Gregg suggests Obama may renege on fixing Senate health bill  —  The White House may renege on passing fixes to the Senate's healthcare bill once the House has passed it, Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.) claimed Thursday.  —  Gregg, the ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee …

Stark hands off gavel  —  Rep. Sander Levin will take over as chairman of the Ways and Means Committee after Rep. Pete Stark, who held the gavel for a day, stepped aside.  —  The dominoes fell after Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) resigned the chairmanship of the powerful tax-writing panel Wednesday …

Exclusive: RNC document mocks donors, plays on ‘fear’  —  The Republican National Committee plans to raise money this election cycle through an aggressive campaign capitalizing on “fear” of President Barack Obama and a promise to “save the country from trending toward socialism.”

Anti-Gay Lawmaker At Gay Club Before DUI Arrest  —  SACRAMENTO (CBS13) ― Sources tell CBS13 a state senator from Southern California was arrested for allegedly driving drunk after leaving Faces, a gay nightclub in midtown Sacramento, early Wednesday morning.

Darwin Foes Add Warming to Targets  —  Critics of the teaching of evolution in the nation's classrooms are gaining ground in some states by linking the issue to global warming, arguing that dissenting views on both scientific subjects should be taught in public schools.

Surprised about Blanche Lincoln's fight for survival?  I'm not.  —  Arkansas Senator Blanche Lincoln is fighting for her political survival.  Republicans are in full attack mode, and polls indicate she's the most vulnerable Senate incumbent in the country.  —  Frankly, I'm not surprised.

Woman charged with killing husband is lobbyist  —  A 45-year-old woman, charged with ending a domestic dispute by killing her 26-year-old husband of five days, is a registered lobbyist for a group fighting domestic violence.  —  Arelisha Bridges was ordered held without bond in the Fulton County Jail.

The fable of Emanuel the Great  —  In the space of 10 days, thanks in no small part to my own newspaper, the president of the United States has been portrayed as a weakling and a chronic screw-up who is wrecking his administration despite everything that his chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, can do to make things right.

Eliot Spitzer's Mission Impossible  —  Spitzer has the resources to tackle any challenge — except maybe another campaign  —  Eliot Spitzer was his usual agitated self.  It was a brisk Tuesday evening, and the former governor of New York was bundled in the back of a black sedan …

Senator Proposes Deal on Handling of Detainees  —  WASHINGTON — Senator Lindsey Graham wants to make a deal on detainees with President Obama.  If the White House agrees to the bargain, it would be a defining moment for the administration — and could transform how the government deals with terrorism suspects.

House Democrats approach danger zone with retirements  —  1. The political import of New York Democratic Rep. Eric Massa's surprising retirement on Wednesday was largely eclipsed by the controversy surrounding why he decided to depart Congress after a single term.  It shouldn't be.

U.S. Senate Candidate Giannoulias Says Family Bank Likely to Fail  —  From the Chicago Tribune:  —  Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Alexi Giannoulias sought to blunt a potentially damaging political issue today about questions regarding his involvement in his family's struggling bank …

Fringe Benefits — By: Mark Steyn  —  Gee, prosecuting Geert Wilders for “Islamophobia” in a politically rigged show trial seems to be working out just swell for the Dutch establishment.  Local election watch from EuroNews: … From Time: … From the Financial Times: … From the Guardian:

Why I took a stand  —  ‘If the Senate cannot find $10 billion to pay for a measure we all support, we will never pay for anything.’  —  I have been serving the citizens of Kentucky for nearly 24 years in Washington.  During that time I have been a member of both the House of Representatives and the United States Senate.

Divorced Before Puberty  —  It's hard to imagine that there have been many younger divorcées — or braver ones — than a pint-size third grader named Nujood Ali.  —  Nujood is a Yemeni girl, and it's no coincidence that Yemen abounds both in child brides and in terrorists (and now …