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.

Stupak: 12 Dems ready to oppose health care bill  —  WASHINGTON - A congressman who has played a key role in the long-running health care debate says he and 11 other Democrats will vote against the overhaul unless a provision subsidizing abortion is removed.

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.

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.

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.

Palin pitching TV show  —  Palin is pitching a TV show.  —  Washington (CNN) - Will Sarah Palin and her family be starring in a new reality television series?  Not quite, a source close to the former Alaska governor tells CNN.  —  While Palin and famed reality TV producer Mark Burnett …

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 …

The Republicans' big lie about reconciliation  —  For those who feared that Barack Obama did not have any Lyndon Johnson in him, the president's determination to press ahead and get health-care reform done in the face of Republican intransigence came as something of a relief.

White House Sends Volcker Rule To Congress  —  WHAT'S YOUR REACTION?  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration waded into negotiations over Wall Street regulations Wednesday, calling for limits on the size of financial institutions and insisting that consumer protections remain …

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 …

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 …

Swamp Things: Eerie Memories of '06 Haunt Democrats in '10  —  The swamp, it turns out, is still wet.  And it's muddy enough to create a muddle.  —  What if 2010 isn't 1994 or 1982, but 2006?  —  Congress lurches forward on health care haunted by old memories: If you're not thinking about Tom DeLay …