Evan Bayh: An ordinary politician  —  My impression of Evan Bayh was that he was a major deficit hypocrite.  Despite spending all his time talking about the need to reduce spending, he'd voted for all the major spending increases in recent years.  When I looked into it, that wasn't true …

52% say Obama doesn't deserve reelection  —  52 percent of Americans said President Barack Obama doesn't deserve reelection in 2012, according to a new poll.  —  44 percent of all Americans said they would vote to reelect the president in two and a half years, less than the slight majority …

4 Dem Senators Pressure Reid to Use Reconciliation for Public Option  —  Posted by Stephanie Condon Four Democratic senators, including two facing potentially challenging election campaigns this year, are asking Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to use reconciliation, a procedural maneuver requiring …

Paterson Aide's Quick Rise Draws Scrutiny  —  David W. Johnson has worked for Gov. David A. Paterson for much of his adult life.  He began as a young, ambitious intern from Harlem when Mr. Paterson was a state legislator.  He rose to be Mr. Paterson's driver, serving as a kind of protector and scheduler.

Scalia: “There Is No Right to Secede”  —  The right of a state to secede from the nation is way outside my personal injury wheelhouse.  But it has become a source of conversation on professorial and political blogs, and the concept has generated interest from the Tea Party movement.

Amy Bishop was charged with assault in 2002 IHOP dispute  —  In March, 2002, Bishop walked into an International House of Pancakes in Peabody with her family, asked for a booster seat for one of her children, and learned the last seat had gone to another mother.

Steele appeases Tea Party activists in lengthy meeting  —  Michael Steele met privately with 50 Tea Party leaders in Washington on Tuesday.  —  Washington (CNN) - An uneasy truce may have been reached between the Tea Party movement and the Republican Party after Republican National Committee …

Bill Keller Explains Why The New York Times Held the Story of Captured Taliban Commander: Transcript  —  HEADLEE: So explain the delay, the White House called you and asked you not to print the story?  —  KELLER: Well, actually, we called them, Mark Mazzetti and Dexter Filkins had the story pretty …

Obama's disco-era jobs bill  —  WASHINGTON (Fortune) — The ghost of Jimmy Carter's one-term presidency is hovering over President Obama as the Democrats try to pass a jobs bill in time for this year's elections.  So why is the centerpiece of the measure — a tax break for companies that make new hires …

BROWNS PROPOSE GAME WITH OBAMA  —  Hoops for Haiti, featuring President Barack Obama and Ayla Brown?  Maybe.  AP photo composite by POLITICO  —  Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) and his daughter, Ayla, say they're serious about their proposal to play hoops with President Barack Obama at the White House.

Exxon Hits Peak Oil... Reserves  —  Exxon Mobil (XOM) announced today that in 2009 the company's proven reserves increased by 133% of the amount of oil produced.  —  Exxon now has 23.3 billion oil-equivalent-barrels of reserves comprised of about half liquids and half gas.

U.S. Supports New Nuclear Reactors in Georgia  —  WASHINGTON — President Obama, speaking to an enthusiastic audience of union officials in Lanham, Md., on Tuesday, underscored his embrace of nuclear power as a clean energy source, announcing that the Energy Department had approved financial help …

Foreign demand for Teasury securities falls  —  Foreign demand for US Treasury securities falls by record amount as China reduces holdings  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — The government said Tuesday that foreign demand for U.S. Treasury securities fell by the largest amount on record in December …

Keith Olbermann Defends MSNBC Against Charges Of Lack Of Diversity  —  Keith Olbermann's Special Comment last night on his MSNBC show was about the undertones of racism within the Tea Party movement, and like he often does, he posted a portion on his Daily Kos blog.

47% Blame Global Warming on Planetary Trends  —  Questions continue to mount over the science behind years of studies that say humans are chiefly to blame for global warming.  But reflecting a trend that has been going on for more than a year, just 35% of U.S. voters now believe global warming is caused primarily by human activity.

Another case of TSA overkill  —  Just when I thought I was out of the Transportation Security Administration business for a few columns, they pull me back in.  —  Did you hear about the Camden cop whose disabled son wasn't allowed to pass through airport security unless he took off his leg braces?

The Continuing Climate Meltdown  —  More embarrassments for the U.N. and ‘settled’ science.  —  It has been a bad—make that dreadful—few weeks for what used to be called the “settled science” of global warming, and especially for the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that is supposed to be its gold standard.

Even Before Filming, Kennedy Series Stirs Anger  —  A new mini-series about John F. Kennedy's presidency that is being prepared by the History channel does not yet have a cast or a premiere date.  Not a frame of footage has been shot.  It does, however, have prominent critics who want it brought to a halt.

McCain race catnip to talk show titans  —  Early polls suggest Arizona Sen. John McCain leads former Rep. J.D. Hayworth by a healthy margin in the GOP primary.  Among conservative radio talk show hosts, however, McCain is losing by a landslide.  —  As McCain gears up for a vigorous challenge …

Deglamorizing Sarah Palin.  —  Wow.  —  Okay, now I'd like to see a set of pictures of the little dweeb leaning over a computer screen, working on photographs of Sarah Palin, cropping her long hair and neutralizing the makeup colors.  Because I bet he/she is not sexy at all.