of using the word “retarded” - but she isn't demanding that the aide be fired.  —  The accusation - made against top Perry consultant David Carney …

Florida, We Have a Problem  —  The Obama administration's proposed budget holds many surprises.  —  O.K., you have to be kind of dorky to make that statement.  —  Still, how can you not be fascinated when the White House announces it wants to cancel plans to put an American on the moon by 2020?

BORN POOR?  —  SANTA FE ECONOMIST SAMUEL BOWLES SAYS YOU BETTER GET USED TO IT  —  Consider these two numbers.  Don't worry, there won't be a quiz.  —  The first number is 3,500.  —  The second is 32.  —  The first is how many jobs Santa Fe County lost in 2009, according to the New Mexico Department of Workforce Solutions.

Justice Defends Ruling on Finance  —  WASHINGTON — In expansive remarks at a law school in Florida, Justice Clarence Thomas on Tuesday vigorously defended the Supreme Court's recent campaign finance decision.  —  And Justice Thomas explained that he did not attend State of the Union addresses …

Changes coming to Bloomberg's D.C. bureau  —  At the Bloomberg News' Washington bureau, management changes are in the works that will affect who oversees daily coverage of government and politics.  —  Executive Washington editor Al Hunt is expected to step away from much of the bureau's …

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 …

White House Prepares for Possibility of 2 Supreme Court Vacancies  —  SCOTUS Watchers Believe Justices Stevens and Ginsburg Could Decide to Step Aside  —  Lawyers for President Obama have been working behind the scenes to prepare for the possibility of one, and maybe two Supreme Court vacancies this spring.

Off-message, Biden recasts the Obama agenda  —  Vice President Biden is tired of seeing the Obama administration's economic stimulus plan demeaned, derided and dismissed, and he wanted to talk about it.  —  But a funny thing happened in the course of an interview at Biden's White House office on Tuesday afternoon.

Obama's Aunt Seeks Asylum to Avoid Deportation  —  Zeituni Onyango Claims No Contact With White House, Obamas  —  When President Obama's Kenyan aunt appears before a U.S. immigration judge in Boston today, she says she will literally be making the case for her life.

The White House's Illegal Piggy Bank  —  TARP: The OMB director is grilled over the misuse of bank bailout funds for purposes other than intended by Congress.  This taxpayer money wasn't intended to be the administration's perpetual slush fund.  —  When the specifically targeted …

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.

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.