Pelosi's brutal reality check  —  Asked this weekend to grade her performance as speaker, Nancy Pelosi gave herself an “A for effort.”  —  But Pelosi knows that the real test is still to come.  —  Pelosi is inarguably one of the strongest speakers in modern history …

Halter declares against Lincoln  —  Arkansas Lt. Gov. Bill Halter is moving ahead with a primary challenge to Sen. Blanche Lincoln, he announced Monday.  —  “Washington is broken,” Halter said in a video on his campaign website.  “Bailing out Wall Street with no strings attached …

Doctors tell Barack Obama to quit smoking  —  The american president has been trying to kick the habit for sometime, apart from the smoking he is in excellent health  —  Barack Obama is still struggling to kick smoking, according to his first medical examination since becoming president.

Public Option Garners Avalanche of Support in Senate  —  In the wake of last week's “bipartisan summit” — which proved that no Republicans in Congress will vote for health care reform — an avalanche of Democratic senators are announcing today that they will vote YES for the public health insurance option …

Network News at a Crossroads  —  ABC News is making no secret about what is behind the sweeping staff cuts it now faces: raw survival instinct.  —  “I just looked out at the next five years and was concerned that we could not sustain doing what we were doing,” said David Westin …

Buffett would scrap health bill  —  Billionaire investor Warren Buffett advised President Barack Obama on Monday to scrap the health care bill and start over.  —  In an interview with CNBC, Buffett said the current bill does not focus on controlling costs, which he sees as the central problem …

Financial Reform Endgame  —  So here's the situation.  We've been through the second-worst financial crisis in the history of the world, and we've barely begun to recover: 29 million Americans either can't find jobs or can't find full-time work.  Yet all momentum for serious banking reform has been lost.

White House Is Rethinking Nuclear Policy  —  WASHINGTON — As President Obama begins making final decisions on a broad new nuclear strategy for the United States, senior aides say he will permanently reduce America's arsenal by thousands of weapons.  But the administration has rejected proposals …

Supreme Court Won't Hear Case of Uighur Detainees  —  WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court said on Monday that it would not decide a case involving seven Chinese Muslims detained for eight years at Guantanamo Bay that had been set for argument in April.  —  The seven, captured in Afghanistan in 2001 …

Sen. Bunning Single-handedly Causes 2,000 Federal Worker Furloughs  —  ABC News' Lisa Stark reports: Sen. Jim Bunning, R-Ky., didn't just stop extensions of unemployment and health insurance benefits with his “hold' on these funding measures last week, he also stopped an extension of the Highway Trust Fund for 30 days.

Fed's No. 2 to Retire, Leaving 3 Vacancies on Board  —  WASHINGTON — Donald L. Kohn, the vice chairman of the Federal Reserve, who helped coordinate the central bank's response to the financial crisis in 2008, told the White House on Monday that he would retire when his four-year term expires June 23.

A reconciliation primer  —  It is amazing how few reporters understand what the budget reconciliation process is: Either how it works, or what it's traditionally been used for, or what Democrats are proposing to use it for.  That confusion creates comical exchanges like this one …

Tea Party prominent: Palin not presidential  —  Former Republican congressman Tom Tancredo was the opening speaker at the recent Tea Party conference with Sarah Palin.  In an interview with NRC Handelsblad, he spoke his mind about Palin.  “I really don't have this feeling about her as being presidential.”

IPCC “science” on hurricanes no longer settled, either  —  In the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005, anthropogenic global warming (AGW) activists insisted that the stronger storm systems resulted from the build-up of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, making hurricanes increasingly more severe.

WHEN THE GOP GIVES DEMS ADVICE.... One of the more commonly heard Republican talking points lately has been advice to the Democratic majority: if health care reform passes, and the majority delivers a historic victory, it will be awful news for Democratic candidates.

Ex-Congressman opens consignment shop … WEST PALM BEACH, FL— It's been more than three years since he was forced to resign from the U.S. Congress but Mark Foley is still meeting and greeting people.  —  Instead of looking for votes, he's looking for customers.

Closing Arguments: Finally, an end to Justice Dept. investigation  —  I've been under investigation for more than five years for legal advice that I gave in the immediate wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.  This month, the Justice Department's top career lawyer finally put an end to the farce.