Lisa Murkowski: Sarah Palin Lacks “Intellectual Curiosity” to be President  —  Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowki told CBS News' Katie Couric today that she would not support Sarah Palin for president because Palin lacks the “leadership qualities” and “intellectual curiosity” to craft great policy.

Apple Finally Snares Beatles  —  Steve Jobs is nearing the end of his long and winding pursuit of the Beatles catalog.  —  Apple Inc. is preparing to disclose that its iTunes Store will soon start carrying music by the Beatles, according to people familiar with the situation …

McConnell bows to right on earmarks  —  As he worked the phones over the past week, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell concluded he was in a no-win situation over earmarks.  —  The Kentucky Republican could dig in and fight a proposed ban on earmarks, opening him up to attacks …

Wow!  HUNDREDS OF RIDERS WITH US FLAGS Escort Cody Alicea to School Today (Video)  —  Hundreds of American Legion Riders and fellow patriots escorted Cody Alicea to Denair Middle School this morning.  They all had American Flags on their bikes.  —  A veteran brings Cody to tears when he gives …

2 Dems claim Huffington stole website idea  —  Two Democratic consultants are accusing Arianna Huffington and her business partner of stealing their idea for the powerhouse liberal website Huffington Post.  —  Peter Daou and James Boyce charge that Huffington and partner Ken Lerer designed …

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 …

Two Full-Time Obama Opponents Say Obama Should Pledge Not to Run Again  —  What would really help President Barack Obama through the current tough political spell?  If he just gave up his foolish desire to be president and announced he would not seek reelection.

Dejected House Dems wipe away tears as GOP celebrates victory  —  Dejected Democrats wiped away tears on the House floor Monday night while Republicans congratulated themselves on winning back control of the lower chamber.  —  House members returned to the nation's capital …

Obama, Dems to meet on DREAM Act  —  Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), Rep. Nydia Velasquez (D-N.Y.) and Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.) will meet with President Barack Obama Tuesday afternoon to talk about the chances of getting comprehensive immigration reform or the DREAM Act passed in the lame duck session, a House Democratic source said.

Vicious Infighting at NBC News  —  Steve Capus, the NBC News president, strongly echoed this theme.  Some of Olbermann's behavior was bad for the company.  —  Griffin, who had been friends with Olbermann since they first worked together at CNN three decades ago, pleaded for understanding.

Full Frontal Nudity Doesn't Make Us Safer: Abolish the TSA  —  The Republicans control the House of Representatives and are bracing for a long battle over the President's health care proposal.  In the spirit of bipartisanship and sanity, I propose that the first thing on the chopping block …

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 …

The Smart, the Dumb, and the Election  —  AEI's political analysts have posted an eye-opening analysis of the midterm election results, and this fact caught my eye.  —  Postgraduates, by which I believe the AEI analysts mean those with something more than a bachelor's degree, were 20 percent of the electorate.

McConnell Does About-Face on Earmarks: ‘The People Have Spoken’  —  Sen. Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.), Senate Republican Leader, has reversed course on a proposed earmark ban, saying in a floor speech just now that … McConnell defended his own previous earmarks, and subtly worked in the point he's …

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

Rangel Inquiry Finds Evidence Beyond Dispute  —  The House ethics committee ruled on Monday that there was evidence to support 13 counts of misconduct by Representative Charles B. Rangel, and began considering whether to formally convict and recommend punishment against him.

Cops called on 13-year-olds for selling cupcakes  —  ‘Some Town Board member decided to get on his high horse and wreck their dreams’  —  Below:  —  msnbc.com staff and news service reports  —  CHAPPAQUA, N.Y. — A politician in a New York suburb called police on two 13-year-old boys …

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.

GOP frosh: Where's my health care?  —  A conservative Maryland physician elected to Congress on an anti-Obamacare platform surprised fellow freshmen at a Monday orientation session by demanding to know why his government-subsidized health care plan from the government takes a month to kick in.

Lieberman, Collins seek earlier release of Pentagon 'don't ask, don't tell' report  —  Two influential senators who want repeal of the military's “don't ask, don't tell' policy have called on the Pentagon to accelerate the release of a report examining the effects of such a sweeping change, and how it can be implemented.

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.