McCain: Hopes Obama considers Lieberman for defense secretary  —  Washington (CNN) - Sen. John McCain, R-AZ, tells CNN he believes his good friend Joe Lieberman would make a good defense secretary for President Obama, calling him “one of the most informed members of the Senate on national security issues and homeland security issues.”

VIDEO: House Republicans Explain Why They Won't Give Up Their Own Government-Sponsored Health Care  —  With the Republican legislative agenda increasingly focused on repealing health care reform, many observers are beginning to question whether GOPers in Congress will personally abide …

BELTWAY CONFIDENTIAL  —  Before banning ‘crosshairs,’ CNN used it to refer to Palin, Bachmann  —  CNN's John King is attracting a lot of notice — and some ridicule — in the blogosphere for his on-air apology after a guest used the word “crosshairs” during a report on Chicago politics Tuesday.

Video Captured ‘Calculated’ Gunman in Tucson  —  TUCSON — The chief investigator for the sheriff's department here has for the first time publicly described the brief and gory video clip from a store security camera that shows a gunman not only shooting Representative Gabrielle Giffords …

U.S. Rep. David Wu loses staffers, political team amid complaints of public behavior  —  Since the November election, U.S. Rep. David Wu, D-Ore., has lost at least six staffers plus the leadership of a veteran campaign team that guided him to a seventh term amid complaints about his public behavior.

CNN Poll: Palin unfavorable rating at all time high  —  Washington (CNN) - A new national poll indicates that 56 percent of all Americans have an unfavorable view of Sarah Palin, an all-time high for the former Alaska governor.  That 56 percent unfavorable figure is up seven points …

Hawaii governor can't find Obama birth certificate  —  Suggests controversy could hurt president's re-election chances  —  Hawaii Gov. Neil Abercrombie suggested in an interview published today that a long-form, hospital-generated birth certificate for Barack Obama may not exist within …

Ron Charles reviews ‘O: A Presidential Novel’  —  By Anonymous.  —  Simon & Schuster.  353 pp.  $25.99  —  Like the people who end up running for president, this anonymous novel about Barack Obama's reelection campaign isn't as good as you hoped or as bad as you feared.

Reid: Taxes, spending and immigration reform top Senate agenda  —  Taxes, spending and immigration reform top Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's (D-Nev.) goals for this Congress, he said Tuesday night.  —  Reid, the top Democrat in the Senate, suggested that he could find common ground …

Steele: “I Know How Caesar Felt”  —  This past weekend, RNC Chairman Michael Steele lost his bid for reelection.  Sitting down with FrumForum as he ponders his next move, perhaps the thing that gets the garrulous Steele most quiet is a mention of his successor, Wisconsin State Republican Chair Reince Priebus.

Sheila Jackson Lee Says Repealing ObamaCare Violates Constitution  —  Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, a Democrat from Texas, said on Tuesday afternoon that repealing the national health care law would violate the Constitution.  —  Arguing that the Commerce Clause provides the constitutional basis for ObamaCare …

Parenting by Gays More Common in the South, Census Shows  —  JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Being gay in this Southern city was once a lonely existence.  Most people kept their sexuality to themselves, and they were reminded of the dangers of being openly gay when a gay church was bombed in the 1980s.

Gabrielle Giffords to be released from hospital on Friday  —  Rep. Gabrielle Giffords will be released from a Tucson, Ariz., hospital Friday just under two weeks after she suffered a gunshot wound to her head.  —  Giffords is set to be moved from the University Medical Center to Houston's Institute …

WHY OBAMA IS SCARY SKINNY  —  The real reason behind PRESIDENT OBAMA's shocking weight loss - he's secretly battling stomach parasites, say sources.  —  The pencil-thin president caught the parasites on a trip last year to Hawaii, where he and his family also vacationed over Christmas, according to top political insiders.

New Ala. gov: Just Christians are his family  —  BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley told a church crowd just moments into his new administration that those who have not accepted Jesus as their savior are not his brothers and sisters, shocking some critics who questioned Tuesday whether he can be fair to non-Christians.

In Wreckage of Lost Jobs, Lost Power  —  Alone among the world's economic powers, the United States is suffering through a deep jobs slump that can't be explained by the rest of the economy's performance.  —  The gross domestic product here — the total value of all goods and services …

The new Clintonian Obama is playing offense, and building momentum  —  Three months after an electoral “shellacking” that threatened to derail his agenda and his reelection, Obama is on a roll.  —  President Obama — the centrist, Clintonian version — is rolling.

Pickering, Hills, Sullivan, Beinart, Dobbins, More Ask Obama Administration to Support UN Resolution Condemning Illegal Israeli Settlements  —  A letter from an array of concerned policy commentators and practitioners, academics, and former government officials about the resolution pending …

Housing Starts in U.S. Decreased in December to One-Year Low  —  Builders began work on fewer homes than projected in December, a sign the industry that triggered the recession continued to struggle more than a year into the U.S. economic recovery.  —  Housing starts fell 4.3 percent …

Muslim groups nervous about King hearings  —  American Muslim leaders, who have struggled to present a clear public voice or organize politically in the decade since Sept. 11, are increasingly apprehensive about the direction Rep. Pete King will take when he convenes hearings next month on the threat posed by radical Islam in America.

Carol Braun Moseley rips Bill Clinton's ‘betrayal’  —  Chicago mayoral candidate Carol Moseley Braun on Wednesday called former President Bill Clinton's campaign appearance for former White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel a “betrayal” of the city's African-American and Latino communities.

The White House Looks for Work  —  Three days before Christmas, President Obama gathered his economic team in the West Wing's Roosevelt Room to review themes for his State of the Union address.  The edge-of-the-cliff crisis he inherited had passed, but with more than 14 million Americans still out of work …

Five members to watch on health care repeal  —  The House is set to vote today on a repeal of the Democrats' health care law, and we've got a good idea how it's going to turn out.  —  The bill is widely expected to pass in the GOP-controlled House on a largely party-line vote …