Unserious People  —  OK, let's say goodbye to the deficit commission.  If you're sincerely worried about the US fiscal future — and there's good reason to be — you don't propose a plan that involves large cuts in income taxes.  Even if those cuts are offset by supposed elimination of tax breaks elsewhere …

Michele Bachmann drops out of leadership race  —  Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann dropped out of the race for House Republican Conference chair on Wednesday night, ending a quixotic bid for leadership that many saw as the first real test of the tea party against the GOP establishment.

New GOP chief of staff calls Pelosi ‘garbage’  —  A newly named GOP chief of staff called the outgoing Democratic majority — and in particular Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) — “garbage.”  —  Joyce Kaufman, the incoming chief of staff to Rep.-elect Allen West (R-Fla.), said …

‘The Onion’ Strikes Comic Gold With Biden Spoofs  —  Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. has never smashed a Whac-A-Mole game in a drunken fit.  He has never invoked Freedom of Information laws to find out a female federal employee's work schedule.  And to the best of anyone's knowledge …

The Reign of Right-Wing Primetime … I'll name a hit TV show, and you guess if it's more popular among Republicans or Democrats.  —  First, NCIS — investigating military crimes on CBS.  Safe bet conservatives love it, right?  —  How about ABC's Desperate Housewives — a racy soap, female audience.

Sources: Pentagon group finds there is minimal risk to lifting gay ban during war  —  A Pentagon study group has concluded that the military can lift the ban on gays serving openly in uniform with only minimal and isolated incidents of risk to the current war efforts, according to two people familiar …

Boehner's Image Improves, Reid's Does Not After Midterms  —  Four in 10 still unfamiliar with House Republican leader  —  PRINCETON, NJ — Americans' opinions of House Republican Leader John Boehner, who is in line to be the speaker of the House in the new Congress, improved after the midterm elections.

Exclusive: Supreme Court Justice Sam Alito Dismisses His Profligate Right-Wing Fundraising As ‘Not Important’  —  Last night, the American Spectator — a right-wing magazine known for its role in the “Arkansas Project,” a well-funded effort to invent stories with the goal …

More federal workers' pay tops $150,000  —  The number of federal workers earning $150,000 or more a year has soared tenfold in the past five years and doubled since President Obama took office, a USA TODAY analysis finds.  —  The fast-growing pay of federal employees has captured the attention …

Tensions with states grow over high speed rail  —  (Reuters) - The Transportation Department warned two governors-elect that federal money allocated to building high-speed passenger rail lines in their states cannot be used to pay for other infrastructure projects, as tensions grow over federal transportation spending.

Mea Culpa: I Put Keith Olbermann on National TV  —  This YouTube video reminded me that I was the person who introduced Keith Olbermann to America.  —  Keith was a sportscaster at the local CBS affiliate in Los Angeles at the same time I was doing a talk show for that network.

Write-in counting begins  —  Counting ballots in Juneau today.  —  There have been questions from the ballot observers about the criteria Division of Elections Director Gail Fenumiai is using to rule on the Miller campaign challenges of Murkowski ballots.  —  Here's what Fenumiai told me:

U.N. Rejects Iran's Bid for Seat on Women's Rights Panel  —  The United Nations on Wednesday rejected Iran's bid for a seat to the board of the new U.N. agency to promote equality for women after fierce opposition from the United States and human rights groups to Tehran's treatment of women.

DAVID B. OFFER: Collins optimistic that moderation is key to success by Congress  —  The votes were barely counted last week before national columnists and pundits began analyzing the impact of the Republican victories.  Many predicted more gridlock.  —  “Moderate Republicans will be less likely …

How Justice Richard B. Sanders Lost It  —  Yesterday I called the race for State Supreme Court Position No. 6 in favor of challenger Charlie Wiggins, and said I'd explain this morning what I think happened in this intense, down-to-the-wire contest.  Here goes.

Dire Consequences of NIH Cuts  —  I'm pretty sure the new House majority will succeed in enacting pretty severe cuts to means-tested programs that benefit poor people.  But any talk of sweeping budget cuts is going to keep running into stories like this one:

NY Times Editor on the ‘Beauty’ of Readers' Ignorance  —  Gerald Marzorati, center, with Marc Jacobs (L) and Paul Krugman.  Image by Getty Images via @daylife  —  The New York Times cultivates an image as the preferred read of the intellectual elite, but at least one of the paper's higher-ups seems …

Rick Santorum: No real tea party candidates in 2012 mix  —  Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum says none of the GOP presidential hopefuls can truly be called tea party candidates — but he and Gary Johnson come close.  —  “There isn't a single candidate running for president who can claim …

Video: Christie names names in fight against inflated education salaries  —  “The new poster boy for all that's wrong with the public-school system...”  —  As part of his efforts to reform public school systems in New Jersey and apply resources more directly to students …

Bombs Away: Afghan Air War Peaks With 1,000 Strikes in October  —  The U.S. and its allies have unleashed a massive air campaign in Afghanistan, launching missiles and bombs from the sky at a rate rarely seen since the war's earliest days.  In October alone, NATO planes fired their weapons …

Rapper Finds Order in Orthodox Judaism in Israel  —  JERUSALEM — The tall man in the velvet fedora and knee-length black jacket with ritual fringes peeking out takes long, swift strides toward the Western Wall.  It's late in the day, and he does not want to miss afternoon prayers at Judaism's holiest site.

House Republican: Bush ‘destroyed GOP’  —  Former President George W. Bush is no “class act,” a Republican lawmaker insisted Wednesday.  Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) said Bush had “destroyed” the GOP during his eight years in office in a blunt shot at the former Republican president …