Pelosi Says She'll Get Votes Needed for Health Bill  —  WASHINGTON — Speaker Nancy Pelosi says she is confident she will be able to get the votes needed to pass sweeping health care legislation in the House, even if it threatens the political careers of some members of her party.

POLL: Obama's visit just bounced off Reid  —  Poll shows senator gained little ground in re-election battle  —  WASHINGTON — During his whirlwind visit to Las Vegas two weeks ago, President Barack Obama mentioned U.S. Sen. Harry Reid by name four dozen times, gave him a big hug and talked him up as if he was a long-lost brother.

Financial Reform Endgame  —  So here's the situation.  We've been through the second-worst financial crisis in the history of the world, and we've barely begun to recover: 29 million Americans either can't find jobs or can't find full-time work.  Yet all momentum for serious banking reform has been lost.

Who's Obsessed and Deranged?  —  Frank Rich of the New York Times retired as a drama critic in order to take up his new role as the paper's full-time drama queen.  As an op-ed columnist for the Times, his assignment, apparently, is to write in such a hysterical fashion that Paul Krugman seems rational by comparison.

Doctors tell Barack Obama to quit smoking  —  The american president has been trying to kick the habit for sometime, apart from the smoking he is in excellent health  —  Barack Obama is still struggling to kick smoking, according to his first medical examination since becoming president.

US sets medals record, Canada ties gold record  —  VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) - While the Vancouver Olympics aren't finished, the medal races are - and in spectacular fashion for North Americans.  —  The United States is guaranteed 37 medals and Canada will finish with at least 13 gold medals.

Glenn Beck's eliminationist attacks on progressives: How long before someone acts on this violent rhetoric?  —  David Sirota observes in his column this week the really ugly nature of Glenn Beck's express hatred of progressives, embodied in his CPAC speech:

Berlusconi selects female candidates  —  Silvio Berlusconi risks renewed criticism when he unveils his candidate selection  —  Silvio Berlusconi risked renewed criticism of his selection of candidates for election when he unveiled a list that included a Miss Italy contestant …

QUOTE OF THE DAY.... ABC's “This Week” held its usual roundtable discussion this morning, with Elizabeth Vargas hosting a panel of Cokie Roberts, Sam Donaldson, George Will, and Paul Krugman.  —  The last topic of conversation was introduced by Vargas this way: … This led to a surprisingly long chat about Desiree Rogers.

U.S. warns Syria: Stop arming Hezbollah immediately  —  The U.S. administration has asked Syrian President Bashar Assad to immediately stop transferring arms to Hezbollah.  American officials made the request during a meeting Friday with the Syrian ambassador to Washington.