Humility and Honesty About Iraq Can Inspire Trust  —  Later today, President Obama will speak to the American people about Iraq.  No doubt he will laud the “end of major combat operations” by the date he randomly selected some 18 months ago.  His press secretary Robert Gibbs also gave us …

Counting of absentee ballots begins  —  From Sean Cockerham at the Alaska Division of Elections office in Anchorage —  Joe Miller's lead over Lisa Murkowski just grew slighly with absentee and questioned ballots from the Mat-Su.  —  Miller now leads Mukowski by 1,460 votes.

President Obama's Oval Office speech on Iraq — text  —  Oval Office Remarks by President Obama, as provided by the White House  —  Good evening.  Tonight, I'd like to talk to you about the end of our combat mission in Iraq, the ongoing security challenges we face, and the need to rebuild our nation here at home.

The Democrats' New Normal  —  I don't usually like to comment on individual polls.  Most of the time, when a poll produces an “unusual” result, it simply reflects random noise and the best advice is to wait for the next edition of the poll to come along, when more often than not it will revert to its previous position.

Glenn Beck “Restoring Honor” Rally Crowd Estimate Explained  —  As part of our coverage of Glenn Beck's “Restoring Honor” rally Saturday, CBS News commissioned the company AirPhotosLive.com to offer an independent estimate of how many people showed up for the event.

HALPERIN'S TAKE: Pawlenty's Efforts to “Limit” ObamaCare in Minnesota  —  This is a classic Pawlenty move that combines....  ...governing principle with clever 2012 positioning.  Leaving aside now the substantive merits of the Minnesota governor's executive order, barring some huge development …

Exclusive: Meghan McCain Writes that Palin Brought ‘Drama, Stress ... Panic’ to Campaign  —  Sen. John McCain's Daughter: Sarah Palin's Rise Was ‘Too Fast,’ ‘Too Easy’  —  For the first time since the end of her father's 2008 presidential bid, Meghan McCain, Sen. John McCain's daughter …

Why Wall St. Is Deserting Obama  —  Daniel S. Loeb, the hedge fund manager, was one of Barack Obama's biggest backers in the 2008 presidential campaign.  —  A registered Democrat, Mr. Loeb has given and raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for Democrats.

Busted!  Fox's Carlson Catches Gibbs In A Naked Lie—Asks 6 Times If Obama Will Credit Bush Tonight  —  Gibbs's lie was so deep, I had to freeze frame so you could see exactly what Obama said about the surge in 2007.  He's one smug, flippant jerk too.

How to fix unemployment  —  TWO years into the Great Recession unemployment in America remains well above 9%.  This has resulted in economic and emotional pain among the long-term jobless and endless commentary on what we can do about it.  Paul Krugman reckons that if we just had a bigger stimulus we could've restored full employment.

Previewing Ohio  —  We'll start rolling out our Ohio poll results tomorrow but there's one finding on the poll that pretty much sums it up: by a 50-42 margin voters there say they'd rather have George W. Bush in the White House right now than Barack Obama.  —  Independents hold that view …

Steve Schmidt, Former McCain Campaign Chief, On Mehlman Fundraiser: Same-Sex Marriage Becoming Conservative Cause  —  What's Your Reaction: … A major same-sex marriage fundraiser hosted by former RNC chairman Ken Mehlman and other Republicans provides one of the sharpest illustrations …

Poll: Majority Of GOP Believes Obama Sympathizes With Islamic Fundamentalism, Wants Worldwide Islamic Law  —  WHAT'S YOUR REACTION?  —  A majority of Republicans believe that President Barack Obama “sympathizes with the goals of Islamic fundamentalists who want to impose Islamic law around the world …

Brother, Can You Paradigm?  —  A few months back one of my original mentors in economics — someone who got his graduate training in the pre-fresh-water era — asked me whether there was anything about the current crisis that required fundamentally new analysis.  We agreed that there wasn't.

Chiles expected to withdraw from governor's race  —  UPDATED: It appears that Bud Chiles' days as a candidate for governor are numbered.  We are hearing considerable Buzz that Chiles is calling supporters to tell them he is ending his independent bid.  An announcement is likely to come in the next two days.