How the White House cut its deal and lost its base  —  If you look at the numbers alone, the tax cut deal looks to have robbed Republicans blind.  The GOP got around $95 billion in tax cuts for wealthy Americans and $30 billion in estate tax cuts.  Democrats got $120 billion in payroll-tax cuts …

A Political Life Filled With Cruel Reversals  —  Elizabeth Edwards, who as the wife of former Senator John Edwards gave America an intimate look at a candidate's marriage by sharing his quest for the 2008 presidential nomination as she struggled with incurable cancer and, secretly …

Tax Package Will Aid Nearly All, Especially Highest Earners  —  The deal to extend the Bush-era tax cuts for two years includes a bevy of additional credits and deductions that will reduce the burden on nearly all households.  —  But the tax benefits will flow most heavily to the highest earners …

Murmurs of Primary Challenge to Obama  —  WASHINGTON — President Obama's compromise with Republicans on extending tax cuts for the wealthy, which his self-described progressive critics see as a profound betrayal, is bound to intensify a debate that has been bubbling up on liberal blogs …

Julian Assange's Great Luck  —  Why his arrest and jailing in the United Kingdom is good news for him.  —  A U.K. magistrates' court denied Julian Assange bail and jailed him this morning over charges filed in Sweden that he had violated sex laws in that country last summer.

Harry Reid tries to add online poker to tax bill  —  Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is trying to use the tax cut package President Barack Obama brokered with Republicans to legalize online poker, POLITICO has learned — a move that could further complicate the deal Obama announced Monday.

U.S. Drops Demand on Israel in Setback to Mideast Talks  —  WASHINGTON—The Obama administration abandoned its effort to convince Israel to renew a freeze on building settlements in the West Bank, temporarily derailing hopes for a fresh round of peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians.

Scientists see fatal flaws in the NASA study of arsenic-based life.  —  On Thursday, Dec. 2, Rosie Redfield sat down to read a new paper called, “A Bacterium That Can Grow by Using Arsenic Instead of Phosphorus.”  Despite its innocuous title, the paper had great ambitions.

Seminal Moment  —  Let's be honest with each other here: Presidential press conferences are usually news voids into which a lot of ink and chatter are dumped.  —  But Obama's press conference this afternoon will be seen as a turning point if not in his Presidency then in how we understand and perceive him and his approach to politics.

Obama's Deal to Extend High-Earner Tax Cuts Unpopular in Poll  —  Americans don't approve of keeping the breaks for upper-income taxpayers that are part of the deal President Barack Obama brokered with congressional Republicans, a Bloomberg National Poll shows.

New McCain, New DREAM.  —  John McCain has co-sponsored several previous versions of the DREAM Act, including the far more liberal 2003 version that didn't have an age cap.  The much narrower legislation under consideration this year, which would offer a path to citizenship for immigrants …

TSA Response to “TSA Breast Milk Screening” Video  —  Nearly a year ago, a passenger going through airport screening on two separate occasions requested that her breast milk be visually inspected and not screened by the X-ray machine.  She filed a complaint with TSA regarding her screening experience.

Obama administers a stern scolding to lefty critics  —  I noted this morning that Obama's strategy going forward will be to position himself as Washington's lone resident adult in a town full of squabbling children on right and left, and at his presser just now, Obama offered a surprisingly stern …

In Which Thomas Friedman Insults the Chinese By Pretending That He Can Think Like Them  —  Let's go to the tape: … Where to begin?  —  First off, fight over “how and where an airport security officer can touch” Americans is one that goes to the very core of privacy concerns that have been part …