Another Liberal Crackup  —  The real reason Evan Bayh wants out of Washington.  —  The political retirement of Evan Bayh, at age 54, is being portrayed by various sages as a result of too much partisanship, or the Senate's dysfunction, or even the systemic breakdown of American governance.

Poll: Large majority opposes Supreme Court's decision on campaign financing  —  Americans of both parties overwhelmingly oppose a Supreme Court ruling that allows corporations and unions to spend as much as they want on political campaigns, and most favor new limits on such spending, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.

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.

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 …

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.

Tea partiers get audience with RNC chairman but not a shared public stage  —  Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele treated tea party leaders like an ugly date Tuesday afternoon: They were good enough to take upstairs, but not good enough to be seen with in public.

Goldman Sachs, Greece Didn't Disclose Swap, Investors ‘Fooled’  —  Feb. 17 (Bloomberg) — Goldman Sachs Group Inc. managed $15 billion of bond sales for Greece after arranging a currency swap that allowed the government to hide the extent of its deficit.  —  No mention was made of the swap …

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.

Biden: Washington is “Broken”  —  Posted by Sean Alfano Vice President Joe Biden doesn't seem to miss his days as a senator.  —  In an interview with CBS “Early Show” co-anchor Harry Smith, Biden was blunt about the nation's political system.  “Washington, right now, is broken.”

Dems' blues: States reverting to red  —  The electoral map candidate Barack Obama remade in 2008 appears to be retreating into its familiar patterns.  —  Obama broke the decisive role Ohio and Florida seemed to play in presidential elections, by moving from trench warfare engagement …

Judging Stimulus by Job Data Reveals Success  —  Imagine if, one year ago, Congress had passed a stimulus bill that really worked.  —  Let's say this bill had started spending money within a matter of weeks and had rapidly helped the economy.  Let's also imagine it was large enough …

Party Gridlock in Washington Feeds New Fear of a Debt Crisis  —  WASHINGTON — Senator Evan Bayh's comments this week about a dysfunctional Congress reflected a complaint being directed at Washington with increasing frequency, and there is broad agreement among critics about Exhibit A …

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.

Exclusive: Hot Air Acquired By Salem Communications  —  CPAC hasn't even officially started and already its making news.  Mediaite has learned that leading center-right web site Hot Air has been acquired by Salem Communications for an undisclosed sum.  Sources close to the deal claim that Michelle Malkin …

Obama's Islamic Envoy Quoted Defending Man Charged With Aiding Terrorists  —  President Obama's new envoy to the Organization of Islamic Conference, Rashad Hussain, is at the center of a controversy over remarks attributed to him defending a man who later pleaded guilty to conspiring to aid a terrorist group

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.

Pay-go gets passed, then it gets bypassed  —  The ink is barely dry on the pay-as-you-go law, and Democrats are seeking to bypass it to enact parts of their job-creation agenda.  —  Democratic leaders said extensions of unemployment insurance and COBRA healthcare benefits should be emergency spending …

Lawrence Kudlow: The Washington, D.C., disconnect  —  Washington's disconnect from the rest of the country has never been greater.  Why can't the political class in the District of Columbia produce a fiscal product that voters, taxpayers and investors are willing to consume?

Olympics call in new Zamboni to reshape speedskating oval  —  RICHMOND, B.C. — Some of the tensest moments at speedskating Tuesday came when there were no competitors on the ice.  —  That's because it was time to clean the ice and, after events of the two previous days …

Obama to create debt panel  —  President Obama will create a commission like the one that was killed in the Senate.  AP  —  President Obama will sign an executive order for a deficit commission on Thursday and name Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson as co-chairs.

2009- Global Warming Causes Foggy Days in San Francisco... 2010- Global Warming Causes Fog-less Days in San Francisco  —  You just can't make this stuff up.  —  Global warming blamed on foggier days in San Francisco:  —  SFGate reported this seven months ago:

Speaker Pelosi bets the House on success of $787 billion stimulus  —  Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has issued 260 statements on the stimulus package over the past year in an effort to win a debate that could be the key to retaining the Democrats' majority in the House.

Budget Wielded to Cut Greenhouse Gases  —  WASHINGTON—President Barack Obama's 2011 budget calls for an array of regulations, subsidies and taxes aimed at cutting emissions of greenhouse gases, even as a sweeping climate bill sits on ice in the Senate.  —  Mr. Obama's budget calls …

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 …

Arrest of Taliban Chief May Be Crucial for Pakistanis  —  ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Pakistan's arrest of the top Taliban military commander may be a tactical victory for the United States, but it is also potentially a strategic coup for Pakistan, officials and analysts here and in Afghanistan said.

Times Business Reporter Accused of Plagiarism Is Said to Resign  —  A New York Times reporter accused of plagiarizing portions of several articles resigned from the newspaper on Tuesday, according to two people briefed on the matter.  —  The reporter, Zachery Kouwe, who had already been suspended …

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 …