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 …

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.

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 …

Suspended Keith Olbermann Demanded MSNBC Apology, Will Return Tuesday  —  It might have been Keith Olbermann who got suspended from MSNBC after breaking company rules regarding making contributions to political candidates, but now sources tell me it's Keith himself whose demands have been met …

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.

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 …

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 …

Doing It Again  —  Eight years ago Ben Bernanke, already a governor at the Federal Reserve although not yet chairman, spoke at a conference honoring Milton Friedman.  He closed his talk by addressing Friedman's famous claim that the Fed was responsible for the Great Depression …

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 …

Criminal barbering?  Raids at Orange County shops lead to arrests, raise questions  —  Customers watch a movie and collegiate football game at Strictly Skillz Barbershop in Pine Hills, on Saturday, October 9, 2010.  In the African-American community, beauty and barbershops are a cornerstone …

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.

BLOOMBERG, 2012?  —  John B. Anderson, the former Republican congressman from Illinois and 1980 Presidential candidate, said that his mind was “in a whirl,” late last week.  Anderson, who now lives in Florida, was a Charlie Crist supporter, and, despite his long-standing disaffection toward …

Gov. George Pataki ‘Looking at’ Run for President; Peekskill ‘Twice the Size of Wasilla’  —  ABC News' Rick Klein reports:  —  Sarah Palin isn't the only former governor/former mayor who's mulling a run for president in 2012.  —  On ABC's “Top Line” today, former Gov. George Pataki …

Jim Webb: Why Reagan Dems Still Matter  —  Jim Webb went to the White House last September.  The Virginia senator was meeting with the president to discuss Guantanamo detainees.  The conversation soon shifted to healthcare.  “I told him this was going to be a disaster,” Webb recalls.

California: The Lindsay Lohan of States  —  Sacramento is headed for trouble again, and it shouldn't expect a bailout.  —  Listen up, California.  The other 48 states—your cousin New York excluded—are sick of your bratty arrogance.  You're the Lindsay Lohan of states …

If you thought the bank bailout was bad, wait until the mortgage defaults hit home  —  THE BIG PICTURE: Ireland is effectively insolvent - the next crisis will be mass home mortgage default, writes MORGAN KELLY … WHEN I wrote in The Irish Times last May showing how the bank guarantee …

Sarah Palin takes us for a ride.  —  When it was announced, in the spring, that Sarah Palin would be making a reality show about Alaska, the state she grew up in and then, last year, blew off, by resigning the governorship, I'm sure I winced and groaned and rolled my eyes, before hanging my head …

The Unready Republicans  —  When a political party suffers two consecutive thrashings at the polls, its supporters can usually look forward to a long period of exile — a time to lick wounds, settle scores, feud over policy and gradually map out a road back to relevance.  —  Not so the Obama-era Republicans.

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