Mitch McConnell reverses; backs earmark ban  —  Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell declared Monday that he now supports a GOP ban on earmarks, a stunning reversal that puts the Kentucky Republican in line with the tea-party wing of his party and conservative senators who have long sought to kill off pet projects.

'Sarah Palin's Alaska' Breaks TLC Ratings Record  —  Sarah Palin's documentary / travelogue / reality / biopic shattered TLC ratings records Sunday night.  —  The debut of Sarah Palin's Alaska delivered a whopping 5 million viewers.  —  The first episode of the eight-part series was the most-watched program launch in TLC's history.

Murkowski receives warm welcome from fellow senators as lame-duck begins  —  Sen. Lisa Murkowski received a warm welcome from fellow Senators on the Senate floor Monday and congratulations from National Republican Senate Campaign Chairman John Cornyn.  —  Ballots are still being counted …

Virginia Thomas stepping down as head of Liberty Central  —  Virginia Thomas, political activist and wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, has decided to relinquish control of Liberty Central, the conservative group she founded less than a year ago, so that the organization can escape the …

Sen. Burris says Reid apologized over ethics admonishment  —  Outgoing Sen. Roland Burris (D-Ill.) said that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) had apologized to him for the ethics proceedings against Burris in 2009.  —  Burris said that the Senate's top Democrat had expressed regrets …

Safer Social Security  —  Social Security is not the key fiscal problem facing the nation.  Payments to its beneficiaries amount to 5 percent of the economy now; by 2050, they're projected to rise to about 6 percent.  Over the same period, federal health care costs will increase six times as much.

Ethics trial ends, Charlie Rangel awaits fate  —  After his dramatic walkout from a high stake ethics trial, Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) now awaits judgment from the ethics panel that has heard the evidence against him and has ended the public portion of the trial.

Westboro protesters face jeers and slashed tires  —  Related Story: McAlester soldier mourned  —  McALESTER - Members of a Kansas church that protests at military funerals may have found themselves in the wrong town Saturday.  —  Shortly after finishing their protest at the funeral of Army …

Vicious Infighting at NBC News  —  MSNBC's president vowed to fire Keith Olbermann after he threatened to take his case to other networks.  Howard Kurtz on the civil war that has NBC brass—and his own staff—fuming.  —  Keith Olbermann was having dinner with his manager at an Upper East Side restaurant …

CNN Poll: Election not a mandate for GOP  —  Washington (CNN) - Americans approve of the Republican takeover of the House of Representatives in the midterms, but only one in six say the election results were a mandate for the GOP, according to a new national poll.

Kalpen Modi Returns To White House Job After Leaving To Film ‘Harold & Kumar’ Sequel  —  ABC's Michael Falcone reports:  —  After a brief hiatus to film a sequel to the popular “Harold & Kumar” movie, the actor, Kalpen Modi (also known as Kal Penn), is returning to a job in the White House

The best campaign of the 2010 election  —  The Fix spends an inordinate amount of time thinking and talking about campaign politics.  —  Given that, we like to think of ourselves as connoisseurs of the political game — we know what's good, what's bad and what's just plain odd.

Amidst National Islamophobic Upheaval, Arizonans Protest Mosque That's Actually A Church  —  In an era saturated with absurd moments of anti-Muslim fear-mongering, mosques have become a touchstone for Islamophobia.  Even unbuilt mosques have set off a wave of anti-Muslim sentiment in Tennessee …

Is America bribing Bibi or blackmailing him?  —  THE way the New York Times reports it, you might think that Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are treating Israel's prime minister with more solicitude than he deserves.  If he will only agree to freeze Israeli settlement building in the West Bank …

Top Republican: Hoyer is ‘the only one we really talk to’  —  Outgoing House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) is the GOP's primary source of contact within the Democratic leadership, a top Republican said Monday.  —  Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), the incoming chairman of the House Budget Committee …

Obama shares dreams for his kids in book on 13 Americans  —  President Obama's picture book for kids, Of Thee I Sing: A Letter to My Daughters (Knopf, $17.99), pays tribute to 13 Americans whose traits he sees in his own children.  —  The 31-page book, for kids ages 3 and up …

Open Letter to Ben Bernanke  —  The following is the text of an open letter to Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke signed by several economists, along with investors and political strategists, most of them close to Republicans:  —  We believe the Federal Reserve's large-scale asset purchase plan …

Obama Blames Himself for Tone in Washington  —  Just 20 days after his inauguration, with Republicans trying to block his stimulus bill, President Obama refused to acknowledge that he had underestimated how hard it would be to change the way Washington works.

How to sell horrible counterintuitive column ideas and look smart doing it. … Like This Story Follow Slate's Politics … - How Can They Tell Whether Michael Jackson Was Really the One Singing His New Song?  - A Zombie Actor Reflects on Life During the Zombie Boom- How Would You Redesign Cigarette Warning Labels?

A lame and spineless duck?  —  The lame-duck session of Congress that kicks off this week will test whether Democrats have spines made of Play-Doh and whether President Obama has decided to pretend that capitulation is conciliation.  —  Congress faces an enormous amount of unfinished business …

Sen. Schumer wants a federal investigation and ban of reusable grocery bags  —  How many times have we heard from Al Gore, Hollyweird celebrities, and other environmentalists that the use of reusable bags are not only necessary for the environment, but is also useful for carrying those heavy items …