Obama to Offer Health Bill to Ease Impasse as Bipartisan Meeting Approaches  —  WASHINGTON — President Obama will put forward comprehensive health care legislation intended to bridge differences between Senate and House Democrats ahead of a summit meeting with Republicans next week …

U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg is diagnosed with cancer … U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg, New Jersey's 86-year-old senior senator, was diagnosed with treatable stomach cancer in the last 24 hours and will begin chemotherapy today.  —  The Democrat still plans to finish out his current term …

Pawlenty compares administration to Tiger Woods, voters to scorned wife  —  Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R) on Friday told voters to follow the lead of Tiger Woods' wife Elin Nordegren and “take a nine-iron and smash the window out of big government.”  —  Pawlenty, who is considered …

BREAKING: Obama will support the public option if Reid will  —  From Rachel Maddow's interview tonight with HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius: … Wow.  That's news.  —  What will Reid do?  If it's up to Nevada voters, the answer's obvious.  From reporter Jon Ralson in today's Las Vegas Sun:

Ellsworth to run for Indiana Senate  —  Indiana Rep. Brad Ellsworth announced today that he will seek the seat being vacated by Sen. Evan Bayh.  —  “After many conversations with Hoosiers this week, and with the love and support of my family, I have decided to run for the U.S. Senate,” Ellsworth said in a statement.

A Sensible Response to Terrorism  —  As you probably know, a white guy entranced by an extremely version of Tea Party-style right-populist paranoia deliberately crashed an airplane into an IRS building in Texas yesterday.  I'm not especially interested in debating semantics …

In U.S., Canada Places First in Image Contest; Iran Last  —  Favorable views of Russia, Palestinian Authority up slightly; views of Iraq down  —  PRINCETON, NJ — Americans' perceptions of 20 nations that figure prominently in the news or U.S. foreign policy held quite steady in the first year of the Obama administration.

‘Family Guy’ Voice Actor Says Palin ‘Does Not Have a Sense of Humor’  —  Since it was shown on Sunday, an episode of the Fox animated comedy “Family Guy” has drawn the repeated condemnation of Sarah Palin, the former Republican governor of Alaska and 2008 vice-presidential nominee.

Is the next GOP presidential candidate a CPAC speaker?  —  There's no question that the next GOP presidential nominee will have spoken at this year's CPAC conference, a top Republican lawmaker said Friday.  —  Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), the ranking member of the House Oversight …

Mitt Romney's Alleged Attacker — Major Rap Star  —  The mystery man who was tossed off an airplane for allegedly attacking Mitt Romney has finally been revealed — it was one of the guys from LMFAO ... and he claims Romney is the one who got physical first!

Poll: Majority Backs Mirandizing Of Xmas Plotter And Other Terror Suspects  —  CNN has released a new poll with toplines showing a big majority thinks Iran has nukes.  —  But forget that finding.  The internals are even more interesting, because they show that the public is overwhelmingly rejecting …

Bachmann: Obama ‘intending to fail’  —  Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) urged conservatives on Friday to fight to prevent an American “decline” created by the policies of President Barack Obama.  —  In a long and meandering speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference evoking …

California Death Spiral  —  Health insurance premiums are surging — and conservatives fear that the spectacle will reinvigorate the push for reform.  On the Fox Business Network, a host chided a vice president of WellPoint, which has told California customers to expect huge rate increases …

Response to Olbermann: ‘People of color’ at Tea Parties  —  So last night that race-peddlin' buffoon over at MSNBC... wait, that's pretty much everyone on that network.  Let me be more specific.  OK, so, last night Keith Olbermann used his self-parodying Special Comment segment to ask …