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 …

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 …

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.

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.

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 …

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 …

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 …

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.

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.

Say What?  Democrat Compares Republicans to Nazis  —  ABC News Jonathan Karl reports: The newfound civility didn't last long.  Political rhetoric in Congress doesn't get much nastier than the words of one House Democrat during the debate on repealing the health care law.

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.

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 …

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.

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 …

Religious Right Leader: Episcopal Church No Longer Christian Because It Supports Gay-Rights  —  Michael Youssef, the head of Leading the Way Ministries and a vocal critic of Islam, today argued that the Episcopal Church is no longer Christian and “not Jesus' church” as a result of the church's policies regarding gay-rights.

Ron Paul for Senate?  —  The top two choices of Texas Republicans to be their Senate nominee next year are David Dewhurst...and Ron Paul.  The duo is basically tied with 23% saying Dewhurst would be their top pick as the GOP candidate and 21% picking Paul.  —  Maybe a couple years ago …

Stars Shine on Christian Researcher  —  The University of Kentucky has settled a religious discrimination lawsuit with C. Martin Gaskell, a former University of Nebraska astronomer whom Kentucky declined to hire as director of its Lexington-based observatory.

D.C. ANTI-WALMART PROTESTERS PLAN MARCH ON DEVELOPER'S HOME WITH ‘TARGET’ FLYER  —  A group of Washington, D.C. protesters upset about the possibility of a Walmart store coming to their area is hoping to send the potential developer of the proposed store a message.

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 …

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 …