FBI raids office of D.C. CTO, Obama appointee  —  Federal agents this morning are searching the office Washington, D.C.'s Chief Technology Officer.  —  The search of the office at 1 Judiciary Square is part of “an ongoing investigation,” said a spokeswoman for the FBI's D.C. Field Office, Lindsay Gotwin, said.

Steele, under fire, walks back ‘choice’ remark  —  RNC Chairman Michael Steele said today that despite telling an interviewer he supports “individual choice” and state-level decisions on abortion, he in fact opposes abortion and supports a Constitutional ban.  —  Steele said in a statement through an RNC spokesman:

The Country's Loss  —  The Obama administration has just suffered an embarrassing defeat at the hands of the lobbyists the president vowed to keep in their place, and their friends on Capitol Hill.  The country has lost an able public servant in an area where President Obama has few personal credentials …

New Limbaugh billboard slogan announced - creativity was not considered  — E-mail a friend - Print this - Letter to the Editor - Republish - - Get e-mail alerts - RSS  —  Setting a world record today for beating a dead horse, the Democratic National Committee will announce they've selected …

Madoff Life in Prison Means Inmates Who Blame Money Man for Crash  —  Bernard Madoff, scheduled to plead guilty today to masterminding the largest Ponzi scheme in history, may have to fight off prison inmates who want to squeeze him for money or blame him for the Wall Street crash.

Paved With Magnificent Intentions  —  Charles Dickens, who visited in 1842, described Washington as a “city of magnificent intentions” because of the incongruity between the city's grand aspirations and muddy, swampy actuality.  Today Washington's discrepancy is not architectural but political.

Young Miss Palin  —  A mere ten weeks or so after the birth of their baby, Bristol Palin and her co-parent, Levi Johnston, have split up.  There will be no marriage.  According to the AP, and Mr. Johnston, it was a mutual decision.  The same article manages to note that Bristol is devastated.

Obama: Troop move to Mexican border under consideration  —  WASHINGTON — President Obama weighed in Wednesday on the escalating drug war on the U.S.-Mexico border, saying that he was looking at possibly deploying National Guard troops to contain the violence but ruled out any immediate military move.

Iraqi Shoe Thrower Gets Three Years  —  BAGHDAD — An Iraqi journalist who gained widespread acclaim throughout the Arab world for hurling his shoes at President Bush during a visit here in December was sentenced to three years in jail by a court on Thursday.

Obama Makes Use of Signing Statements  —  WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama signed a $410 billion spending bill Wednesday that includes thousands of pet projects inserted by lawmakers, even as he unveiled new rules to restrict such so-called earmarks.  —  At the same time …

The Galt's of Gullible Gulch  —  Galt Gulch seemed so much bigger in the book  —  Threatened by “Obama's Thugs” which slims her pickin's mightily, Dr. Mrs Ole Perfesser assembles a crack panel of quarter millionaires (plus one dollar) who describe how they are going to Go John Galt.

Obama's honeymoon bliss fading  —  President Obama's honeymoon is beginning to fade.  —  Members of Congress and old political hands say he needs to show substantial progress reviving the economy soon.  —  Some Democrats have started to worry that voters don't and won't understand …

Donors, security experts blast Coleman campaign as credit card numbers show up online  —  Republican, aides suggest partisan motives in aftermath  —  Former Sen. Norm Coleman's campaign didn't do enough to protect donors' confidential information, and Wednesday that lapse came home to roost …

Pres. Obama Will Not Attend Annual Gridiron Dinner, First President Since Cleveland to Miss  —  A Gridiron Club member tells FBDC first that President Obama will not attend this year's dinner next Saturday, March 21st.  He will be the first president since Grover Cleveland not to attend the first Gridiron Club Dinner of his presidency.

The most technologically progressive decade of the 20th century  —  Can you guess?  According to economic historian Alexander Field, it is (controversially) the 1930s.  Opening paragraph:  —  Because of the Depression's place in both the popular and academic imagination …

Columbia J-School's Existential Crisis  —  The media bloodbath hasn't made for happy days at Columbia Journalism School.  When the Times recently announced that its new, hyperlocal blog experiment “The Local” would be assisted by journalism students not from Columbia but from the City University of New York …

Former Rep. Goode files to run for old seat  —  Republicans appear to have another repeat candidate in 2010, as former Rep. Virgil Goode (R-Va.) has filed to reclaim the seat he lost in November.  —  Goode filed Wednesday with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) — a move that allows …

KEEP YOUR EYE OUT  —  As I said last night, I think Michael Steele's forgetting that he's pro-life in his interview with Lisa DePaulo may finally bring some GOPers off the sidelines and pushing to get this guy to step down.  You're going to get Christian conservatives saying that he should go, presumably.