Weiner Tells Friends He Will Step Down  —  WASHINGTON — Representative Anthony D. Weiner has told friends that he plans to resign his seat after coming under growing pressure from his Democratic colleagues to leave the House in the wake of revelations of his lewd online exchanges with women, said a person told of Mr. Weiner's plans.

Jon Huntsman Cancels Appearance At Republican Leadership Conference Due To Illness  —  ABC News' Michael Falcone (@michaelpfalcone) reports:  —  Although he was slated to speak at a major gathering of Republicans taking place in New Orleans this weekend — just days before the official rollout …

Romney: 'I'm Also Unemployed'  —  TAMPA, Fla. — Mitt Romney sat at the head of the table at a coffee shop here on Thursday, listening to a group of unemployed Floridians explain the challenges of looking for work.  When they finished, he weighed in with a predicament of his own.

Ex-Spy Alleges Bush White House Sought to Discredit Critic  —  WASHINGTON — A former senior C.I.A. official says that officials in the Bush White House sought damaging personal information on a prominent American critic of the Iraq war in order to discredit him.

Tim Pawlenty gets glittered  —  Kate Nocera, our colleague on the Politico Pro health care beat, sends word from San Francisco:  —  “A large protest gathered outside the AHIP conference chanting ‘Medicare for all!’ and ‘Single payer now!’  A few of the signs were targeted at Rep. Paul Ryan accusing …

Our Lefty Military  —  As we search for paths out of America's economic crisis, many suggest business as a paradigm for cutting costs.  According to my back-of-the-envelope math, top C.E.O.'s earn as much as $1 a second around the clock, partly by cutting medical benefits for employees.

McKinsey official wrote previous study finding opposite of McKinsey study  —  Yet another interesting turn in the case of the mystery health care study.  —  As you know, the consulting firm McKinsey and Company recently released a study that — unlike other studies — found that larger numbers …

Possible Al-Qaida Hit List Targets Specific Americans  —  An al-Qaida-linked website has posted a potential hit-list of sorts.  It has the names and photos of several U.S. officials and business leaders.  The site prompted the FBI to send out a new terror bulletin.

My Ramona  —  Beverly Cleary's body of work shows why topicality derails great literature.  —  ON A SHIMMERING day in the Berkeley Hills in 1949—a day hopeful as only those in post-war California could be—a young author of a children's book walked down the winding street from her house to deposit her first check from her publisher.

Your morning jolt: Atlanta office left $13,000 in drawer, says Newt Gingrich  —  GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich this morning pushed back against his former staff, accusing his Atlanta office of neglecting $13,000 in checks to his campaign.  —  Gingrich may want to be careful.

Senate kills off ethanol tax credits in possible break with tax pledge  —  The Senate voted 73-27 Thursday to kill a major tax break that benefits the ethanol industry, handing a political win to a bipartisan group of lawmakers that call the incentive needless and expensive.

Bachmann Said To Have Deal For Memoir  —  Representative Michele Bachmann of Minnesota has made a deal to publish her memoir, selling a book to Sentinel, a conservative imprint at Penguin Group USA, two people familiar with the negotiations said on Thursday.