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 …

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 …

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.

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.”

Paterson Drops Out of Governor Race  —  Gov. David A. Paterson announced on Friday afternoon that he was ending his election campaign and would not run in November.  —  Gov. David A. Paterson attended a town hall event held by State Assemblyman Keith L.T. Wright at a community center in Harlem on Thursday.

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 …

Thoughts on the Health Care Summit  —  So, the health care summit.  What do we think?  —  Well, like the rest of the press, I think it was a phenomenal waste of time, if you thought we were maybe going to make some kind of policy progress.  What did we learn from the summit?

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,” …

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.”

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 …

Pawlenty: Let ER's turn away patients to cut costs  —  I missed this the other night but Phoenix Woman over at FDL didn't.  Isn't this special?  Governor Gutshot to Impoverished ER Patients: Get the Hell out!: … From The Hill — Pawlenty: Let ER's turn away patients to cut costs:

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 …

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 …