Afflicting the Afflicted  —  If we're lucky, Thursday's summit will turn out to have been the last act in the great health reform debate, the prologue to passage of an imperfect but nonetheless history-making bill.  If so, the debate will have ended as it began: with Democrats offering moderate plans …

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.”

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 …

One last health-reform sprint: House, Senate race to an Easter deadline for ‘the big bill’ — Mitch ‘The Knife’ Daniels eyes '12 prez run — N.Y. tabs say Paterson must go  —  BREAKING — George W. Bush, whose book will be out Nov. 8, at this morning's closed-door Bush-Cheney alumni reunion breakfast …

Dems call for Rangel's gavel  —  After months of holding ranks, Democrats are finally turning on House Ways and Means Chairman Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) in the wake of an ethics committee finding that he violated House rules by accepting a Caribbean junket.  —  Early Friday, Rep. Paul Hodes …

Gregg: Reconciliation Is The Rule Of The Senate (VIDEO)  —  Republicans are doing everything they can to convince the media and the public that using the budget reconciliation process to finish health care would be a grave crime against democracy.  —  But reconciliation is part of the Senate rules.

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 …

MSNBC Talker: Let's Rip Out Cheney's Heart  —  SAY HI TO MIKE  —  With Deranged Cheney Rant, Ed Moves Into Malloy Territory  —  *** CAUGHT-ON-TAPE EXCLUSIVE ***  —  *** NEWSBUSTERS REACTS ***  —  With his cable talk show preempted for Olympics coverage this week …

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.

BIDEN: IT'S EASY BEING VP  —  There have been some tense moments during today's health care summit at the Blair House, but not for Vice President Joe Biden, it seems.  —  Just moments before the afternoon session got underway, C-SPAN's cameras picked up audio of Biden chatting casually with participants.

On Wall Street, a Romance With Curling  —  Wall Street trading is often described as a blood sport.  But inside the great investment houses, the sport of the moment is, of all things, curling — that oddball of the Olympics that is sort of like shuffleboard on ice.

After Canadian gold, cigars and champagne  —  VANCOUVER, British Columbia — The women of the Canadian hockey team politely accepted their gold medals and waved to an adoring crowd.  And then the real celebration began.  —  More than half an hour after they beat the United States 2-0 on Thursday …

Obama names labor leader to fiscal commission  —  President Obama announced today his appointees to a recently created bipartisan fiscal commission, including prominent labor leader and Democratic activist Andy Stern.  —  Stern, chairman of the Service Employees International Union …