Reid Says Deal Resolves the Impasse on the Public Option  —  WASHINGTON — The Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, said Tuesday night that he and a group of 10 Democratic senators had reached “a broad agreement” to resolve a dispute over a proposed government-run health insurance plan …

Sotomayor Draws Retort From a Fellow Justice  —  WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court released its first four decisions in argued cases this term on Tuesday.  They were all minor, but one was notable for being Justice Sonia Sotomayor's Supreme Court debut and for prompting a testy concurrence from Justice Clarence Thomas.

Bush closes the gap  —  Public Policy Polling:  —  Perhaps the greatest measure of Obama's declining support is that just 50% of voters now say they prefer having him as President to George W. Bush, with 44% saying they'd rather have his predecessor.  Given the horrendous approval ratings …

HOUSE GOP IS PRO-CHRISTMAS.... It was just six weeks ago that House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) decided he was fed up with empty, meaningless congressional resolutions.  These largely symbolic measures are taken up all the time — it's been routine fare for years …

Wash. Post publishes falsehood-laden Palin op-ed that is contradicted by scientists, temperature data, and ... the Post itself  —  The Washington Post's has published an op-ed by Sarah Palin in which she claims that the apparently stolen Climate Research Unite emails “reveal that leading climate ‘experts’ …

Al Gore talks about global warming, those e-mails, and his new book.  —  If Al Gore's film An Inconvenient Truth raised awareness about global warming by frightening people, he hopes his latest book, Our Choice, will help people find solutions to the problem.

Mark Penn's two firms got $6 million from stimulus for PR campaign  —  Nearly $6 million in stimulus money was paid to two firms run by Mark Penn, Hillary Clinton's pollster in 2008.  —  Federal records show that $5.97 million from the $787 billion stimulus helped preserve three jobs at Burson-Marsteller …

Panel votes 6-1 against Sanford impeachment  —  An impeachment resolution against Gov. Mark Sanford has been essentially killed, as a majority of the 7-member committee formed to weigh evidence against the governor voted against it today.  —  The vote, which came shortly after 3:30 p.m., was 6-1 against the resolution.

Did Christianity Cause the Crash?  —  LIKE THE AMBITIONS of many immigrants who attend services there, Casa del Padre's success can be measured by upgrades in real estate.  The mostly Latino church, in Charlottesville, Virginia, has moved from the pastor's basement, where it was founded in 2001 …

Election 2010: Ohio Governor  —  In 2010 Ohio Governor Match-up, Strickland Trails Kasich  —  Unemployment in Ohio has jumped to 10.5%, the state is wrestling with an $851 million budget shortfall, and Governor Ted Strickland has proposed delaying a tax cut approved in 2005.

QUITE RIGHT BY MICHAEL J. BONAFIELD  —  My conversation with Michele Bachmann: 'I'm a lovable little fuzz ball!'  —  Michele Bachmann: “I don't fear the left, and maybe that's part of the loathing that they feel toward me.”  —  I had never met Michele Bachmann, and when I mentioned …

Jon Stewart Calls Out Gretchen Carlson For “Dumbing Herself Down” (VIDEO)  —  WHAT'S YOUR REACTION?  —  Jon Stewart went after “Fox & Friends” host Gretchen Carlson last night.  Saying she plays the “troubled mom, just trying to make sense of this modern country,” Stewart explained Carlson seems …

Steele gets heated over ‘you people’  —  Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele got into a heated exchange Wednesday morning with the cast of MSNBC's “Morning Joe.”  —  It started with CNBC commentator Donny Deutsch, who pointedly asked Steele about the GOP's criticism …

Did Obama Snub the King?  — Home - Cheat sheet - Buzz board - Big Fat Story - Blogs & stories - Videos - Galleries - Crossword  —  Blogs and Stories  —  Finally some Europeans are angry with Obama—the very ones who are awarding him his peace prize.  Katarina Andersson on the president's rebuff …

Evan Bayh's political crossroads  —  Photo by Nikki Kahn of the Washington Post  —  Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh's vote this week in favor of an amendment to the health care bill that would have strengthened restrictions on how federal funds could be spent for abortions is the latest sign …

Alberto Gonzales: What I've Learned  —  The former attorney general opens up on the value of torture, his Senate hearings, Karl Rove's role in the U.S. attorney firings, and more wrong guesses from the Bush administration  —  I guess I would use my son's word: cool.  It was cool to work in the White House.

‘Wake up, gentlemen’, world's top bankers warned by former Fed chairman Volcker  —  One of the most senior figures in the financial world surprised a conference of high-level bankers yesterday when he criticised them for failing to grasp the magnitude of the financial crisis and belittled their suggested reforms.

‘Eight Days of Hanukkah’  —  MORE: Watch the “Eight Days of Hanukkah” video.  —  Ten years ago, I visited Orrin Hatch, the senior senator from Utah and a prominent member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, on Capitol Hill.  I was writing for The New York Times Magazine and Hatch was thinking of running for president.

Is gay marriage ‘inevitable’?  —  The same-sex marriage movement appears likely to end a banner year with a string of stinging defeats that opponents say have undermined a core proposition of the movement - that the acceptance of gay marriage is, sooner or later, inevitable.

Target Lincoln: Potential Challenger Takes Steps Towards Primary Against Arkansas Senator  —  Is Blanche Lincoln going to face a primary from her left over health care?  —  In a step in that direction, Arkansas Lieutenant Governor Bill Halter, who's widely rumored to be mulling a challenge to Lincoln …

Fox's North off air during treatment  —  Oliver L. North, host of FOX News Channel's documentary series “War Stories,” is temporarily off the air while he undergoes treatment for prostate cancer, POLITICO has learned.  —  North's prognosis is excellent, according to sources.

Does Obama have it in for Britain?  —  He insults our troops and PM while sucking up to the French and Germans.  But, says NILE GARDINER, the President needs to remember who his friends are . . .  For decades, Britain and the U.S. have been the closest of allies, enjoying a transatlantic alliance forged …