Winners and losers from the health care summit  —  After spending our day watching the high-stakes or, at the very least, high-profile health care summit at Blair House, we came up with a list of our winners and losers from the proceedings.  —  Those who we think soared and bored are below.

Did the Congressional Budget Office find that premiums costs will go down?  —  Lamar Alexander and Barack Obama just had a contentious exchange on this point, so it's worth settling the issue: Yes, the CBO found health-care reform would reduce premiums.  The issue gets confused because it also found …

Rangel: I've been ‘admonished’ by ethics committee  —  The House Ethics Committee has found Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charlie Rangel violated ethics rules by accepting corporate-funded trips to the Caribbean, according to House sources.  —  Rangel told POLITICO Thursday night that he was being …

While You Are Distracted by the Summit, Obama Democrats Are Targeting the CIA — By: Andy McCarthy  —  The Obama Democrats have outdone themselves.  —  While the country and the Congress have their eyes on today's dog-and-pony show on socialized medicine, House Democrats last night stashed …

Obama To GOP: It's Over  —  Obama listened politely for six hours, with occasional flashes of temper, but in the end, the message was clear: It's over.  We're moving forward without Republicans.  —  Whether Obama and Dems will succeed in passing reform on their own is anything but assured, to put it mildly.

The Main Event: Ryan v. Obama  —  On deficits and spending.  —  Rep. Paul Ryan, Republican of Wisconsin, just launched a full-bore assault on the faulty assumptions behind the claim that the Obama health care plan will reduce the deficit.  Obama didn't even bother questioning Ryan's presentation.

Will Charlie Crist ditch the GOP for the U.S.Senate?  —  Two highly placed and independent sources, speaking strictly on background, tell me that Gov. Charlie Crist is preparing to leave the Republican Party and run as an independent in the race for the U.S. Senate.

What to Expect in November  —  An Update on the House of Representatives  —  Just about everyone agrees that Republicans will be gaining a sizeable number of U.S. House seats come November, but this far in advance, few agree on the exact number.  We've seen a couple of dozen predictions so far …

Al-Arian roils Calif. Senate race  —  A bespectacled former college professor who has pleaded guilty to aiding the group Palestinian Islamic Jihad helped tip the balance in a 2004 Senate contest in Florida.  Now, six years later, Sami Al-Arian could be on the verge of doing it again, this time in California.

Paterson Weighs Race as Top Aide Quits in Protest  —  ALBANY — Gov. David A. Paterson's administration on Thursday faced new revelations about its intervention in a domestic violence episode involving a top aide and growing dismay among fellow Democrats about the governor's political future.

Frank Gaffney Posits That Missile Defense Logo Is Evidence of Obama's ‘Submission To Shariah’  —  Frank Gaffney, a protégé of Richard Perle and an influential figure in right wing national security circles, has firmly entered the world of right wing tin-foil hat paranoia.

Sanders: Senate has the votes to pass public option via reconciliation  —  The Senate has the 50 votes necessary to pass a public health insurance option using the budget reconciliation process, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said Thursday.  —  Sanders, a self-described “democratic socialist” …

Obama May Prohibit Home-Loan Foreclosures Without HAMP Review  —  Feb. 25 (Bloomberg) — The Obama administration may expand efforts to ease the housing crisis by banning all foreclosures on home loans unless they have been screened and rejected by the government's Home Affordable Modification Program.

Intel bill pulled over controversial added interrogation provision  —  A controversial bill that would have levied criminal punishments on intelligence officers for harsh interrogations was pulled Thursday evening.  —  House Republicans charged Democrats with trying to sneak a provision …

Obama campaign arm focuses on talk radio  —  The Democratic National Committee's Organizing for America has quietly launched an initiative aimed at making Obama supporters' voices heard on the largely conservative airwaves.  —  “The fate of health reform has been a focus of debate in living rooms …