If Democrats ignore health-care polls, midterms will be costly  —  In “The March of Folly,” Barbara Tuchman asked, “Why do holders of high office so often act contrary to the way reason points and enlightened self-interest suggests?”  Her assessment of self-deception …

An option still on table?  —  Senate Republicans caused a major stir Thursday when they told reporters that the parliamentarian had informed them that the Senate bill needed to be signed into law before lawmakers took up a sidecar bill to fix it.  —  And Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad …

Why don't honest journalists take on Roger Ailes and Fox News?  —  One question has tugged at my professional conscience throughout the year-long congressional debate over health-care reform, and it has nothing to do with the public option, portability or medical malpractice.

Op-Ed Columnist: What Obama Stands For  —  Who is Barack Obama?  —  If you ask a conservative Republican, you are likely to hear that Obama is a skilled politician who campaigned as a centrist but is governing as a big-government liberal.  He plays by ruthless, Chicago politics rules.

Obama Social Secretary Ran Into Sharp Elbows  —  WASHINGTON — Long before the State Dinner party crashers and the tension with her White House colleagues and the strain in her relationship with the first lady, Desirée Rogers began to understand she was in trouble when David Axelrod summoned …

Report Details How Lehman Hid Its Woes as It Collapsed  —  By MICHAEL J. de la MERCED and ANDREW ROSS SORKIN  —  It is the Wall Street equivalent of a coroner's report — a 2,200-page document that lays out, in new and startling detail, how Lehman Brothers used accounting sleight of hand …

A frustrated caucus keeps complaints quiet  —  A year ago, members of the Congressional Black Caucus openly wept at Barack Obama's inauguration.  Slowly, that euphoria has given way to frustration that his administration has not done more for black America.

Tea parties stir evangelicals' fears  —  The rise of a new conservative grass roots fueled by a secular revulsion at government spending is stirring fears among leaders of the old conservative grass roots, the evangelical Christian right.  —  A reeling economy and the massive bank bailout …

Top Obama Priorities Collide as Student Loan Legislation May Be Attached to Health Care  —  WASHINGTON — Democratic Congressional leaders struck a tentative agreement on Thursday that breathes new life into President Obama's proposed overhaul of federal student loan programs.

Senators give Obama a bipartisan plan on immigration  —  The president is encouraged, but healthcare politics could jeopardize the proposal.  —  Clarissa Martinez de Castro of the National Council of La Raza speaks to reporters outside the White House after meeting with President Obama to on immigration reform.

Yeas & Nays reporter booted from Sean Penn event  —  A Yeas & Nays reporter was publicly berated and threatened to be escorted out by police on Thursday night when the reporter asked actor Sean Penn a controversial question about his humanitarian work in Haiti.

Coffee Party brewing  —  Atlanta, Georgia (CNN) — In one chair sits a rural retiree, his financial security shot in the slump, a humble Southerner who's never thought much about politics.  In another seat is a born Northerner, an inner-city native, a relative of a civil rights giant.

Beck vs Social Justice  —  I'm surprised there hasn't been more attention paid lately to Glenn Beck's attacks on the idea of social justice: … If this is meant seriously—and Beck's sounded the theme in three consecutive shows so I think it is—this seems to me like when McCarthy decided to go after the Army.

Reid's Wife and Daughter Injured in Car Accident  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's wife and daughter were hospitalized Thursday — the wife with a broken back and neck — after their minivan was rear-ended by a tractor-trailer truck on an interstate highway in suburban Virginia, authorities said.

New round of foreclosures threatens housing market  —  The housing market is facing swelling ranks of homeowners who are seriously delinquent but have yet to lose their homes, and this is threatening a new wave of foreclosures that could hit just as the real estate market has begun to stabilize.

GOP pushes probe of disgraced upstate pol Eric Massa, charges Nancy Pelosi ignored tip  —  The scandal around disgraced ex-Rep. Eric Massa rocked Capitol Hill again Thursday as Republicans forced ethics officials to take another look at sordid charges of sexual harassment - and how they were handled.