Ben Nelson: Dems may have to abandon comprehensive health bill, go step-by-step  —  Democrats may have to abandon their effort for comprehensive healthcare legislation in favor of a piecemeal approach, Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) said Friday.  —  Nelson, a centrist Democrat whose vote is critical …

Greenwald, Weiner Talk Health Care on Morning Joe: No Reason Not to Vote on Public Option  —  I still don't think the Senate/White House bill is going anywhere, either with or without a public option, for reasons I've outlined before — though some seem to be hell-bent on forcing House Democrats to throw themselves on its funeral pyre.

White House Social Secretary Desiree Rogers to step down  —  WASHINGTON—White House Social Secretary Desiree Rogers told me Friday she will step down next month, after presiding over 330 events in the White House in 14 months.  —  Rogers is departing after achieving a major goal …

Bunning holds floor: ‘Tough s—t’  —  Senate Democrats spent Thursday night hammering away at Sen. Jim Bunning (R-Ky.) for single-handedly holding up action in the upper chamber - but he blurted out a message to one of them on the Senate floor: “Tough s—t.”

Judd Gregg: 'If you've got 51 votes, you win'  —  “The point is this,” Sen. Judd Gregg says in this 2005 defense of the Republicans' use of the budget reconciliation process.  “If you've got 51 votes, you win.”  —  The idea “that it is outside the rules to proceed within the rules,” Gregg laughs, “is a very unique view on the rules.”

Gov. David Paterson pulls plug on election bid, but will not resign: insider  —  Embattled Gov. Paterson has pulled the plug on his election bid, a source close to the governor said Friday.  —  Paterson will announce the decision later Friday.  —  Paterson has been under fire for having contacted …

Professor Obama schools lawmakers on health-care reform  —  Republicans had been hesitant to accept President Obama's invitation to participate in Thursday's White House health-care summit.  Their hesitance turned out to be justified.  —  An equal number of Democratic and Republican lawmakers …

Bipartisanship is dead  —  At yesterday's health care discussion, Louise Slaughter told a moving story.  —  An elderly woman needed dentures but couldn't afford them.  Her sister had dentures.  When she passed, the surviving sister “inherited” the dentures and used them as her own.

Bush endorses Cheney role  —  For the first time, former President George W. Bush has said publicly that he approves of former Vice President Dick Cheney's high-profile role in defending the past administration's national security policies.  —  “I'm glad Cheney is out there,” …

Facebook Patents The News Feed (Updated)  —  On Tuesday, Facebook was awarded a major patent for “Dynamically providing a news feed about a user of a social network”.  This is a huge deal for a number of reasons, most significantly that it grants Facebook the opportunity to pursue …

Senate Ratings  —  HOW SENATORS SCORED ON LIBERAL-CONSERVATIVE SCALES IN THREE ISSUE CATEGORIES AND OVERALL. … In the following list, senators are assigned separate scores for their roll-call votes on key economic, social and foreign-policy issues during 2009.

Health Care Summit Squabbles  —  Summary  —  We tuned in to watch the president's health care summit at Blair House today — all six-plus hours of it.  And we weren't surprised to hear some factual missteps in the discussion:  — Sen. Lamar Alexander said premiums will go up for …