From NBC's Abby Livingston
If Rick Santorum delivered tough love to the CPAC audience, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty
(R) followed him with sunshine. He opened his remarks calling his wife
"hot," and then declared, "The reports of the demise of the
conservative movement are greatly exaggerated."

He followed up with, "I've been to CPAC before. You are not timid. You are not weak."

Amid his jokes and anecdotes and metaphors and smiles, the
oft-mentioned 2012 GOP contender was on the prowl to shore up his
conservative credentials.

He hit as many boilerplate issues as he could, using the word "God"
often; he praised standardized testing; and he railed against the
tenure system in public education.

But at a convention where Al Gore is the equivalent of Public Enemy No.
1, Pawlenty advocated for alternative energy. He called for an "all
hands on deck" approach to get off oil.

"We need to do everything reasonable to get off foreign oil," he said, but in a move that would make Frank Luntz proud, he used a term called "American-ize" as a strategy for energy independence. The term, which he reiterated, seemed to fall in line with Sen. McCain's belief that society should use all forms of local energy to relieve oil independence.

Pawlenty's tone turned sharper when he shifted to the deficit. He called the new stimulus plan a "spending buffet." His most memorable line of the morning was one of the few harsh ones he delivered. He mocked the notion of Democrats as fiscally responsibly. He referenced a Democratic party summit on fiscal discipline, adding, "What's next? Are they going to have Rod Blagojevich convene an ethics summit?"

From NBC's Abby Livingston
WASHINGTON -- During the CPAC convention, it takes about 30 seconds for a reporter
walking in off the streets here to realize he or she is not in
hyper-Democratic D.C. anymore.

It is at CPAC where defiant newspaper stands carry "The Washingtom
Times" rather than "The New York Times" or "The Washington Post." It is
at CPAC where mere mentions of words like "ACLU" or "Eric Holder"
elicit audience boos and "homeschooling" elicit audience cheers.

And it is at CPAC where former Republican Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum is still an ideological force.

His speech to the adoring CPAC crowd did not disappoint. He entered to
the music of Elvis, and it was fitting, because he was a CPAC rock star.

Santorum started the speech leveling a three-point argument for why the
conservative movement is on the outs: the GOP's ethical lapses,
incompetence and lack of principles.

He claimed that the 1994 Republican Revolution, a wave he rode into
the U.S. Senate, would never have happened without Democratic scandals.
He then attributed his party's recent defeats to the same issue.

"People will put up with a lot," Santorum said. "But not people who are
dishonest."

He then indicted the Bush administration for the Hurricane Katrina
response, saying, "The buck stops with the president." Santorum added
that the incompetence translated to public relations difficulties on other issues, specifically the
war in Iraq.

"We were making a lot of mistakes," he said. "We were afraid to tell
them the truth as to who the enemy is."

Defying both William Safire and
Bush speechwriters, he said, "We are not fighting a war on terror.
Terror is a tactic."

Addressing his last reason for conservative failure, Santorum said, "We
were unprincipled in the end."

He blamed then-President Bush, then-GOP
nominee Sen. John McCain and then-Treasury Secretary Hank Paulsen for
opening the flood gates of government bailout aid. To Santorum, last
fall's bailout "opened the door that the next president is bulldozing
through."

Santorum pleaded not to abandon social conservative and neoconservative
ideals and to embrace Reagan's three-legged stool. He does not,
however, advocate waiting for the political pendulum to swing back into
the GOP's favor.

"Hoping your opponents screw up is not a strategy for
victory," he said.

Santorum is disgusted with many aspects of society. Among those are:
Iran, Eric Holder, liberals and the media. On Iran, he said, "They [Israel] will fight with them [Iran] with every fiber in their bones,
and we need to do the same. He callled conservatives "the grown ups,"
and classified liberals as "emotional," following up with an allusion
to the left-wing as "effeminate."

Santorum believes there is a liberal conspiracy to destroy the family
and church, employed by forces in the media, specifically Hollywood. In
an era when many parents push their children to pursue careers in
science and engineering, he took a different angle. He praised talk
radio's ability to reach the logically minded, and pleaded with
conservatives to encourage their children to go into careers in the
arts, specifically screenwriting and acting, to portray stories that
"reach your heart." It was a call echoed throughout the day at CPAC.

His final criticism of liberals was, "They think they found themselves
a savior," referencing Obama. The crowd laughed. Santorum did not see
the funny, chastising, "Don't laugh."

And the audience stopped.

From NBC's Mark Murray
WASHINGTON -- At the beginning of the 2008 presidential contest, conservatives were suspicious about Mitt Romney. He had supported abortion rights, had once championed embryonic stem-cell research, and had even voted for Paul Tsongas in the 1992 Democratic primary.

But by the end of the GOP primary season, more and more conservatives had embraced the former Massachusetts governor. In fact, when he withdrew from the primary race at last year's Conservative Political Action Conference, he did so to loud gasps and shouts of "No!"

Well, Romney today returned to same conference where he ended his '08 presidential bid. And he did so to a thunderous applause.

When he addressed the confab here, he wasn't the moderate governor from a Northeast state. Rather, he was a full-throated conservative. He whacked the spending from the month-old Obama administration. "America voted for change," he said. "America did not vote for a boat-load of new government spending programs."

On his governing philosophy: "Conservative principles are absolutely essential to keeping America strong."

On Iraq: "It is in spite of Barack Obama's stance on Iraq -- not because of it -- that American troops are coming home to victory."

From NBC's Athena Jones

CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. -- An American flag and a crowded Marine field house provided the backdrop Friday for President Obama's announcement of his plan to withdraw combat forces from Iraq by August 2010.

The Iraq war was the issue that helped rocket Obama, who opposed it from the start, to political stardom, and he campaigned on a promise to redeploy combat troops within 16 months of taking office.

The reduction announced today will bring US troops down from the current 142,000 to what Obama called a transitional force of 35,000 to 50,000 and will change their mission from combat to training, equipping, and advising Iraqi security forces; counter-terrorism; and protecting "ongoing civilian and military efforts within Iraq."

All U.S. troops will be out of Iraq by the end of 2011, but the initial drawdown will not happen as quickly as the president originally envisioned.

"As a candidate for president, I made clear my support for a timeline of 16 months to carry out this drawdown, while pledging to consult closely with our military commanders upon taking office to ensure that we preserve the gains we've made and protect our troops," Obama told the audience of about 2,000. "Those consultations are now complete, and I have chosen a timeline that will remove our combat brigades over the next 18 months."

He noted the progress that had been made in Iraq and praised U.S. troops, while repeating his argument that the long-term solution in Iraq must be political rather than military and that America must focus more attention on the war in Afghanistan and on regional diplomacy.

Obama -- who was accompanied by Defense Sec. Robert Gates, Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen and Jim Jones, the assistant to the president for national security affairs -- thanked former Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker and named Chris Hill as the new ambassador. He called Gens. David Petraeus and Ray Odierno "two of our finest generals" and said they would be critical in carrying forward his new Iraq strategy.

"He wanted a firm deadline for the end of this combat mission and that is Aug. 31, 2010," Gates said later in an interview. "I think that he also saw the wisdom in allowing the commanders in the field to be the best judges within that specific timeframe of the pacing of those withdrawals."

Gates said he, Mullen and both generals were comfortable with the president's decision and that the longer withdrawal time period had been chosen in order to the keep the maximum force presence through the end of the year and into early next year to provide security for the elections and to make sure there were no problems with the various factions accepting the results of the elections.

The secretary said the president could adjust the deadlines he had set out if he thought it was in the United States' national security interests, while adding, "I don't think any of us believe that's going to be necessary."

The president was not the first Obama to visit Camp Lejeune, home to 8,000 Marines. Michelle Obama spoke with several hundred veterans and military families here in October.

There are about 21,000 Marines in Iraq and just over 1,000 Marines have been killed there. Some of the Marines here at Camp Lejeune will be redeployed to Afghanistan in the coming weeks and months. 

The crowd was respectful, interrupting the president several times to applaud. The biggest cheers came when Obama promised to raise military pay and when he spoke about help for returning troops.

Tania Gomez, a lance corporal from West Covina, Calif., was among several Marines who said they were pleased the president had come here to deliver the news.

"I was very happy about the part where he said he was bringing troops back from Iraq," Gomez said. "They've been over there a long time; they need to come home to their families."

From NBC's Domenico Montanaro (Statements compiled by NBC's Mike Viqueira, Kelly O'Donnell and Ken Strickland)

Reactions to President Obama's Iraq withdrawal plan have been mostly universally praised by Republicans, but approached cautiously by some Democrats.

Video: President Barack Obama visits the Marine Corps base at Camp Lejeune, N.C., to announce his plan to end the U.S. combat mission in Iraq.

House Minority Leader John Boehner calls the plan "responsible" though, like Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell gives the credits Gen. David Petraeus.

"The plan put forward by President Obama continues our strategy of bringing troops home from Iraq as they succeed in stabilizing the country," Boehner said. "I believe he has outlined a responsible approach...." 

House Minority Whip Eric Cantor complimented Obama, and took a swipe at other Democrats.

"President Obama deserves credit for not listening to the chorus of voices calling for a rapid drawdown of forces regardless of the consequences for Iraq, our military and the American people," Cantor said.

Last night on MSNBC's Rachel Maddow show, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she would like to see troops at lower levels by 2009. She amended her wording in the statement below, but choosing them carefully, she said, "[T]he remaining missions given to our remaining forces must be clearly defined and narrowly focused so that the number of troops needed to perform them is as small as possible." 

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid called it a "sound and measured plan," but added that the U.S. "must keep in Iraq only those forces necessary for the security of our remaining troops and the Iraqi people."

Liberals like Dennis Kucinich, among those Cantor would be referring to, said, "I support President Obama for taking a step in the right direction in Iraq, but I do not think that his plan goes far enough," Kucinich said. "America must determine at some point to end the occupation, close the bases and bring the troops home. We must bring a conclusion to this sorry chapter in American history where war was waged under false pretense against an innocent people."

Full statements:
BOEHNER: "The President's announcement today is a testament to the success of our troops in stabilizing and significantly reducing violence in Iraq, and to the strategy put in place by General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker two years ago. This strategy has helped us preserve U.S. national security interests and allow the Iraqi people to more firmly take control of their own destiny as a sovereign, representative, and independent nation in the heart of the Middle East. The plan put forward by President Obama continues our strategy of bringing troops home from Iraq as they succeed in stabilizing the country. I believe he has outlined a responsible approach that retains maximum flexibility to reconsider troop levels and to respond to changes in the security environment should circumstances on the ground warrant. On a recent trip to Iraq with some of my colleagues, we were reminded by both our military commanders and diplomatic officials that while the progress on both security and political reconciliation in Iraq is real, those gains are also fragile and reversible. I am pleased that the President is listening to our military commanders and that we have a plan in place for victory while also ensuring the safety and success of our military forces."

MCCONNELL: "It is encouraging to see the Obama Administration embrace the plan of Gen. David Petraeus that began with the successful surge in 2007, and continues shifting combat responsibilities to our Iraqi allies. I commend our men and women in uniform, our military leaders, and the President's decision yesterday for making it possible to take another step toward realizing our goal of a stable Iraq."

CANTOR: "Having just seen the progress that our troops have achieved in Iraq firsthand several weeks ago, I hope that President Obama's plan reassures the American people that the men and women of our Armed Forces will continue to successfully carry out their mission under the steadfast leadership of General Petraeus and General Odierno. The honor, courage and dedication of our Armed services has been the key to attaining our successes in Iraq, and today's announcement makes clear that the Iraqi people can take a huge step forward in assuming greater control of their nation and future. The President's decision appears to be informed by the advice of our commanders and the fluid nature of the events on the ground, which was reinforced during my trip to Baghdad earlier this month. President Obama deserves credit for not listening to the chorus of voices calling for a rapid drawdown of forces regardless of the consequences for Iraq, our military and the American people."

PELOSI: "President Obama's announcement of a withdrawal schedule for US combat troops in Iraq is good news because it signals that the war is coming to an end. I join the President in commending our troops for the patriotism, courage, and sacrifice, which has characterized their service in Iraq. As President Obama's Iraq policy is implemented, the remaining missions given to our remaining forces must be clearly defined and narrowly focused so that the number of troops needed to perform them is as small as possible. The President's decision means that the time has come at last for Iraq's own security forces to have the prime responsibility for Iraq's security."

REID: "President Obama and his bipartisan national security team are putting in place a sound and measured plan to draw down our forces in Iraq and transfer responsibility for Iraq's future to the Iraqi people. I strongly believe that we must responsibly end the war in Iraq to make America more secure, and must keep in Iraq only those forces necessary for the security of our remaining troops and the Iraqi people. I look forward to further discussing this plan with the President and working with him to ensure we are doing what is best for America's security interests and ensuring our military remains the strongest fighting force in history."

KUCINICH: "I support President Obama for taking a step in the right direction in Iraq, but I do not think that his plan goes far enough. You cannot leave combat troops in a foreign country to conduct combat operations and call it the end of the war. You can't be in and out at the same time. America must determine at some point to end the occupation, close the bases and bring the troops home. We must bring a conclusion to this sorry chapter in American history where war was waged under false pretense against an innocent people. Taking troops out of Iraq should not mean more troops available for deployment in other operations. In February of 2007 I presented H.R. 1234, legislation that would end the war in Iraq, and the process I outlined is still necessary. We should immediately bring home American service members and contractors, convene a regional conference to prepare an international peace-keeping force and accelerate Iraq-driven reconstruction."

From NBC's Mark Murray
WASHINGTON -- A conservative movement that currently finds itself out of power turned its attention here to the man who last led them out of the political wilderness 15 years ago: Newt Gingrich.

The former Republican speaker entered the ballroom here at the Conservative Political Action Conference to Survivor's "Eye of the Tiger," with the packed crowd standing and clapping to the song's beat. And in the first few moment of his remarks, Gingrich immediately criticized the month-old Obama administration.

He chastised Attorney General Eric Holder's recent speech that the U.S. was a nation of cowards when it comes to the issue of race.

"I welcome an opportunity to have a dialogue with you about cowardice anywhere, anytime," he said in comments directed at Holder. Then, turning to President Obama's Tuesday address to Congress and his budget, Gingrich called them "the boldest effort to create a European socialist government we have seen."

He also lambasted Obama for opposing earmarks -- and then tolerating them in the appropriations bill that Congress has drafted.

"I was looking for change we can believe in," he said.

Despite spending the first part of his speech criticizing the Obama administration, Gingrich said opposition wasn't enough to returning to power in future elections; conservatives, he said, also need to come up with positive solutions. Some of his ideas: cutting the capital gains tax to zero and slashing the corporate tax rate.

Even though the Bush administration championed tax cuts at every opportunity, Gingrich linked the former Republican president with Obama to argue how spending had gotten out of control -- among both Democrats and Republicans. "We have a Bush-Obama spending plan that was bipartisan," he said.

Near the end of his speech, Gingrich cast the political debate as between "European socialism" and "American free enterprise"; he railed against the union-backed Employee Free Choice Act, calling it the "greatest threat to freedom in the workplace"; and he encouraged the conservatives in the audience to donate money to the Republican congressional candidate running to replace Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand in New York.

And finally, after referencing Ronald Reagan (again) and the upcoming 2010 and 2012 elections, he concluded his remarks -- this time as Queen's "We will rock you" almost drowned out the applause.

From NBC's Courtney Kube
Here is a little post-election truth squad on two claims in President Obama's speech today ...

CLAIM #1:
Obama: "We'll raise military pay."

Fact: The President's budget calls for a 2.9% increase in pay for members of the military -- but pay for members of the military increases every year.

Secretary Gates spoke about pay raises during yesterday's briefing, saying, "Two years ago, we went to the Hill with about the same request. It was 3 percent. And last year, we went with a request for 3.5 percent. In both cases, the Congress added to it. But it's not all that different from what we submitted in the past."

Pentagon requests for pay increase:
FY09: 3.4% increase
FY08: 3.0% increase
FY07: 2.2% increase
FY06: 3.1% increase

FY03 saw one of the larger pay raises in years, with a 4.1% increase in base salary for active and reserve troops.

CLAIM #2:
Obama: "I am increasing the number of soldiers and Marines, so that we lessen the burden on those who are serving."

Fact: This was actually a President Bush initiative -- he introduced it during the speech announcing the surge in Iraq. Both the Army and Marine Corps have been growing for more than two years now, and they are both growing ahead of schedule.  The FY10 budget will likely be the last one to fund their increases.

Defense Secretary Bob Gates first spoke about this at a briefing on Jan. 11, 2007:
"First, the president announced last night that he would strengthen our military for the long war against terrorism by authorizing an increase in the overall strength of the Army and the Marine Corps. I am recommending to him a total increase in the two services of 92,000 soldiers and Marines over the next five years -- 65,000 soldiers and 27,000 Marines. The emphasis will be on increasing combat capability. ... We propose to build up from that base in annual increments of 7,000 troops a year for the Army and 5,000 for the Marine Corps until the Marine Corps reaches a level of 202,000, and the Army would be at 547,000."

Courtney Kube covers the Pentagon as a producer for NBC News.

A decidedly skeptical look at what Members of Congress are Tweeting:

From NBC's Domenico Montanaro
John McCain goes pork-hunting, vowing to reveal the "top 10 projects." His list so far (expect to hear all about these):

"#7. $300,000 for the Montana World Trade Center - enough said"
"#8. $200,000 "tattoo removal violence outreach program to could help gang members or others shed visible signs of their past" REALLY?"
"#9. $475,000 to build a parking garage in Provo City, Utah"
"#10. $1.7M 'for a honey bee factory' in Weslaco, TX" ...

Video: GOP all a-Twitter.

John Cornyn feels the need to post a "Twit pic" from "backstage" at CPAC.

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher is organizing Santelli tea parties: "Please ReTweet: Tea Party for Orange County at Huntington Beach Pier 9:00 a.m. tomorrow http://bit.ly/eWsVB (I will be there.)"

Pete Hoekstra wants you to know he landed safely ... again. (Didn't he learn his lesson the first time?) "Safe landing. Very windy and bouncy. A little late but thank you NWA."

Hoekstra also feels about "spending" the way some do about Twitter. "Doesn't it ever stop?Now 750 billion more for banks!Stimulus/omnibus/banks?No!We can't afford this and it needs to stop." ...

Uh, I guess Rep. Michael Burgess (R-TX) likes cats? "Apparently my micro-blogging was covered on Colbert. Meow."  

And Roy Blunt likes maps: "I met with the Missouri Geographic Alliance today. Last year I received their Geography Legislator of the Year award."

Claire McCaskill jumps into 2010 politics, by the way: "Nice visit with Gov Blunt in airport. We're on same flight to St Louis.He seems happy and content to be out of the pressure cooker." 

She's also "really disappointed with all the earmarks,both D&R."

She's happy though -- "yay" -- that she gets to go home to Missouri.

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher loves Kosovo and wants you to, too: "Had lunch with President & PM of Kosovo; we can be proud that we stood with the Kosovars in their quest 4 freedom & self determination."

John Ensign "will continue to stand up against liberal attempts to silence conservative talk radio." Just so you know.

He also really wants you to be his friend. "Just checked my Facebook page and saw I that I was one supporter short of 800. Will you be #800?"

Ensign was on Tweet fire yesterday: "Everyone will see a tax increase. If you use electricity you will be taxed to pay for @BarackObama's budget" and "The Democrats' priorities are clear: grow the size of government until it is entwined into every aspect of our lives."

Ed Perlmutter is tech'd out: "See photos and my most recent press release regarding NEW DEMS RELEASE REG REFORM PLAN on my facebook page."

Jim DeMint doesn't like the "Fairness Doctrine" and gets in a dig at Dick Durbin: "Voting just started on Durbin's backdoor Fairness Doctrine amendment, mine to ban FD is up right after."

There were also some reactions from House members who got to meet with Secretary of State Clinton yesterday:
-- Rep. Donald Manzullo: "Had productive meeting with Sec of State Clinton this morning. Shared concerns with $900 million US funding for Gaza."

-- Rep. Dana Rohrabacher: "Had breakfast w Sec of State Clinton; pushed hard on Afghan policy & human rights issues, including China & Ethiopia."

Ileana Ros-Lehtinen liked her intern. "At our DC office. Saying bye to alex, a fab intern from australia. Have many intern slots for YOU! Sign up! U will work on impt issues." Like Twittering?

And sign of the apocalypse? McCain became the second Member of Congress (Chuck Grassley was the other) to Tweet about being interviewed about Twitter. McCain calls it his "new found love."

From NBC's Ken Strickland
Earlier this morning on the Senate floor, GOP Sen. John McCain said, "I am cautiously optimistic that the plan as laid out by the president can lead to success."

McCain was among those congressional members briefed on the President Obama's Iraq withdrawal plan yesterday at the White House. "I believe the president's withdrawal is a reasonable one. I think the plan is reasonable."

The Arizona senator credited "the surge," as well as the work by Gens. Petraeus and Odierno and Ambassador Crocker for improving security in Iraq and thereby allowing Obama's withdrawal plan to be implemented. "The failing situation in Iraq has been arrested and reversed," he said.

But he quickly added "the president's plan is not without risk. We have not yet completed the mission in Iraq, and the gains we have made there remain fragile." McCain also said the greatest risk will be the period leading up to and during Iraq's elections in December when "conditions could worsen."

With that in mind, McCain urged Obama to keep the full complement of 50,000 troops in Iraq "and not succumb to pressures, political or otherwise, to make deeper or faster cuts in our force levels."

"After all the tragic losses of life, after the hundreds of billions of dollars spent, after all the other costs our country has absorbed as a result of the conduct of this war, we are finally on a path to success."

From NBC's Mark Murray
National Journal has released its congressional vote ratings for 2008. A year ago, the magazine ranked Barack Obama as the Senate's most liberal member, which became a chief talking point for the McCain campaign and the GOP during the presidential election.

This year's most liberal senator is -- drum roll, please -- Patty Murray. The most conservative senator? A four-way tie: John Barrasso (WY), Mike Enzi (WY), John Ensign (NV), and Jon Kyl (AZ).

Click here for more on NJ's ratings.

From NBC's Mark Murray
Congressional Democrats don't have to worry only about re-election challenges from the right. If a new group supported by prominent liberals has its way, some Democrats will have to pay extra attention to challenges from their left flank.

Liberal groups like MoveOn, SEIU, Democracy for America, and DailyKos are supporting Accountability Now PAC, a grassroots organization launched yesterday that will target what it sees as Democrats who have ethics problems or who are out of touch with their constituents on key issues. Its goal is to have about $1 million at its disposal to recruit and help potential primary challengers.

There isn't an actual target list -- although supporters cite Democrats like Sen. Joe Lieberman, ex-Rep. Al Wynn (whom current Rep. Donna Edwards defeated in 2008), and ex-Rep. William Jefferson (who lost his congressional seat to a Republican) as examples of past transgressors.

The idea behind Accountability Now is that primaries and primary competition are healthy; in fact, the organization's executive director, Jeff Hauser, compares them to a job-performance review.

But Accountability Now stresses that it isn't analogous to the conservative Club for Growth, which has been criticized for targeting moderate Republicans who represent moderate-leaning districts and states. It has no interest in trying to challenge, say, a Democratic member from Idaho. Rather, it wants to make sure Democratic congressmen aren't out of touch with their constituents.

"We are not pushing people to the left," said Markos Moulitsas, the founder of DailyKos, which is supporting Accountability Now. "We want a responsive party and a responsive government."

Moulitsas adds that the group's goal isn't always to challenge incumbent Democrats in primaries. Instead, it would be more than pleased to change their voting records and behavior.

"No one wants to be the next Lieberman, right?"

From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, and Domenico Montanaro
*** Iraq is back: The Iraq war -- once the dominant issue in American politics, and the issue that helped propel President Obama to win the Democratic nomination -- returns back to the spotlight today, when the president unveils his plan for troop withdrawal from the country. Almost two years to the day he announced his candidacy for president, Obama travels to Camp Lejeune, NC, where he will say the U.S. will withdraw nearly 100,000 combat troops from Iraq by August 31, 2010. But aides admit that would likely leave a force of as many as 50,000, including some combat troops, in Iraq for another 15 months beyond the August 2010 date. Interestingly, the Obama plan has been criticized somewhat by Democrats like Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, and praised by Republicans like John McCain. "The convergence of Mr. Obama and Mr. McCain on Iraq would have seemed highly improbable just a few months ago," the New York Times reminds us. "Mr. McCain accused Mr. Obama of being naïve and opposed his withdrawal plans. At one point, Mr. McCain said Mr. Obama 'would rather lose a war than lose a campaign.'"

Video: President Obama is expected to unveil his plan to remove most U.S. troops from Iraq by August 2010. NBC's Chuck Todd reports.

*** A promise kept? So is Obama keeping his campaign promise on Iraq -- to remove all combat troops within 16 months? On the one hand, he certainly is setting a "date certain" for withdrawal, and 100,000 troops isn't a small number. On the other hand, it's 19 months (from the day he took office), not 16. And there will still be as many as 50,000 troops remaining in Iraq. But remember that he always said he'd consult with his military advisers to withdraw troops as safely as possible. "We must be as careful getting out of Iraq as we were careless getting in," he continually said during the campaign. So is the war over? Did we "win" the war? If you don't think we won, then did we lose? If you can't say we won or lost, then what happened? This will be what historians debate for years. Obama today will not say "Mission Accomplished," nor will he flash a "V" for victory. But unlike in 2007, Obama will talk about successes in Iraq, in addition to failures there. One thing to keep in mind: If it wasn't for Obama's opposition to the Iraq war from the get-go, he would never be president today; he might not have even won the Democratic nomination -- or even run. And by the way, don't forget this: August 31, 2010 is just two months before the midterms. Just sayin'…

*** In a battleground state of mind: With Obama traveling to North Carolina today, we've got to ask: Is he only going to hold events in battleground states, especially ones that turned from red to blue in '08? Already as president, he has visited -- in order -- Indiana, Florida, Virginia, Colorado, and Arizona (a state the Obama campaign would have targeted had McCain not been his opponent). Also, during the transition, Obama made a stop in Ohio. To be fair, he also visited his home state of Illinois earlier this month. But that's it.

*** The end of the Reagan era? Transitioning back to domestic politics, it's possible we may someday say the Republican run on dominating American politics -- which began in 1980 -- ended just after the 2004 elections (sometime in August 2005, when a certain hurricane came ashore in Louisiana, or perhaps a few months earlier when congressional Republicans took up the Schiavo issue). If Obama has ushered in an era of Democratic dominance, then we shouldn't be surprised by today's analyses about his budget, which all note how dramatically different it is from the Reagan-influenced budgets that even Bill Clinton continued during his eight years. Many see Obama's budget -- rightly so -- as a dramatic break from the last 30 years of government budgets.

Video: Deal to save Citigroup announced. CNBC's Melissa Lee reports.

*** Sim Citi: The Wall Street Journal reports that the Obama administration and troubled Citigroup have reached a deal whereby the government has taken a big stake in the banking corporation. The Treasury Department "has agreed to convert some of its current holdings of preferred Citigroup shares into common stock, a move that could better protect shareholders against future losses… The size of the government's new stake will hinge on how many preferred shares private investors agree to convert into common stock." The Obama administration believes it got these concessions in the deal: 1) a replacement of a majority of Citi's board; 2) the lowest conversion price, which was lower than other private investors converting their shares; 3) a dollar-for-dollar conversion with private stock, meaning that other investors also have to take a part in this deal; and 4) a requirement that Citi has to go through a stress test like other banks. 

*** Rich vs. poor: After previously writing about the GOP's new struggles in the Diploma Belt (the nation's best-educated counties), National Journal's Ron Brownstein now notes the different reactions the economic stimulus has received in poor and rich states. "No Republicans have been more vociferous in denouncing President Obama's economic stimulus agenda than the GOP governors of South Carolina, Louisiana, and Mississippi, whose states respectively rank 41st, 49th, and dead last in median income," he writes in the latest issue of National Journal. "But here in dynamic Silicon Valley, the plan is receiving a much more enthusiastic reception. That difference speaks volumes about the two parties' shifting centers of gravity."

*** CPAC, Day 2: On the second day of the Conservative Political Action Conference in DC, the featured speakers are Newt Gingrich (noon ET), Mitt Romney (4:35 pm) and Mark Sanford (7:30 pm). Sen. John Cornyn (at 8:00 am), Sen., Jim DeMint (8:30 am), and Rep. John Boehner (8:50 am) have already spoken this morning. And check out these panels today: "Bailing Out Big Business: Are We All Socialists Now?" "Will Congress Take Your Guns?" and "Will Obama's Tax Policy Kill Entrepreneurship?" 

*** Rush returns: Tomorrow, on CPAC's final day, Rush Limbaugh gives the finale speech at the conference. And perhaps pegged to that, the liberal Americans United for Change and AFSCME have a new TV ad going up today (on national cable and in DC; read: a small buy) that criticizes GOP leaders for saying "no" to Obama's stimulus and ties them to Rush Limbaugh. The ad's narrator says, "Who are Republicans listening to?" Then you see a clip of Limbaugh saying, "I want [Obama] to fail." The ad concludes, "Tell them America won't take no for an answer."  
 
Countdown to NJ GOP primary: 95 days
Countdown to VA Dem primary: 102 days
Countdown to Election Day 2009: 249 days
Countdown to Election Day 2010: 613 days

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The AP says that President Obama's Iraq plan "will withdraw all combat forces over the next 18 months, or 19 months dating to his inauguration. He had promised a slightly faster pace of 16 months after taking office. Obama settled on a time frame after extensive consultation with military and security advisers. Yet, in a sign of the shifting war debate in Washington, Obama isn't facing scrutiny over the exact timing of the withdrawal, but rather how deep it really is."

"Obama told a closed-door meeting of Republican and Democratic leaders from Capitol Hill that 35,000 to 50,000 U.S. troops would remain in Iraq, congressional officials said." 

More from the AP: "The administration now considers Aug. 31, 2010, as the end date for Iraq war operations. That timetable is slower than Obama had promised voters, but still hastens the U.S. exit."

"The residual troops, which the Obama administration is calling a 'transition force,' will remain only through December 2011, when a strategic agreement negotiated by President George W. Bush before he left office mandates the withdrawal of all American troops," the New York Times writes. "While the Bush team once envisioned a long-term military presence in Iraq long after violence subsides, akin to the deployment of tens of thousands of American forces in Germany or South Korea for decades after wars there, the Obama team said it plans to stick to the complete withdrawal by the end of 2011."

The plan, the Washington Post reports, has pleased Republicans like John McCain, and disappointed Democrats like Harry Reid. "'50,000 is a little higher number than I anticipated,' Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) said… Sen. John S. McCain (R-Ariz.) said he 'supports the plan to leave 50,000 troops in Iraq as briefed by [chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff] Admiral [Michael] Mullen and [Defense] Secretary [Robert M.] Gates.'"

The Wall Street Journal on Obama's budget:  "President Barack Obama delivered a $3.6 trillion budget blueprint to Congress Thursday that aims to 'break from a troubled past,' with expanded government activism, tax increases on affluent families and businesses, and spending cuts targeted at those he says profited from 'an era of profound irresponsibility The budget blueprint for fiscal year 2010 is one of the most ambitious policy prescriptions in decades, a reordering of the federal government to provide national health care, shift the energy economy away from oil and gas, and boost the federal commitment to education."

The Los Angeles Times: "Not since Lyndon B. Johnson and Franklin D. Roosevelt has a president moved to expand the role of government so much on so many fronts -- and with such a demanding sense of urgency." 

The Washington Post's Balz adds, "President Obama's first budget -- with its eye-popping $1.75 trillion deficit, a health-care fund of more than $600 billion, a $150 billion energy package and proposals to tax wealthy Americans even beyond what he talked about during his campaign -- underscores the breadth of his aspiration to reverse three decades of conservative governance and use his presidency to rapidly transform the country." 

But John Harwood of CNBC and the New York Times notes the constraints that Obama's budget faces. "He is asking Congress to take on a wide-ranging set of complicated issues all at once, after years during which it had trouble grappling directly with almost any of them. His own party remains seared by the last time it followed a new Democratic president on a course of tax increases and ambitious social engineering. Interest groups, while demonized by the White House, have hardly fled from Washington and are already mobilizing for battles that could have big winners and losers."

Paul Krugman, who normally is Mr. Cranky when it comes to anything Obama, leads: "Obama's new budget represents a huge break, not just with the policies of the past eight years, but with policy trends over the past 30 years. If he can get anything like the plan he announced on Thursday through Congress, he will set America on a fundamentally new course."

Here's a headline that sums up the budget debate pretty well: "Obama budget gives Dems a roadmap and GOP a target." 
 
Case in point, here's how the New York Post frames it... Its cover reprises the GOP image of Obama as Uncle Sam in top hat and coat with the screaming headline, "Pay up America." The subheadline: $1 trillion tax hike to sting for a decade." And the upper right corner: "Obama's big, bad budget."

Roll Call says Obama's budget drew "predictable cheers and jeers." 
 
Meanwhile, only about 70 people have been formally nominated to fill the roughly 500 senior posts in the Defense, State, Treasury, and Education departments and dozens of other government agencies, according to White House records," the Boston Globe says. "Dozens of nominations are still pending as FBI and White House officials scrub potential nominees' tax returns, financial ties, and former activities in government. It is not unusual for a new administration to take several months to fill political slots, but the absence of senior officials has been felt more keenly under Obama, who is vowing to quickly disburse a $787 billion stimulus package, revamp education and healthcare, and tackle two ongoing wars."
 
The slow go apparently has to do with the administration tightening up the vetting.

One key vacancy at Justice got closer to being filled yesterday, as David Ogden was confirmed by the Judiciary Committee as deputy attorney general, but not before a battle was waged by Christian conservatives opposing him because of his past legal representation of Playboy and others. Five Republicans, including Sen. Orrin Hatch wound up voting against Ogden. Arlen Specter, who voted for Ogden, told NPR he had never seen so much mail and e-mail from voters opposing someone. Specter made the distinction that personal views and legal representation are two different things. AP wrote earlier this month: "While a private attorney, Ogden argued on behalf of Playboy and librarians fighting congressionally mandated Internet filtering software."
 
But conservative blogs lit up with headlines like "Obama nominates porn-lover for deputy attorney general," "Obama Picks Porn Lawyer for #2 at Justice," "Porn Companies Back David Ogden for Deputy Attorney General," and even "Child Porn Defender = Deputy Attorney General of the United States?"

The move to expand the House by two members (so that DC can get a vote) is one-step closer, but there's a hitch: The Senate passed the bill but included an amendment to strip DC of some of its very tough gun laws.

Video: Rachel Maddow explains why Washington D.C. may finally get taxation with representation.

Remember one-time Commerce Secretary nominee Judd Gregg? The AP has an investigative piece that looks familiar from the appropriations/earmark scandals of a few years ago -- it lines up Sen. Gregg requests with private investments. "Gregg, R-N.H., personally has invested hundreds of thousands of dollars in Cyrus Gregg's office projects at the Pease International Tradeport, a Portsmouth business park built at the defunct Pease Air Force Base, once home to nuclear bombers. Judd Gregg has collected at least $240,017 to $651,801 from his investments there, Senate records show, while helping arrange at least $66 million in federal aid for the former base."
 
And if there are folks who are wondering why this is popping up now, check out this paragraph in the story. "The senator has said his withdrawal had nothing to do with anything the White House uncovered in his background. A White House spokesman, Ben LaBolt, declined to discuss the matter with the AP. AP began looking into the Greggs' activities at Pease before then but had not yet contacted them or the White House before Judd Gregg withdrew."

NBC's Lauren Appelbaum reports on the speeches at CPAC last night. "We're alive," Rep. Michele Bachmann (MN), who emceed the evening session, said. "We're not going anywhere. Remember this is ground zero for the conservative movement."
 
When RNC chair Michael Steele took the stage to loud applause, Appelbaum adds, he opened with some jokes. "Any conservatives in the house tonight?" Steele asked to laughter. "Brother just wants to check! Make sure I'm in the right place." But he quickly got to business, acting as a cheerleader for the Republican Party. "I wanted to come here tonight to let America know that we are a movement that is alive and well, that these are the essential conservative principles of our national Republican party, for we are the conservative party in this country and damn proud of it."

The New York Times' wrap of CPAC yesterday: Mike Huckabee "suggested that if Republicans were looking for anyone to blame for the electoral losses that swept Barack Obama into the White House and gave Democrats more power in Congress, they should look in the mirror." More: "But the mood on Thursday among the thousands of conservatives at the annual session was not defeatist. This, after all, is the conference where Samuel J. Wurzelbacher, better known as Joe the Plumber, is a major celebrity, and where the talk show host Rush Limbaugh gets a prime speaking slot." 

Speaking of Steele, his latest flub -- having implied that he'd support primary challengers to Republicans who voted for the stimulus -- landed him in hot water with the senators, Roll Call writes. He "is coming under fire from fellow Republicans for calling for 'retribution' against moderate" senators. NRSC Chair Jon Cornyn: "We need to be finding candidates that can win in different parts of the country ... not forming circular firing squads, especially when our numbers are so small."
 
More: "Senate Republicans say they believe Steele is stepping outside of his role, which should be to bolster the efforts of the House and Senate campaign organizations to elect Republicans. 'You just cannot haphazardly call for primary challenges for your moderate wing one day and follow it with selling your base down the river the next. Somebody needs to tell him to relax, settle into the job and realize that nobody cares what the RNC chairman thinks about anything other than winning elections,' one veteran GOP aide said."

MINNESOTA: The Star Tribune: "Norm Coleman's luck improved a bit Thursday, as judges in the U.S. Senate recount trial ordered an inspection of about 1,500 rejected absentee ballot envelopes and changed their minds about letting a Coleman witness testify. The ballot inspection could lead to counting more votes, something Coleman needs, if local officials discover voter registration cards in the ballot secrecy envelopes of voters whose ballots were rejected for lack of registration. But there's no assurance how the votes would divide between the candidates."

Still, Chuck Schumer predicts Al Franken will be seated "by the very beginning of April."

NEW YORK: "Attorney General Eric Holder's push for the renewal of the assault weapon ban has put Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) between a rock and a hard place," The Hill reports. 
 
But "Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid will join Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) in opposing any effort to revive the 1994 assault weapons ban, putting them on the opposite side of the Obama administration… It was not immediately clear whether Reid would block the bill from the Senate, but his opposition casts serious doubt on its chances."

From NBC's Domenico Montanaro
WASHINGTON -- Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee softened up the
crowd here at the Conservative Political Action Conference with lots of
red meat in the first half of his speech. But he  used the capital of
that first part to steamroll conservative critics from the fiscal wing
of the party for most of the rest.
 
"We didn't lose because of social conservatives," Huckabee said of the
2008 election results. He added that it wasn't because social
conservatives are against putting "babies" in "wastebaskets," it's
because, "We [Republicans] were too tied to people who would spend
$1,400 on a wastebasket, like the clueless John Thain. ...Where I come
from, $1,400 is three courses at the University of Arkansas-Little Rock
and $87,000 is the price of a house."

Thain, the former Merrill Lynch chief executive, reportedly spent more
than $1 million redecorating his office, including $87,000 on a rug.
 
"The GOP can't be a haven for rich, white guys," Huckabee added. He
called himself "prophetic" for saying during the campaign that the party was too close to
Wall Street. And he lashed out against conservative
critics -- from whom he's still waiting for an "apology," he said --
who criticized his "populist" rhetoric on the campaign trail.
 
"I'm not a Republican because I grew up rich," Huckabee said, reprising a line, notably from his Republican National Convention speech. "I'm a Republican because I grew up poor and didn't want to sit around waiting for the government to come rescue me."
 
Huckabee told fiscal conservatives they should embrace -- not criticize -- social conservatives.
 
"That's wrong," he said, as only about two-thirds of the crowd stood and cheered. "Fiscal conservatives need to realize without strong families," Republicans can't achieve their goals.
 
Huckabee had a rocky relationship with fiscal conservatives on the campaign trail. The Club for Growth, for example, ran two mocking ads against him in the run up to the Iowa caucuses. They were the only ads, by our count, by an outside Republican group that singled out a particular Republican during the 2008 presidential campaign.
 
Huckabee, who maintains a strong Christian evangelical base, never got along well with Mitt Romney, a favorite of the fiscal wing, during the 2008 campaign. (Romney, who won the last two years' CPAC presidential preference straw polls, speaks tomorrow.)
 
The Huckster (Yuk-ster?) returns
Huckabee's speech was also replete with the classic Huckabee one-liners, a trait familiar to reporters who followed candidate Huckabee.
 
Here's a sampling:
 
"This year, we might be asking, 'Dude, where's my country?'" …
 
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics is dead, he said, but the "Union of American Socialists is being born." …
 
"Even Obamaweek, formerly Newsweek said, 'We're all socialists now.'" (He took his shots at MSNBC cable, too.)…
 
He called Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, "Turbo Tax Tim" and poked fun at Nancy Pelosi -- "…as fast as Nancy Pelosi jumping out of her seat at an Obama speech." …
 
"They pulled the TARP over our eyes."…
 
He re-dubbed the stimulus, the "Congressional Recovery Action Plan." He repeated it for emphasis for those who didn't get the acronym the first time -- CRAP. "If it looks like Congressional Recovery Action Plan… and smells like Congressional Recovery Action Plan--."
 
He called the stimulus an "$800 billion spending spree they call a stimulus." …
 
If it were a movie, it could be titled, "Confessions of a Shop-a-holic." …
 
On bailouts, "We should have paid them in Monopoly money…."
 
"Tyson Foods [an Arkansas company] just lost its claim as the world's largest producer of pork." …
 
He again called for implementation of the Fair Tax and for a shut down of the IRS. That got his biggest applause, in fact, a sustained standing ovation. One thing that would mean, he said, "We wouldn't have a tax cheat running our tax system."
 
"The GOP wants a level playing field; Democrats want a level finish line." …
 
"They are obsessed with slicing bread equally among an even more needy populace."

From NBC's Mark Murray
Uh, oh. The Chicago Sun-Times: "The son of embattled Sen. Roland Burris is a federal tax deadbeat who landed a $75,000-a-year state job under former Gov. Rod Blagojevich

five months ago... Blagojevich's administration hired Roland W. Burris II as a senior counsel for the state's housing authority Sept. 10 -- about six weeks after the Internal Revenue Service slapped a $34,163 tax lien on Burris II and three weeks after a mortgage company filed a foreclosure suit on his South Side house."

More: "A spokeswoman for the Illinois Housing Development Authority indicated Wednesday there was nothing improper about Burris II's employment by the agency... Burris II's hiring, however, raises more questions about Sen. Burris' interactions with Blagojevich and his inner circle at a time when the governor was soliciting Sen. Burris for campaign contributions and Burris was angling to have Blagojevich appoint him to the Senate seat once held by President Obama."

From NBC's Chuck Todd
There's been plenty of speculation over the last few years that somehow Speaker Nancy Pelosi's personal views on key social issues, like guns, would cause political problems for, say, pro-gun Democrats who have been elected to Congress in the last two elections. Well, here's an example of why Pelosi is a much shrewder politician than she gets credit for and why she has more support inside her caucus, even among younger and newer members, than people around town realize.

Check out this exchange from Pelosi's press briefing today.

Q: "Madam Speaker, Attorney General Holder yesterday said that the Administration wants to reinstitute the assault weapons ban.  Have you talked with Administration officials about that, and how quickly can you bring it to the floor?"

Speaker Pelosi:  No, but I think on that score, one good place to start would be to enforce the laws that are on the books right now.  And I think the evidence points this out, that the Bush Administration was not enforcing law.  So let's start with enforcing the law that we have now."

That's right, Pelosi is using talking points which used to be standard NRA talking points regarding gun laws for years... "start with enforcing the law" on the books.

From NBC's Ken Strickland
New Hampshire Sen. Judd Gregg -- the ranking Republican on the Senate Budget Committee who initially accepted being President Obama's

Commerce secretary before withdrawing -- called the administration's budget outline "a half-hearted attempt" to reduce the deficits and "missed opportunity" to take the country in a fiscally sound direction.

In a written statement, he said "it raises taxes on all Americans, implements massive new spending, and fails to make any tough choices to control the deficit and long-term fiscal crisis posed by the huge entitlement programs."

Gregg also challenged Obama's stated desire to reign in government spending, asking in his statement "Where is the spending restraint? Instead, government spending continues to grow and expand."

From NBC's Jim Miklaszewski

A Senior defense official tells NBC News that Defense Secretary Gates has decided to lift the ban against media coverage of U.S. war dead returning to the United States, and would leave the decision entirely up to the families.

From NBC's Ashley Codianni
WASHINGTON -- In a one-on-one interview this morning with Samuel "Joe the Plumber" Wurzelbacher here at the Conservative Political Action Committee, he told NBC News that he would consider running  for office after his son is finished with college. "I will consider in six years when my son is at Ohio State... It's a lot of work, and it's a very important job. And I would take it as serious as it is. It would be as a servant and not someone who feels entitled."

Video: Joe the Plumber at CPAC.

Wurzelbacher also was critical of current GOP leadership. "Personally, I don't see anybody as far as a leader in the Republican Party right now. They're afraid to say anything, they are more worried about being politically correct and their special interest groups. They are not worried about the American people. No way, no shape do I ever hear anything about that. They talk a good game, but I see no action."

From NBC's Lauren Appelbaum
WASHINGTON -- In a speech here at the Conservative Political Action Conference, John Bolton, Bush's representative to the UN, admonished the young Obama administration for what he sees as not focusing enough on foreign affairs and making decisions based on what the left wants and not what is best for the country.

On Iraq, Bolton chastised Obama for what Bolton said is a plan to withdraw troops without regard to any progress in the country. "We've just seen a vindication of President Bush's surge policy in the recent provincial elections," Bolton said to loud applause. "The surge policy had both a military and a political component. The military component has had extraordinary success. The political component is making considerable progress. But we're seeing an administration so committed to satisfying the left of the Democratic party that it could well jeopardize all of that."

Bringing up Obama's statements as a candidate of offering carrots and sticks to Iran, Bolton argued Obama does not know how to handle negotiations with that Middle East nation. "This is a clear piece of evidence of the naiveté of the Obama administration and its faith in negotiations."

Partially as a result of this, Bolton warned that the United States' enemies will challenge the Obama administration. He cited the Russians in seeing a weakness in Obama's response to the invasion of Georgia and said Russia will test Obama. "Just as Khrushchev challenged President Kennedy shortly after his inauguration, more is coming on that front."

During the Q&A, Bolton suggested that the Obama administration might not always be pro-Israel. "I don't know what the Obama administration will do in response, but I would certainly hope they would come to Israel's assistance," Bolton said when asked if the administration would help Israel if attacked by Arab nations. "But I think there is no guarantee of it. I think the more likely response is to appoint a special envoy and try to negotiate an end to the hostilities."

Bolton also criticized Secretary of State Clinton for not discussing human rights with Chinese leaders during her visit there. "Regardless of where you put human rights, you don't give it up for nothing before you even land in Beijing."