Miller sues to force exact spelling rule for write-in votes  —  JUNEAU — GOP nominee Joe Miller is asking a federal judge to keep the state from using discretion in counting write-in ballots in Alaska's hotly contested Senate race.  —  The lawsuit, filed Tuesday, comes …

Bush: “I probably won't even vote for McCain”  —  George W. Bush's bombastic return to the world stage has reminded me of my favourite Bush anecdote, which for various reasons we couldn't publish at the time.  Some of the witnesses still dine out on it.  —  The venue was the Oval Office.

Republicans Maneuver to Oust Their Leader  —  WASHINGTON — Turning their attention to the 2012 presidential election, Republican leaders are digging in for a battle over control of the Republican National Committee, judging that its role in fund-raising, get-out-the-vote operations and other tasks …

Democrats want leadership elections delayed  —  (CNN) - Two House Democrats are circulating a letter asking Democratic leaders to push their party's leadership elections for the next Congress until December.  —  Reps. Marcy Kaptur (D- Ohio) and Peter Defazio (D-Oregon) say in the letter that the …

Jet contrails from some angles look like missile trails  —  [Edit - This post was originally from Jan 19th, 2010.  I've updated it with information about the “Mystery Missile” contrail of Nov 8, 2010, at the bottom of this post.  Clearly it's the same thing]

Carlson sent fake ‘Olbermann’ emails to Philly columnist  —  Tucker Carlson boasted in July that his site, the Daily Caller, had bought the domain name for liberal MSNBC host Keith Olbermann.  Carlson, a conservative journalist and pundit, even said he would start using the email address keith@keitholbermann.com as a gag.

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 …

Bryan Fischer: A hot dog on two legs - time for open season on Yellowstone grizzlies  —  One human being is worth more than an infinite number of grizzly bears.  Another way to put it is that there is no number of live grizzlies worth one dead human being.  If it's a choice between grizzlies and humans, the grizzlies have to go.

Obama lauds Indonesia as a model of religious tolerance  —  Jakarta, Indonesia (CNN) — Indonesia and the United States share principles of unity and tolerance and both can benefit from strengthened ties that will bolster trade and combat terrorism, President Obama said in a highly anticipated speech Wednesday.

First Salvo In Social Security Fight: OweNo, A $20 Million Campaign Launched With Bayh, Conrad As Allies  —  WHAT'S YOUR REACTION? … WASHINGTON — In what may be the first major move of the forthcoming Social Security debate, the Peterson Foundation launched on Tuesday a $20 million TV ad campaign …

House Republicans Name Program That Already Expired As First Spending Item They Would Cut  —  ThinkProgress has been documenting the struggles that House Republicans have been having as they attempt to claim the mantle of fiscal responsibility without laying out any real spending cuts to which anyone might object.

Interior inspector general: White House skewed drilling-ban report  —  The White House rewrote crucial sections of an Interior Department report to suggest an independent group of scientists and engineers supported a six-month ban on offshore oil drilling, the Interior inspector general says in a new report.

The Myth of Record-High Gold  —  2:14 p.m. |  Updated with more detail  —  “Gold sets record high amid economic fears,” The Associated Press recently wrote.  “Gold surges to record high,” CNN said.  Gold closed Monday “at a record $1,402.80 per troy ounce,” the front page of The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday.

The Big Lie  —  It seems to me that the last year or so in America's political culture has represented the triumph of untruth.  And the untruth was propagated by a deliberate, simple and systemic campaign to kill Obama's presidency in its crib.  Emergency measures in a near-unprecedented economic collapse …

Watchdog wants probe of Google's ‘unusually close’ ties to Obama  —  As House Republicans plan an ambitious oversight agenda for the next session of Congress, a watchdog group is calling for a probe into a company that it says is far too cozy with the Obama administration: Google.

Dayton, Emmer preparing for the long count  —  Both sides are establishing war rooms and plans for fundraising for what could be a nasty recount battle.  —  On the surface, all is quite civil and orderly in Minnesota's lingering race for governor: DFLer Mark Dayton and Republican Tom Emmer hustled …

Bush's waterboarding claim rejected  —  British officials say there is no evidence that waterboarding saved lives of UK citizens, as Bush claimed in his memoirs  —  British officials said today there was no evidence to support claims by George Bush, the former US president …

Presidential Power Rankings  —  The Hotline assesses which potential White House contenders are most likely to win the 2012 Republican presidential nomination.  —  Welcome to The Hotline's inaugural edition of Presidential Power Rankings.  —  Who is best positioned to win the 2012 Republican presidential nomination?

Wiggins takes lead in WA Supreme Court race  —  Charlie Wiggins took a slim lead Tuesday over incumbent Justice Richard Sanders after trailing him for nearly a week of vote counting in the race for state Supreme Court.  —  Wiggins had a 3,517-vote lead following the vote count update from King County …

Olbermann's First Words Back On Air: “Oh, Hi! ...  So, What's New?”  —  A camera lingers on a darkened, seemingly empty set.  There are a few long seconds of tense silence.  Then, from off-screen, we hear a familiar voice: “Oh, hi! ...  So, what's new?”  —  That's how Keith Olbermann opened …