White House: If GOP Filibusters, We'll Pass Health Reform Via Reconciliation  —  The game of chicken commenceth — right now.  —  In the course of unveiling Obama's new health reform proposal on a conference call with reporters this morning, White House advisers made it clearer than ever before …

ACORN ‘dissolved as a national structure’  —  The embattled liberal group ACORN is in the process of dissolving its national structure, with state and local-chapters splitting off from the underfunded, controversial national group, an official close to the group confirmed.

(2 of 2)  —  “Looking at it from a cultural, historical perspective, this organization should be called ‘Planned Barrenhood’ because they have nothing to do with families, they have nothing to do with responsibility,” Marshall said.  —  Nelson suggested that the organization be called …

Sen. John McCain: I was misled on bailout  —  Under growing pressure from conservatives and “tea party” activists, Sen. John McCain of Arizona is having to defend his record of supporting the government's massive bailout of the financial system.  —  In response to criticism from opponents seeking …

Suicide Pilot's Daughter Retracts ‘Hero’ Remark  —  Joe Stack's Daughter Samantha Bell Agrees With Victim's Son: Victim Vernon Hunter Was the ‘Hero’  —  The daughter of the man who carried out a suicide plane attack against the IRS in Texas said today she considered her father a hero for standing up to …

THE DEFLATIONIST  —  How Paul Krugman found politics.  —  When it is cold at home, or he has a couple of weeks with nothing to do but write his Times column, or when something unexpectedly stressful happens, like winning the Nobel Prize, the Princeton economist Paul Krugman and his wife, Robin Wells, go to St. Croix.

Scientology Church hires reporters to investigate newspaper  —  After decades of digging into the Church of Scientology, reporters and editors at the St. Petersburg Times are accustomed to being denounced by its leaders.  —  But they find it unsettling that three veteran journalists …

Republicans Voting Against Stimulus Then Asked Obama for Money  —  Feb. 22 (Bloomberg) — Alabama Republicans Jo Bonner and Robert Aderholt took to the U.S. House floor in July, denouncing the Obama administration's stimulus plan for failing to boost employment.  “Where are the jobs?” each of them asked.

On ‘ask,’ Lieberman answers the call: An exclusive chat about Don't Ask, Don't Tell  —  WASHINGTON - Just when you thought Joe Lieberman couldn't frustrate and perplex liberals any further, he is going off to become chief sponsor of the most significant piece of socially progressive legislation that Congress will deal with this year.

The Bankruptcy Boys  —  O.K., the beast is starving.  Now what?  That's the question confronting Republicans.  But they're refusing to answer, or even to engage in any serious discussion about what to do.  —  For readers who don't know what I'm talking about: ever since Reagan …

Obama Biography Is Coming From New Yorker Editor  —  Updated David Remnick, editor of The New Yorker, who has already written extensively about President Obama in the pages of his own magazine, will soon have another platform to do so.  The Alfred A. Knopf imprint of Random House said Monday …

Bob Dole hospitalized  —  Former Sen. Bob Dole (R-Kan.) is recovering at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center after a bout with pneumonia and surgery on his knee.  —  Dole, the 1996 GOP presidential nominee, has gotten past his struggle with pneumonia and, according to a source …

National pollster: Gibbons closing, Tea Party a factor and voters super-negative  —  Those are the findings of a survey done for the retailers association by national GOP pollster Glen Bolger of 500 Nevadans who say they are likely to vote.  —  The survey, taken a week ago …

Economist: If Only Obama Had Done Things He's Actually Done, Things Might Be Different  —  The Economist has put together a good website featuring a number of good blogs, which has tended to obscure from me the fact that their coverage of US politics remains remarkably bad—a mix of center-right ideological commitments and sloppiness.

RESPONDING TO KEITH OLBERMANN: The Dallas Tea Party Invites the White People of MSNBC.  Heh.  —  The funny thing is, more people will probably watch these YouTube videos mocking Keith Olbermann . . . than watch Keith Olbermann.

Charlie Cook: “Very hard” to see how Democrats keep House  —  Political handicapper Charlie Cook said that it was “very hard to come up with a scenario where Democrats don't lose the House” in an interview with National Journal late last week.  —  Cook, who, in the interest of full disclosure …

Davis-Palin team drops out of Iron Dog  —  An injury to Scott Davis of Soldotna, the most experienced driver in the 27th Iron Dog snowmachine race, has forced him and partner Todd Palin to scratch at Puntilla Lake in the Alaska Range.  —  Iron Dog development director Heidi Griffin …