Obama Readies a Fallback Proposal  —  Scaled-Down Plan Would Expand Insurance to About Half as Many People as Pending Bill Envisions  —  President Barack Obama will use a bipartisan summit Thursday to push for sweeping health-care legislation, but if that fails to generate enough support …

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 …

Marco Rubio charged personal bills on GOP card  —  Senate candidate Marco Rubio said he reimbursed the state GOP for expenses put on an American Express card given to him by his party.  —  BREINHARD@MIAMIHERALD.COM  —  U.S. Senate candidate Marco Rubio charged grocery bills …

Photo Emerges Of Murderous Killer Whale At Tea Party Rally  —  Some quick investigate reporting by the folks at Daily Kos and Democratic Underground has unearthed a photo of Tilikum, the killer whale who yesterday killed a trainer at Sea World, at a Tea Party event in Omaha, Nebraska.

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 …

Questions of Influence in Abuse Case of Paterson Aide  —  Last fall, a woman went to court in the Bronx to testify that she had been violently assaulted by a top aide to Gov. David A. Paterson, and to seek a protective order against the man.  —  In the ensuing months, she returned to court twice …

Most ‘tea party’ followers are baby boomers reliving the '60s  —  A poll debunks assumptions about the movement, showing that it's largely middle-class, college-educated, white and male.  —  Oceans of ink, terabytes of blog space and an eternity of television time have been devoted …

Truth squad: Boehner wrong to say Obama took zero GOP ideas  —  The office of House Minority Leader John Boehner claims that Democratic proposals “do not implement a single major GOP reform that would lower costs for families and small businesses.”  —  Three of the 11 pages …

Can This Possibly Be True?  New Obama Missile Defense Logo Includes A Crescent  —  The Obama administration's determined effort to reduce America's missile defense capabilities initially seemed to be just standard Leftist fare — of a piece with the Democratic base's visceral hostility …

Republicans watching the clock  —  Before Democratic Rep. Jim Clyburn started talking, the time of possession was:  —  Democrats: about 74 minutes Republicans: about 37 minutes  —  Post Comment  —  Pages  —  Sob stories take longer to tell than ideas and facts.

Michael Steele says Obama should have held a summit a year ago.  Then it's pointed out to him that in fact he did.  —  Michael Steele went on MSNBC this morning before the health-care summit and began attacking President Obama for a “dog and pony show” — and claimed that the president …

The Myth of the Incumbent 50% Rule  —  I don't like criticizing our good friends over at Pollster.com, but a Tuesday article by Pollster correspondent Robert Moran, also the Executive Vice President at StrategyOne, espouses a bit of conventional wisdom which happens to be completely wrong.

US refuses to endorse British sovereignty in Falklands oil dispute  —  Giles Whittell, Washington and James Bone, New York  —  Washington refused to endorse British claims to sovereignty over the Falkland Islands yesterday as the diplomatic row over oil drilling in the South Atlantic intensified in London, Buenos Aires and at the UN.

Former police officer pleads guilty to Danziger Bridge shooting cover-up of stunning breadth  —  Laura Maggi and Brendan McCarthy wrote this story  —  Admitting a cover-up of shocking breadth, a former New Orleans police supervisor pleaded guilty to a federal obstruction charge on Wednesday …

Morgan Stanley's Mack Says Investment Banker Pay Still Too High  —  Feb. 25 (Bloomberg) — Morgan Stanley Chairman John Mack said investment bankers are overpaid and Wall Street compensation won't decrease much because firms don't want to lose their best performers.

CORRECTED Graph for “Conflicted Conservatives”  —  In comments on my first post, Marty Gilens alerts me to errors in the 2008 ANES data file that involve the spending variables that I used (noted here on their webpage).  It is my fault for not having seen this.

House nearing deal, aiming for vote on Senate jobs bill before weekend  —  House Democrats are nearing a deal on the Senate jobs bill and could vote on it before the weekend, according to House Ways and Means Chairman Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.).  —  “They're working on it now,” he said.