A New Leader for the Democrats  —  Nancy Pelosi has been an extremely effective speaker of the House for four years, shepherding hundreds of important bills toward passage and withstanding solid Republican opposition.  Her work in passing health care reform and strong ethics oversight achieved …

Spencer Bachus: Sarah Palin cost GOP control of U.S. Senate  —  COLUMBIANA — Shelby County's congressman, U.S. Rep. Spencer Bachus, R-Ala., said former Alaska governor and vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin likely cost the Republican Party control of the U.S. Senate.

Olbermann Apologizes to Viewers, But Not to MSNBC  —  6:15 p.m. |  Update In an aggressive statement questioning the legitimacy of his two-day suspension from MSNBC, Keith Olbermann addressed his viewers Monday night, saying that they were responsible for his scheduled return to the air on Tuesday …

Even with tax cuts, GOP appears willing to shoot the hostage  —  Adam Serwer is a staff writer at The American Prospect, where he writes his own blog.  —  The debate on ABC's This Week between former Reagan Office of Management and Budget director David Stockman and Indiana Rep. Mike Pence …

Today's Power Play: GOP Sweetens its Offer to Manchin  —  ((Get politically powered up each day with exclusive analysis and content with Fox News' AEHQ iPhone app))  —  Early Intel — GOP Sweetens its Offer to Manchin  —  Republicans are making some big promises to try …

President Obama isolated ahead of 2012  —  President Barack Obama has performed his act of contrition.  Now comes the hard part, according to Democrats around the country: reckoning with the simple fact that he's isolated himself from virtually every group that matters in American politics.

Grief counseling after the wipeout  —  A staffer for a congressional Democrat who came up short on Tuesday reports that a team of about five people stopped by their offices this morning to talk about payroll, benefits, writing a résumé, and so forth, with staffers who are now job hunting.

Johnny Dollar takes Rachel Maddow to school  —  It's becoming clearer by the hour that the hallowed halls of MSNBC are in utter chaos.  Johnny Dollar provides further proof via the simple method of repeating their own words back to them:  —  You tell 'em, Keith!  Much more at Johnny Dollar's Place.

Interview with Hamish and Andy  —  University of Melbourne  —  QUESTION: Madam Secretary, thank you so much for joining us.  —  SECRETARY CLINTON: Thank you for having me.  —  QUESTION: It's very exciting.  And we start with a gift.  —  SECRETARY CLINTON: Oh, excellent.

5th Circuit Rules That High School Cheerleader Is Required To Cheer For Her Alleged Rapist  —  Fifth Circuit Judge Priscilla Owen and former President George W. Bush  —  The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, one of the most right-wing courts in the country …

Is Rand Paul Already Selling Out?  —  On Saturday, the Wall Street Journal ran this piece on senators-elect Rand Paul and Roy Blunt.  The piece is organized to contrast Blunt, who's been around for a long time, with first-timer Paul.  One is presented as being comfortable with compromises …

Obama's speech, his teleprompter, the reaction  —  He thrilled them by calling for India to have a permanent seat on an expanded U.N. Security Council.  He reassured them by demanding that Pakistan bring those responsible for the Mumbai terror attacks to justice.  He flattered them by recalling India's

Black Caucus mum on Tea Party Republican who wants to join  —  Rep.-elect Allen West (Fla.) said last week, “I'm gonna find out when they meet, and I will be a member.”  —  The Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) is staying silent about a Tea Party Republican's bid to join the group.

I Am a Blogger No Longer  —  This is my final blog post for The Atlantic.  Five years ago, as a way to boost the competitive metabolism of The Hotline, Chuck Todd hired me away from ABC News to create “Hotline On Call.”  I was to be the first political reporter working for a mainstream news …

The uncalled House races: GOP leads in five of nine  —  There are nine House races that have still not yet been called, and a few are almost certainly headed for recounts.  All the seats are currently held by Democrats.  Republicans lead in five.  The GOP made historic gains of 60 seats …

Fighting the Last War: Toner and Ink Cartridges Prohibited from Overseas Flights  —  Toner version of Abu Ghraib (photo: chiefmoamba on Flickr)  —  When I did stand-up a hundred years ago, I used to do a joke about how aviation security was always a few steps behind the terrorists.

Obama acknowledges decline of US dominance  —  MUMBAI: Implicitly acknowledging the decline of American dominance, Barack Obama on Sunday said the US was no longer in a position to “meet the rest of the world economically on our terms”.  —  Speaking at a town hall meeting in Mumbai, he said …

Netanyahu faces embarrassment in U.S. over new Jerusalem building plan  —  Jerusalem District Planning and Building Committee published details of program that will allow 930 new housing units to be built beyond the Green Line.  —  New embarrassment threatened to cast a cloud …

Standing For Nothing.  —  The Wall Street Journal reports Democrats are ready to cave on DADT in the lame duck: … Look, if Democrats can't repeal a policy more than two thirds of the American people, including a majority of conservatives want gone then they can't expect people to vote for them.

What if states ditch Medicaid?  —  The Medicaid expansion was meant to be one of the hallmark accomplishments of health-care reform.  The Affordable Care Act will expand the program rapidly by subsidizing insurance for all Americans up to 133 percent of the poverty line, which will add an estimated 16 million new Medicaid enrollees.

Darrell Issa plans hundreds of hearings  —  California Rep. Darrell Issa is already eyeing a massive expansion of oversight for next year, including hundreds of hearings; creating new subcommittees; and launching fresh investigations into the bank bailout, the stimulus and, potentially, health care reform.

Professor sheds weight on junk food  —  (CNN) — Twinkies.  Nutty bars.  Powdered donuts.  —  For 10 weeks, Mark Haub, a professor of human nutrition at Kansas State University, ate one of these sugary cakelets every three hours, instead of meals.  To add variety in his steady stream …