memeorandum: For energy chief, race is on to find fuel alternatives (Steven Mufson/Washington Post)

5:30 PM ET, November 14, 2010

Top Items:

Anne E. Kornblut / Washington Post:

‘Soul-searching’ Obama aides: Democrats' midterm election losses a wake-up call — After nearly two weeks of introspection, President Obama's top advisers have concluded that the “shellacking” Democrats took on Election Day was caused in large part by their own failure to live …

Discussion: Althouse, Taylor Marsh, The Moderate Voice and The Plum Line

Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:

WHITE HOUSE PONDERS, WHAT NOW?.... Governing hasn't exactly been easy for the Obama administration over the last two years. The White House benefited from a like-minded U.S. House, but Senate obstructionism reached a point unseen in American history. That, combined with pressing …

New York Times:

Try Something Hard: Governing — Many Americans who voted this fall expressed a deep mistrust of government. House Republicans' triumphalist vows to tie up the Obama administration with nonstop investigations and obstructionist budget crimping are not going to allay those voters' concerns — or solve any of the country's problems.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Right Wing News, Questions and Observations, No More Mister Nice Blog, Prairie Weather and Connecting.the.Dots

Bruce Drake / Politics Daily:

Heath Shuler Says He'll Challenge Nancy Pelosi for Democratic Leader Post … North Carolina Rep. Heath Shuler said Sunday he would challenge House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for the leadership of the Democratic minority in the next Congress although he acknowledged that he does not have the votes to win.

Discussion: The Other McCain, Outside the Beltway and Pundit Press

Campbell Robertson / New York Times:
After Party's Rout, a Blue Dog Won't Back Down

Discussion: The Politico and Booman Tribune

Alicia Mundy / Washington Wire:
Shuler: Pelosi Should Step Aside

Discussion: MyFox Philadelphia

Molly K. Hooper / The Hill:
Shuler on Pelosi: If 'she doesn't step aside, I will challenge her'

Discussion: HotAirPundit

Online NewsHour:
Shields and Brooks on Tax Cuts, Debt, Lame-Duck Congress, Bush Book

Discussion: Crooks and Liars

Johnny Edge / johnnyedge.blogspot.com:

TSA encounter at SAN — [These events took place roughly between 5:30 and 6:30 AM, November 13th in Terminal 2 of the San Diego International Airport. I'm writing this approximately 2 1/2 hours after the events transpired, and they are correct to the best of my recollection.

Discussion: Mediaite, Left Coast Rebel, Classical Values, The Gateway Pundit, Hullabaloo, We Won't Fly, JustOneMinute, Balloon Juice, LewRockwell.com Blog and Suburban Guerrilla

Eric Lichtblau / New York Times:

Nazis Were Given ‘Safe Haven’ in U.S., Report Says — WASHINGTON — A secret history of the United States government's Nazi-hunting operation concludes that American intelligence officials created a “safe haven” in the United States for Nazis and their collaborators after World War II …

Discussion: Firedoglake, The Moderate Voice, iOwnTheWorld.com, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, The League of Ordinary …, MyFox Philadelphia, Israpundit, Prairie Weather, Booman Tribune, Raw Story, Barcepundit and FrumForum

Mark Landler / New York Times:
Netanyahu Agrees to Push for Freeze in Settlements

Discussion: FrumForum, TPMCafe and Weasel Zippers

Frank Rich / New York Times:

Who Will Stand Up to the Superrich? — IN the aftermath of the Great Democratic Shellacking of 2010, one election night subplot quickly receded into the footnotes: the drubbing received by very wealthy Americans, most of them Republican, who tried to buy Senate seats and governor's mansions.

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, The Other McCain, Daily Kos, skippy the bush kangaroo, The Impolitic, Prairie Weather, Newshoggers.com and DownWithTyranny!

Tim Graham / NewsBusters.org:

Daily Kos: The American Dream Is a Virus Like AIDS, and Rick Perry is Satan — How much do the bloggers of the Daily Kos hate conservatism and the limited-government ideas that informed America's founding? They associate them with Satan...and with disease.

Discussion: Weasel Zippers

Mike Allen / The Politico:

Air Force One Arrival Edition: Welcome to Alaska — FIRST LOOK: Obamans blame Rahm in Richard Wolffe book, ‘Revival’ — NYT balance-the-budget game — Valerie Jarrett, Ben ‘Karaoke’ Rhodes b'day — Happy Sunday. President Obama lands this morning, Eastern time, at Elmendorf Air Force Base in Alaska …

Discussion: The Page

New York Post:

Rangel ‘raided’ PACs for 393G — Tweet — Congressman Charles Rangel, whose ethics trial starts tomorrow, appears to have improperly used political-action committee money to pay for his defense. — Rangel tapped his National Leadership PAC for $293,000 to pay his main legal-defense team this year.

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, RedState, Scared Monkeys, Doug Ross and The Gateway Pundit

Gschwarzcnn / CNN:

TRENDING: McCain vs. McCain — (CNN) - Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain weighed in on his wife's public comments about the military's “Don't Ask, Don't Tell” policy that put the couple at odds last week. — “I respect the First Amendment rights of every member of my family,” McCain said on NBC's “Meet the Press” Sunday.

Discussion: ThinkProgress, The Huffington Post and The Stir By CafeMom

Steven Mufson / Washington Post:

For energy chief, race is on to find fuel alternatives — It's a stunning fall morning in Washington, and Energy Secretary Steven Chu, clad in bike shorts and a snug Stanford University biking shirt, climbs onto his Colnago bicycle and rolls down his leafy street and onto the Capital Crescent Trail.

Discussion: EconLog and The Hill

Sara Jerome / The Hill:

DeMint: Tea Party is ‘support group’ for trying to kick earmarks — As Senate Republicans mull an earmark ban, they have organizations to remind them such spending is unpopular with voters, according to the senator leading the push for a moratorium: Tea Party groups who want spending shrunk.

Discussion: CNN