From NBC's Jeff Rossen
There are new problems for former Merrill Lynch CEO John Thain -- this time, legal ones after a "heated" closed-door meeting between Thain and New York State investigators.

New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has filed court papers forcing Thain to speak candidly about $3-to-$4 billion dollars in bonuses handed out just before the merger with Bank of America.

According to sources, during his deposition Thain admits that Bank of America knew everything he was up to. But Thain reportedly refused to name names. He wouldn't go into specifics about who got the money. Investigators say they filed today's motion for two reasons: (1) Force Thain to speak openly, and under oath, and (2) Send a warning to Bank of America, and other banks -- that anything short of full transparency is unacceptable.

This headline-grabber is just the latest in a string of high-profile investigations for Cuomo. There are politics at play here. Cuomo is considering a run for governor in 2010. Recently, Cuomo exposed a health-care scheme costing millions of Americans, hundreds of millions of dollars. As a result of that investigation, United Health Group settled with Cuomo's office and agreed to reimburse people affected.

It's unclear when a judge could rule on this latest motion involving John Thain.

After the jump is an excerpt from the deposition between one of the investigators, Thain ("witness") and Thain's attorney. (See above links for full complaint deposition):

MR. LAWSKY (NYS investigator): who do you remember of those people?

MR. LEVANDER (Thain attorney): I've been directed not to disclose by the company individual names other than the names of the top people who are under Section 16. we were directed by Bank of America counsel. If you want to get on the phone with Mr. Liman --

MR. LAWSKY: If you don't want to tell us the names, you can just say "I don't want to tell you the names."

MR. LEVANDER: He has no problem telling the names. We were directed by counsel for Bank of America, and I'm following that direction.

MR. LAWSKY: I'm asking, DO you want to give us the names?

MR. LEVANDER: He's given you the category

MR. LAWSKY: I'm not asking you for the numbers that people got. I'm asking who Andrea Smith asked numbers to come down for. Are you telling me Bank of America doesn't want you to disclose that?

MR. LEVANDER: That's my understanding, but I'll tell you what. At the next break I'll try to find out if that's what the direction was.

MR. LAWSKY: Let the record reflect the witness is refusing to answer.

MR. LEVANDER: At direction of counsel -at the direction of Bank of America's counsel.

MR. LAWSKY: I'm not calling Mr. Liman because it's your deal with him, but if you can work that out it would be great.

(Exhibit 4 was marked for identification.)

Q. I'm handing you what's been marked as Exhibit

MR. LAWSKY: Let me follow up with one thing: was it your understanding that Miss smith was speaking with, if you know, with Mr. Alfin regularly based on your conversations with her?

THE WITNESS: It was was my understanding.

MR. LAWSKY: How about Mr. Lewis?

THE WITNESS: I don't know.

Q. DO you know anyone who had the title Executive vice president regardless of whether it fits into the definition of whatever is being talked about in Exhibit 5? Anyone you worked with until December 2008 that had the title at Merrill Lynch, Executive vice president?

A. I believe that

MR. LEVANDER: Don't guess, only what you know

A. well, I don't recall who has that title.

MR. LAWSKY: Can we go back to my Andrea smith question now?

MR. LEVANDER: Yes. I've been told that counsel for the company has taken your request under advisement and is consulting with his client. At the moment, I'm directed to not read individuals' names into the --

MR. LAWSKY: under what grounds? Are you asserting a privilege? Does Mr. Thain work for Bank of America? I don't think he does.

MR. LEVANDER: That's correct. But there are confidentiality obligations. I don't want to be in a position of getting shot at. If you and Mr. Liman can get it worked out, I sure will be happy to give you the information.

MR. LAWSKY: I have nothing to work out with Mr. Liman. I feel bad for you because you're getting caught in between this. I just -- we're going to end up back here doing this all over again.

MR. LEVANDER: Maybe yes, maybe no. Maybe I'll tell you, The three names are x.

MR. LAWSKY: All I can say to you is that this is a relevant question for an ongoing investigation that we need an answer to. We don't need an answer over the phone; we need an answer on the record. I don't want to get into motions to compel and contempt of -- I don't even know what we would do. But I've never heard of a witness refusing to answer because an employer who fired him is directing him not to answer for non-privileged reasons.

MR. LEVANDER: If you want to have a discussion on the record, we can have the discussion on the record. The witness is here to answer questions. AS you said, it's not his fault, and so I suggest we go on. But I don't want to have him sued by the company for their saying that he's violating someone's privacy --I don't knpw what Mr. Liman's objections are. All I know is, he's given me a direction. Mr. Thain has confidentiality obligations even though he's an ex-employee. Those exist. Therefore, let's go on.

MR. LAWSKY: Let me try to understand a few things. Have you entered into any type of severance agreement with Bank of America.

THE WITNESS: I have not.

MR. LAWSKY: So with respect to -- earlier, were you, in fact, asked to leave? IS that the correct characterization?

THE WITNESS: Yes.

MR. LAWSKY: Post departure, has there been any -- even if not in writing -- any sort of agreements or joint agreements or any kind of cooperation agreement with Bank of America?

THE WITNESS: Not with me.

From NBC's Savannah Guthrie
The White House will release $15 billion on Wednesday to the states to help with Medicaid costs, essentially fast-tracking a portion of the stimulus money to help states defer cuts in essential services.

From NBC's Pete Williams

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg returned to work today to the Supreme Court, taking her place at the bench as the court resumed hearing oral arguments.

A beaming Justice Ginsburg walked into the courtroom under her own power, 18 days after surgery for pancreatic cancer.

And during the oral argument, she was a frequent and energetic questioner -- all in all, her normal self.

She left the courtroom as she came in, on her own, without taking the arm of another justice.

From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, and Domenico Montanaro
*** Time to go on a diet: After spending its first month in office convincing the American public to feast on an all-you-can-eat stimulus plan, the Obama administration is now turning its sights to the diet and exercise that lies ahead. (One of your authors who just got back from a weekend vacation in Memphis knows this drill all too well.) Today, beginning at 1:00 pm ET, President Obama convenes his "Fiscal Responsibility Summit," where he will announce that he'll cut the deficit in half by the end of his first term. The White House says it will get there thanks, in part, to 1) winding down the Iraq war and 2) phasing out the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans. (By the way, the tax-cut rollback is being announced without a lot of fanfare, and it's interesting how Republicans are just letting this be announced without pushing back very hard yet. Will the Bush tax cuts end up being an actual "vote" on the floor of Congress before the 2010 elections?) This deficit-reduction task, however, is even more ambitious given that Obama claims he won't use budget gimmicks that George W. Bush incorporated (like excluding war costs and counting on Alternative Minimum Tax revenue), and he's also planning to budget for a yearly natural disaster (approx. $20 billion) On Tuesday, the president will deliver his domestic-issue-heavy address to Congress. And on Thursday, he'll release his budget outline. 

Video: Obama pledges to cut the deficit in half by 2013.

*** Touching the third rail? Given today's fiscal responsibility summit, there's a lot of chatter about President Obama's intentions about Social Security. Per the New York Times, Obama "considered announcing the formation of a Social Security task force" at today's summit. "But several Democrats said that idea had been shelved, partly because of objections from House and Senate leaders." Obama does have a Nixon-to-China opportunity to shore up Social Security, especially since his party controls the White House and Congress. But on "Morning Joe" today, OMB director Peter Orszag made the point that the administration's immediate concern is with health care, not Social Security. Also, with everything else going on -- the economy, Iraq, Afghanistan -- liberals gladly point out that the system is solvent until 2041, which is a long ways away. Obama's instinct is to tackle Social Security, but he'll be flexible on timing. (Can anyone say "second term goal"?) By the way, this is a case where Speaker Pelosi is taking yet another arrow for the White House. House Republicans are jumping on the news that Pelosi vetoed this first change at focusing on Social Security reform. Don't think the White House isn't reminded that Pelosi is actually serving them well politically by taking these political hits on Obama's behalf.

*** A tale of two Republicans: The current divide among GOP governors over the stimulus was in full display yesterday on "Meet the Press." In dueling interviews, we saw one governor -- Bobby Jindal -- rooted mostly in a conservative ideology that plays very well in the South and with the base, but not in some other parts of the country and not with many swing voters. "I think we just have a fundamental disagreement here. I don't think the best way to do that is for the government to tax and borrow more money," Jindal said. "I think the best thing they could've done, for example, was to cut taxes on things like capital gains, the lower tax brackets, to get the private sector spending again." And we saw another governor -- Charlie Crist -- rooted in what he claims is pragmatism in a key presidential battleground state. "I'm a Florida Republican. And in the Florida way, we work together in a bipartisan fashion to do what's right for the people. That's really what it's all about," he said. This has become perhaps the key question for the Republican Party: In which direction does it want to go? The GOP in the short term will divide on this question: Is the government more of a problem or more of a problem-solver? 

Video: The debate on how to spend the stimulus money heats up, especially among Republican governors.

*** Jindal's wiggle room: Also on "Meet the Press," Jindal -- who will be delivering the GOP's response on Tuesday -- gave a qualified answer to questions about whether he'll run for president in 2012. "I want to run for re-election to be governor of Louisiana in 2011," he said. "I told the people of our state we have a once in a lifetime chance to change our state." More: "If the people of Louisiana will have me, I absolutely want to be governor for the next seven years. Now, that's up to the voters of Louisiana." And: "It's my intent to, to run for re-election." If Jindal does run for re-election, however, here's something important to consider: The GOP nominating contests in Iowa and New Hampshire will probably come just two months after that re-election contest in Louisiana in 2011. Is that enough time to campaign in those states? Do you get left out of most of the debates? Or do you try to run for re-election in Louisiana, with occasional stops in the early states? These are questions that other potential presidential candidates don't have to answer. If Jindal ever does run in 2012, he may have to create a draft movement that somehow allows him to get in the race late. It's possible that without a fight for an open seat for the presidency that the race on the GOP side could get started a tad later. Of course, Jindal wasn't the only GOP governor in DC on the Sunday talk shows who might have his eyes set on 2012. There's Crist, Mark Sanford, Mitch Daniels, and Tim Pawlenty. By the way, assess how each gave themselves wiggle room for going after Obama in the next three years.

Video: Jindal discusses the possibility of running for president in 2012 on "Meet the Press."

*** GOP senators gone wild? Over the weekend, GOP Sen. Jim Bunning, who's up for re-election in 2010, predicted that Ruth Bader Ginsberg would be dead in nine months. "Bad cancer. The kind you don't get better from," he said. "Even though she was operated on, usually nine months is the longest that anybody would live after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer." And then there was Sen. Richard Shelby doubting Obama's citizenship. "Well, his father was Kenyan and they said he was born in Hawaii, but I haven't seen any birth certificate," Shelby said. "You have to be born in America to be president." These things don't really help the GOP, do they? Shelby's office walked back the report about what he said, but doesn't the senator himself have to deal with this? As for Bunning, there were a few other comments he made regarding how the establishment Senate Republicans are treating him right now. He's feeling a bit paranoid vis-à-vis the leadership, specifically Mitch McConnell and John Cornyn. Is Bunning going to be this cycle's Bob Smith, circa 2002? 

*** The DCCC's stimulus campaign: Speaking of the stimulus fight, the DCCC says it's targeting (via automated calls, text messages, and emails) 12 House Republicans who voted against the stimulus, arguing that they opposed middle-class tax cuts. The 12 Republicans: Judy Biggert (IL), Ken Calvert (CA), Michael Castle (DE), Charlie Dent (PA), Jim Gerlach (PA), Mark Kirk (IL), Blaine Luetkemeyer (MO), Dan Lungren (CA), Thaddeus McCotter (MI), Adam Putman (FL), Dave Reichert (WA), and Pete Sessions (TX). A sample of one of the automated calls: "Did you know Congressman Thad McCotter voted against President Obama's economic recovery plan, endorsed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce? McCotter's empty rhetoric can't hide that he voted to raise the AMT tax on 22 million middle class Americans and against the largest tax cut history."

*** Whither Citigroup? This will definitely be a story to watch today: Citigroup, the Wall Street Journal reports, "is in talks with federal officials that could result in the U.S. government substantially expanding its ownership of the struggling bank, according to people familiar with the situation. While the discussions could fall apart, the government could wind up holding as much as 40% of Citigroup's common stock. Bank executives hope the stake will be closer to 25%, these people said."

Video: CNBC's Melissa Lee reports that the government may raise its stake in embattled Citigroup.

Countdown to NJ GOP primary: 99 days
Countdown to VA Dem primary: 106 days
Countdown to Election Day 2009: 253 days
Countdown to Election Day 2010: 617 days

Click here to sign up for First Read emails.
Text FIRST to 622639, to sign up for First Read alerts to your mobile phone.

According to the Boston Globe, "[S]ome of the nation's top budget analysts plan to deliver a stark warning today at a White House summit that an even more foreboding long-term crisis will unfold unless Obama quickly fixes Social Security, healthcare, the tax code, and more. While the $787 billion stimulus plan relies on tax cuts and increased spending, the list of problems to be addressed at the "Fiscal Responsibility Summit" could result in a series of painful political decisions that might eventually include tax increases and cuts in government benefits."

The Wall Street Journal writes,  "Mr. Obama will promise that he can shrink that total to $533 billion, or 3% of GDP, by 2013, primarily through savings from withdrawing combat forces from Iraq and allowing George W. Bush's tax cuts for families earning more than $250,000 to lapse in 2011. The forecast for a sharp narrowing of the deficit will also rest on the assumption that the economy recovers from the current slump. The official declined to say how any additional spending on economic stimulus or bailouts of the financial or other sectors -- actions many economists consider inevitable -- would affect the upbeat deficit projection."

"Meet Barack the Knife," the New York Daily News writes. "Determined to slash the deficit from $1.3 trillion to $533 million in four years, President Obama will propose this week cuts across a wide range of the budget, sparing neither the Pentagon nor entitlement programs."

The Sunday New York Times added, "Measured against the size of the economy, the projected $533 billion shortfall for 2013 would mean a reduction from a deficit equal to more than 10 percent of the gross domestic product — larger than any deficit since World War II — to 3 percent, which is the level that economists generally consider sustainable. Mr. Obama will project deficits at about that level through 2019."

More: "Mr. Obama will inflate his challenge by forsaking several gimmicks that President Bush used to make deficits look smaller. He will include war costs in the budget; Mr. Bush did not, and instead sought supplemental money from Congress each year. Mr. Obama also will not count savings from laws that establish lower Medicare payments for doctors and expand the alternative minimum tax to hit more taxpayers — both of which Mr. Bush and Congress routinely took credit for, while knowing they would later waive the laws to raise doctors' payments and limit the reach of the tax."

Another New York Times piece: "President Obama is eager to seek a bipartisan solution to ensure the long-term solvency of Social Security, people who have spoken with him say, but he is running into opposition from his party's left and from Democratic Congressional leaders who contend that his political capital would be better spent on health care and other priorities. Mr. Obama considered announcing the formation of a Social Security task force at a White House 'fiscal responsibility summit' that he will convene on Monday. But several Democrats said that idea had been shelved, partly because of objections from House and Senate leaders."

AP's Fouhy writes that "leading Republicans used this weekend's meeting of the National Governors Association to lay out divergent views of President Obama's stimulus plan -- and competing visions of their party's future."

The Washington Post: "Leading Republican governors continued their sparring yesterday by offering divergent views of the recovery act, with Southern conservatives saying they would reject some stimulus funds and coastal moderates embracing Obama's plan. But governors of both political parties said in interviews yesterday that the Obama administration should give states flexibility to make smart investments in education, health care and transportation."

The New York Times on the geographical division inside the GOP: "The Republican governors' divide reflects their party's erosion to a mostly regional party that is based in the conservative South, after heavy election losses in the Northeast, Midwest and West. And with the party leaderless after losing control of both the White House and Congress in the past two election cycles, the split is colored by early maneuvering for conservatives' support among potential aspirants for the party's 2012 presidential nomination."

Obama at last night's White House dinner with the governors: "We are going through some tough times. I don't need to tell you… There are going to be some differences, both within your state and in the country, in terms of how we address these problems. Here's my assurance. I know that each and every one of you are making the decisions you make, and taking the positions that you take, based on what is best for your state. And not every state's the same, and each of you have to take into account the particular characteristics and demographics and culture and perspectives of your states and your parties. But I want you to know that regardless of our occasional difference, and in this very difficult time, my hope is that we can all work together. And I'm confident that we can."

On the Sunday shows, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said if other governors don't want to take the stimulus money, then, "Fine, give it to me," he said.

More stimulus politics… The DCCC ought to be happy with this story about a Republican Congressman representing a quasi-swing district having to explain his "no' vote on stimulus in Michigan.

Previewing Obama's address to Congress on Tuesday, the New York Times says Obama will "present a road map for 'how we get to a better day,' a senior adviser says… The appearance before a joint session of the Senate and the House offers an opportunity for Mr. Obama to reprise some themes and initiatives from his campaign that have been overshadowed by the economic emergency that has defined the first month of his presidency."

More: "The president is not planning to announce significant new policies, officials said, but intends to explain how his agenda can advance despite the deepening recession and monumental budget deficit. The address will be heavily weighted toward domestic priorities and the economy, aides said, and will offer only a brief look at foreign policy."

Here's a good primer, courtesy of the New Republic, regarding what Obama will say about health care in his budget.

"Obama hasn't waited for the evildoers' to make the first move," the New York Daily News writes. "Despite his widely debated plan to close the U.S. terrorist prison in Guantanamo Bay, Obama -- in far less publicized decisions -- has acted more hawkishly than the dovish candidate who was a hero to the left. In his first orders as commander in chief, Obama kicked Al Qaeda in the teeth with a series of missile strikes, set in motion a troop surge in Afghanistan and warned nuclear wanna-be North Korea. Once-skeptical intelligence officers now praise Obama for being 'a wolf in sheep's clothing.'"

And the Washington Post's Kessler sums up the first overseas trip for Secretary of State Clinton. "Clinton's willingness to speak frankly -- combined with an extensive effort to get beyond ministerial meetings in order to hold town hall meetings and conduct local television interviews in the countries she visits -- suggests she will put a distinctive personal stamp on the Obama administration's foreign policy. What is emerging is something less rigid, less cautious and more open."

Politico writes, "In multiple interviews, several Senate aides and Burris confidants say the senator was unprepared from a public relations and political perspective to deal with the national media frenzy and ethics problems he now confronts."

A Burris associate tells First Read that though he doubts the senator will resign soon. "It's impossible to find a Democrat in the state not touched by Blagojevich," the source said, adding that he doubted any Democrat could hold the seat, including state Attorney General Lisa Madigan and Blagojevich replacement Gov. Pat Quinn. "Pat Quinn was his running mate," the source said, adding, "Even Obama is associated."

Roll Call quotes another source saying resigning hadn't been discussed internally as of Friday. "Burris, this source said, is currently behind closed doors considering his next move. The Senator believes he has been honest and above board, but feels he is suffering in part because of a faulty communications strategy in relation to how he has dealt with this latest scandal."

"Supporters of D.C. voting rights believe that they are on the verge of their biggest victory in at least 30 years as the Senate prepares to take up a bill this week creating a full House seat for the District," the Washington Post writes. "Two years ago, a similar measure failed to clear a key procedural hurdle in that chamber by three votes. Democrats picked up at least seven Senate seats in the elections last fall, boosting the current bill's chance of passage. They also expanded their majority in the House, where the bill is expected to be approved as early as next month." 
 
In an address to the National Clean Energy Project, Senate Majority Leader Reid Harry Reid will make an announcement today about Nevada and clean energy.

MINNESOTA: The Hill's Wilson reports the RNC donated $250,000 to Coleman's recount bid on Jan. 26 under Mike Duncan's administration. The Minnesota Republican Party also got a $142,000 cash infusion from Sen. John McCain's (R-Ariz.) presidential victory committee. Sen. Lamar Alexander's (R-Tenn.) political action committee as well as dozens of individuals have also given to the state party, specifically earmarking their contributions for Coleman's recount efforts."

Stu Rothenberg, writing in Roll Call, says Republicans' death in the Northeast "has been greatly exaggerated. True, over the past decade, the GOP has been slaughtered in New England... But 2010 could be the start of a comeback for the GOP in the Northeast, in part because the party suffered such complete devastation that a bit of a rebound seems close to inevitable."

From NBC's Domenico Montanaro
South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford struck a feisty tone Saturday night, responding directly to Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley's call earlier in the day for "fringe" Republican governors opposed to stimulus funds to "step aside."

"I don't see folks [here], who are really wired to step aside," Sanford
said to applause from the GOP crowd in "The Crystal Room," an ornate
dining room, complete with cascading chandeliers and 15-foot high green
marble columns, at the upscale Willard Intercontinental Hotel in
downtown Washington, two blocks from the White House.

At the Republican Governors Association dinner -- in part, a thank you
to Republican fundraisers during this weekend when governors from
around the country are in the nation's capital for the National
Governors Association meeting -- Sanford lauded the efforts
specifically of Bobby Jindal, Haley Barbour, Rick Perry and Sonny Perdue, Southern governors who have said they're opposed to stimulus funds and may not take money for their states.

Sanford called Republican governors the "last ones standing," when it comes to setting conservative policy.

He thanked House Minority Leader John Boehner, who was in attendance, for keeping House Republicans firmly in opposition to the stimulus.

He had some tough words, however, for the Upper Chamber.

"What we're doing should have been done by Congress and the U.S. Senate," Sanford continued. Three Republican senators crossed the aisle to give the Democrats a filibuster-proof coalition to pass President Obama's recovery bill.

Sanford went so far to say that, "This is a gut check vote, a gut check deliberation ... for the future of our civilization."

But Sanford aide Ben Fox later acknowledged that, in large part, Sanford's "hands are tied" when it comes to what the governor can actually do in rejecting the funds. The state legislature, Fox said, wants the funds and may have ultimate authority for most of the money.

Not all the governors have taken such a hard ideological line. There was no mention in Sanford's speech of Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, who has carved out a nuanced stance on the funds. He argues that though he may have concerns about some aspects of the bill, his constituents pay a hefty amount in taxes to the federal government and his state needs that money. (Pawlenty, by the way, who shook up the RGA conference in Miami back in November with an impassioned speech on the new direction the party should take, sat toward the back of the room -- just in front of a table of about half a dozen reporters.)

Other governors at the dinner echoed Pawlenty's stance.

"I wouldn't have voted for it if I were in Congress," North Dakota Gov. John Hoeven said before adding, "but, hell yeah we're gonna take it. We pay for this... Geez Maries. Come on."

RGA spokespeople as well as Republicans in attendance downplayed any potential Sanford-Crist-Pawlenty friction. In fact, Sanford even stopped by to chat it up with Pawlenty -- like regular pals. They shook hands, joked around and Pawlenty even -- perhaps commenting on Sanford's speech -- did a mock wrestling move, slapping his elbow and diving it downward.

Do they always get along so chummy? Or did they all have a discussion earlier in the day about how to show a united front?

Could be a little bit of both.

Introducing, Steve Forbes…
The point of Sanford speaking was to introduce flat-taxer Steve Forbes. Sanford called Forbes an "ideas" man, someone with solutions.

Forbes didn't disappoint the crowd. He railed against the stimulus, made fun of Fed Chair Ben Bernanke and told jokes about talking about, what else, money. What's the best way to get someone to move away from you, especially if you want the armrest on an airplane? You guessed it -- talk about economics. (It got big laughs.)

He even issued his prescription for righting the housing crisis, which included aggressively buying up mortgage-backed securities -- something he said would sound "Socialistic coming from me."

More laughs.

Presidential possibles, stimulus, highlight weekend's NGA for Republicans
From NBC's Domenico Montanaro
As
the nation's governors make their way to Washington this weekend for
the National Governors Association conference, it provides a look at
(1) Republicans who might make a run for president in 2012; and (2)
What these governors will do about stimulus money.
 
Several
have taken the ideological hard line that they will reject the funds --
though it's unclear they actually have final authority to do so (their
legislatures do in most states). Some have said they will take the
funds despite opposition to the bill. And yet others have embraced the
funds from the beginning -- even lobbying for the federal government's
help as their states face budget crises at home.
 
The NGA will
be a showcase for Republican governors possibly considering a run for
president in 2012 and beyond. The likelihood that the next Republican
nominee for president will be in Washington this weekend is pretty
high.
 
One notable absence will be Sarah Palin, who is still
on the schedule to host a panel on natural resources. "It looks as
though the Governor is not attending the NGA," Meghan Stapleton told
First Read in an e-mail.
 
Palin seems to be entirely trying to
avoid the Beltway limelight -- she's not attending the conservative
polical action conference, or CPAC, either. Her state is facing budget
issues, and the Alaska chief executive is also having to deal with
revelations that she must pay income taxes for per diem expenses for
days she spent at her Wasilla home.
Palin's absence provides an opportunity, most notably, for 2012 (or beyond) possibility Bobby Jindal, the 37-year-old wunderkind Louisiana governor. (If Jindal ran in 2012, he'd still be younger than Barack Obama when he launched his bid.)

Jindal is highly regarded for his competence in a state that is, well, not exactly known for a whole lot of it at the managerial level. Jindal has been coy about whether he'd run in 2012, as he is up for re-election at his current job in 2011. But Jindal's 2008 multimillion-dollar padding of his coffers is raising suspicions that he's gearing up for something.
 
Because of Jindal's age, though, he has the luxury of sitting back and watching Obama's approval rating. If that thing is anywhere above 50 percent, Jindal will likely sit it out in 2012, but you'd be playing with house money betting on him for the nomination in eight years. Without spotlight-magnet Palin, expect Jindal to get all the "Is he the future of the party?" coverage. Remember, he gets the prime spot on Tuesday, delivering the Republican response to President Obama's address to Congress and appears on Meet the Press Sunday, a place quite a few presidential wannabes have begun their invisible campaigns.
 
Others to watch: Florida's Charlie Crist, Minnesota's Tim Pawlenty and South Carolina's Mark Sanford.
 
An interesting drama to watch is what has unfolded between Crist and Sanford over the stimulus bill.
 
The stimulus has shaped up to be a Republican litmus test of sorts. If you're a real Republican, you're against it -- simple as that. In other words, if you want to run in -- and win -- a primary in 2010 (maybe 2012), you'd better oppose it.
 
While Jindal, Palin, Mississippi's Haley Barbour, Texas' Rick Perry and Mark Sanford have said they wouldn't take stimulus money -- Perry and Sanford have since backed down slightly on that -- Crist has taken the opposite tack. California's Arnold Schwarzenegger and Vermont's Jim Douglas have also expressed support for it. Schwarzenegger even unabashedly wrote a letter to Obama in early January lobbying him for a "substantial federal stimulus program," as his state is facing a near-budget crisis.
 
Crist -- the moderate Floridian -- went so far in his support of the bill as to introduce President Obama at a Ft. Myers, Fla., event where he was stumping for the stimulus. That prompted a sharp rebuke from Sanford, who doubles as chairman of the Republican Governors Association.
 
"I don't think that a lot of people down here would call him a fiscal conservative," Sanford said Feb. 15th. "He may be a good guy, and I've pleasantly enjoyed knowing him through the governorship. But that he's some stalwart fiscal conservative is, I think, at odds with the record."
 
I wonder what the temperature will be like when Sanford and Crist pass in the hall this weekend.
 
Democrats to watch (in alphabetical order):
-- Phil Bredesen (D-Tenn.): Was lobbying for HHS Secretary, but after his name was floated and liberal groups protested, his name faded.
-- Jon Corzine (D-N.J.): In a tough 2010 re-election race -- polls show him trailing. Was considered for Treasury Secretary. But with his poll numbers what they are, is he a potential Commerce pick? His Goldman Sachs image (and house that's up for rent in the Hamptons for the summer at $900,000) has hurt his chances in this climate of populist outrage.
--  David Paterson (D-N.Y.): In big trouble in New York politics after his handling of the Hillary Clinton Senate replacement. His poll numbers have plummeted, and he will be fighting for political survival in 2010.
-- Pat Quinn (D-Ill.): His first time out at a national event since replacing the impeached Rod Blagojevich. He has asked that Roland Burris resign.
-- Ed Rendell (D-Pa.): Has been mentioned for several cabinet posts. Could Commerce, HHS come knocking?
-- Kathleen Sebelius (D-Kan.): Has emerged on the short list for HHS Secretary.

From NBC's Ken Strickland
While there are lots of calls for Sen. Roland Burris to resign, don't expect any effort from his Senate colleagues to expel him from the Senate when he returns to Capitol Hill next week. 

Even though Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin told a Chicago newspaper earlier this week that Burris' "future in the Senate seat is in question," leadership staff on both sides of the aisle say, at this stage, the only way Burris would be out of the Senate would be for Burris to resign.

As a rule, the Senate prefers to let investigations, trials, etc., run their course before they act. (For example, there was never a serious effort to expel former Sens. Ted Stevens and Larry Craig even as they were waiting to appeal their cases.)

The investigations on Burris are in the earliest stages. The Senate Ethics Committee inquiry could take months. 

Most importantly, expulsion by the Senate is a dramatic step. The last one happened in 1862 concerning the Civil War. In most cases the Senate lets the controversies work themselves out. Craig decided not to seek reelection and Stevens lost his race. (Bob Packwood stepped down just before the Senate planned to vote on his expulsion.)

Here's what we know from the Burris camp about the state of play: He is not planning to resign; he will cooperate with all investigations; he will not talk about the issue during the investigations, and he believes he's done nothing wrong.

From NBC's Athena Jones
WASHINGTON -- President Obama pledged to do all he could to ensure stimulus dollars were not wasted, telling a group of some 80 mayors gathered in the East Room of the White House Friday that he would "call them out" if they spent the funds unwisely.

He said he would do the same to federal agencies who wasted taxpayer dollars, while highlighting the scope and scale of a plan he fought hard to pass.

"This plan does more to lay a new foundation for our cities' growth and opportunity than anything else Washington has done in generations and it will bring real and lasting change for generations to come," the president said.

The word of the hour at the East Room event was "unprecedented," with Obama and Vice President Joe Biden stressing that the recovery package included "unprecedented investment in American cities" and that the American people had placed "unprecedented trust" in the Obama administration to implement this plan effectively, something that would require "unprecedented responsibility and accountability" on everyone's part.

The focus on responsibility comes at a time when the country is facing rising unemployment, a credit crunch and a home foreclosure crisis. In the past week, the president has announced a plan to stem foreclosures and the largest economic recovery package in history.

Now he wants to assure the public that this money will not go to waste. Next Thursday, he is set to present the budget for fiscal year 2010. On Monday, he and Biden will also host a summit on fiscal responsibility on Monday. Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said the governors from around the nation who have been invited to the White House for dinner Sunday night and for a meeting on Monday will hear the same message about the need to be good stewards of taxpayer money.

Biden, who introduced the president, said cities and mayors had long-been neglected when it came to matters of national policy even though 65 percent of the population and seven of 10 jobs reside in cities.

"Cities are vital to our economy, essential to our recovery and haven't been paid much attention to," he said. "Our economy can never reach, in our view, it's full potential, if we have people who are living blocks away but worlds away from the bustling downtown full of opportunity."

On hand for the event were Attorney General Eric Holder, HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan, Transporation Secretary Ray LaHood, Energy Secretary Steven Chu, Education Secretary Arne Duncan and Valerie Jarrett, a senior adviser.  At one point a gaggle of mayors cornered LaHood near the stage, according to a pool report.

One of them, Laredo, Texas Mayor Raul G. Salinas, shared with reporters on the sidelines of the event his concern that channeling stimulus fund through state governments would delay the process of getting it mayors. He said he would ask the president to stop a "bureaucratic stalemate," according to the pool report.

Salinas was among several other city leaders -- who traveled from as far away as Honolulu -- that sought to drive home the point that stimulus money must reach cities quickly. New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, who expressed those same concerns last month about federal aid after a meeting at the White House with the director of intergovernmental affairs, repeated them today when some of the mayors spoke with reporters after the event.

"It took two-and-a-half years before the money really hit the city of New Orleans after Katrina, and I made the point that if this stimulus money travels on same track then there will be lots of unspent dollars at the end of this initiative," Nagin said. "They assured us that they're going to push the money as quickly as they can to the states some of it directly to the cities."

Obama also took the opportunity at today's event to publicly hail his pick to head a new White House Office of Urban Affairs, Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrion, who becomes the third Hispanic to file a high-level staff position.

"Adolfo wrote a real success story in the Bronx as borough president," Obama said, "and now he's gonna be working will all of you to write our next success story in cities across the country. He's gonna be responsible for coordinating all federal urban programs, and I've asked him to set up an advisory council with mayors and other urban leaders so that we can develop a new metro strategy based on the lessons that you've learned."

From NBC's John Yang

Energy Secretary Steven Chu may be a Nobel laureate Ph.D. in physics, but his first forays into energy policy suggest he's a neophyte when it comes to the ways of Washington.
 
At a forum with reporters on Thursday, the head of the department that has traditionally taken the lead on global oil-market policy, was asked what message the Obama administration had for the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries at its meeting next month.
 
"I'm not the administration," the Cabinet secretary replied. "I will be speaking and learning more about this in order to figure out what the U.S. position should be and what the president's position is."
 
Chu, who is still without a deputy, said he feels "like I've been dumped into the deep end of the pool" on oil policy.
 
The day before, reporters asked him about OPEC output levels after a speech to a group of utility regulators. He responded that the issue was "not in my domain."
 
Later, in a conference call to reporters, he said his answer reflected "more of my naiveté than anything else."

From WMAQ's Maryann Ahern
Democratic Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn, who replaced the impeached Rod Blagojevich, has called on Sen. Roland Burris "to do what's right, put people's interest first and resign."

Quinn also laid out his plan for special elections to fill future Senate vacancies. 

He said he still favors "temporary appointments" by the sitting governor, however. 

*** UPDATE *** Potential 2010 Illinois Democratic challengers have asked for Burris to resign, including Dan Hynes and Alexi Giannoulias.

Per NBC's John Yang, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs suggests Burris take time this weekend and correct what he has said about his contacts with Blagojevich and Blagojevich's circle and "think about the future."

From NBC's Andrea Mitchell

Hillary Clinton is trying to reinvent the role of Secretary of State, surprising reporters on her plane and a lot of diplomats yesterday by talking plainly, even if it wasn't exactly diplomatic.

Asked today why she had been so blunt about North Korea's ailing leader Kim Jong Il, she said, "I don't think it's a forbidden subject to talk about succession in the Hermit Kingdom. ...To worry about something that is so self-evident is an impediment to clear thinking." 

Video: During her trip to Seoul on Thursday, Sec. of State Hillary Clinton sent some unmistakable signals to North Korea. NBC's Andrea Mitchell reports.

It does mark a change from the usual diplomatese. Clinton's response today? "Maybe this is unusual because you're supposed to be so careful you spend hours avoiding the obvious."
 
She's been getting a rock star reception. Just take a look at what happened in Jakarta when she waded into a poor neighborhood to look at a water sanitization project and was mobbed. She plays to that advantage, telling reporters, "I see our job right now, given what we've inherited, as repairing relations, not only with governments but with people. …President Obama has an extraordinary ability to do that because of the emotion he engenders."

To a lesser degree, she says she can do that also by getting down into the population. That's why in Jakarta she appeared on an Indonesian music show that was a cross between American Idol and The View, a program called "Awesome," charming the hosts when she confessed that her musical tastes were formulated in the 60s -- The Beatles and the Rolling Stones.

As a politician, she was completely at ease in ways most diplomats wouldn't have been. That kind of personal connection is a key to her approach, telling us today, "I don't want to oversell this, but it is part of our toolbox for smart power...this power is not confined to ministerial meetings."
 
Her problem though, she could become the Dear Abby of Secretaries of State. First in Tokyo, then in Seoul, university audiences asked her for advice on women's issues, balancing marriage and career. And in Seoul, one young woman asked, "I have a question related to love. How did you know your husband was and is and has been in love. Was it just feeling?"

Clinton said, "I feel more like an advice columnist than a secretary of state today. How does anyone describe love? …I think if you can describe it you may not be fully experiencing it, because it is such a personal relationship. I'm very lucky because my husband as you know is my best friend."

Inescapably, she is a role model for these women students.
 
In Beijing today, she says she will focus on the global economy, on climate change, and on a range of security issues like North Korea. Some human rights groups are complaining already that she is downplaying their concerns to play up to the Chinese. That would be pretty strange for the woman who set off an international firestorm in 1995 when she came as First Lady and declared that women's rights are human rights -- a revolutionary concept in Beijing in those days.

Clinton went on to tell us that doesn't mean she won't bring up Taiwan, Tibet and Human Rights, but on those issues, she said, "You pretty much know what they're going to say, because I've had those conversations for a decade with Chinese leaders."

Earlier today, Clinton named another envoy, Stephen Bosworth -- a former Ambassador to South Korea -- as her envoy on the North Korean problem. Asked if she was giving up too much turf to envoys, she said she came into the job having decided that she wanted to deploy some of the best diplomats and envoys that she could find.

"I believe in envoys," Clinton said. "I tried to get the Bush administration to deploy an envoy to Afghanistan back in 2007," saying she called then National Security Advisor Steve Hadley to make her point.
 
Now she can appoint as many envoys as she wants, and there will be more to come.

From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, and Domenico Montanaro
*** One month down: Today marks exactly one month since Obama was inaugurated. The country, and the world frankly, is engaged on pretty much anything this president does. The Blackberry-clutching candidate Obama joked on the campaign that a president needs to multi task. Well, he's gotten his shot at that so far. It's been a month of successes: passing the largest economic stimulus bill in the history of the country while retaining high approval numbers. And pitfalls: losing the spin war at the outset of the stimulus, Daschle (and other nominee) tax problems, lobbying exceptions, the Commerce Department (just in general -- what a mess), Geithner's TARP II rollout. And there's a whole lot more to come: Housing, health care, climate change, the labor-business fight, Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, North Korea, Israel-Hamas, and on. Republicans have been unimpressed. In an e-mail blasted out (twice) to reporters this morning, they stress this has been a "disappointing month," one "marked by wasteful spending, failed bipartisanship, and questionable ethics." Ask yourself this, what will be more remembered -- Nancy Killefer's taxes, field mice and Bill Lynn's lobbying? Or that Obama got a more than $700 billion bill through Congress in less than a month -- and most importantly, to both Democrats and Republicans, whether it works at all?

*** The great challenge that this White House is dealing with is the 24/7 nature of the Twittering media that no other president has ever dealt with on the policy front. It's the natural evolution, considering that campaigns have gotten this kind of coverage for years. Still, this environment of incremental up-down rulings by the punditocracy (most notably business pundits, see yesterday) on Obama's first month of policy, is quite the message handling challenge for this White House. Right now, it's chosen to deal with it by flooding the zone; instead of pushing one storyline a week, they go ahead and try and sell multiple messages. Can they keep up the pace?

Video: GOP governors split over stimulus. Gov. Tim Pawlenty, R-Minn., discusses.

*** The governors are coming: After a furious week (including Obama signing the stimulus into law, unveiling his home-foreclosure plan, and traveling to Canada), all eyes are now turning to Tuesday's big address to Congress. But before then, the governors are coming to town for the National Governors Association conference. Some events: Saturday kicks off with a press conference with Govs. Ed Rendell (D) and Jim Douglas (R) at 10:00 am ET, as well as with a panel on energy and infrastructure (with T. Boone Pickens and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger). Schwarzenegger and Rendell will debate at 3:00 pm ET on what the nation's priorities should be. On Sunday, President Obama hosts a black-tie dinner for the governors at 7:30 pm. And on Monday, there's a governors-only meeting with Obama at 9:30 am ET. There are two obvious storylines: The first is the economy and the stimulus plan, which provides quite a bit of money to the states to help balance their budgets. Some prominent Republican governors, all potential 2012 presidential candidates, (Bobby Jindal, Haley Barbour, Rick Perry, Sarah Palin, Mark Sanford) have not only been outspoken against the stimulus, they've also said they might reject the funds intended for their states. Recently, however, both Perry and Sanford have now signaled they'll probably take the money. It's also worth noting that other Republican governors like Schwarzenegger and Charlie Crist have supported the stimulus.

*** Showcase showdown: The other storyline is 2012, given that the NGA will most definitely be a showcase for GOP governors who might run for president: Palin, Jindal, Crist, Tim Pawlenty and possibly Sanford. Palin's office, though, told First Read that she WILL NOT be attending. (They'll have to change the program, since Palin's still listed as hosting a "natural resources" panel.) Wonder what the temperature will be like when Sanford and Crist pass in the hall… just sayin'. With no Palin, it'll be Jindal who may get the most "Is he the future of the party?" coverage. He gets the prime spot on Tuesday, the Republican response to President Obama's joint session speech, but before Tuesday, he'll be on "Meet the Press" -- a place quite a few presidential wannabes have begun their invisible campaigns.

*** The Dems: Don't forget the potentially news-making Democratic governors expected to attend, like, New Jersey's Jon Corzine (who's up for re-election in 2009 and dealing with poor poll numbers), New York's David Paterson (still under fire after the badly executed Senate appointment), Illinois' Pat Quinn (who might have to make his own Senate appointment, if Roland Burris resigns -- fat chance, right?), Kansas' Kathleen Sebelius (headed to HHS?), and Michigan's Jennifer Granholm (who leads a prime auto manufacturing state facing tough economic times).

*** Against the stimulus before they were for it: We clipped a few items yesterday that mentioned House Republicans who now are for at least parts of the stimulus after they voted against it. Look at this list of House Republicans that the DCCC has tracked:
-- Michigan's Pete Hoekstra's Twitter boasting the $8,000 home rebate (which was a Republican idea, we should say);
-- Leonard Lance (NJ) hoping for money for a local project
-- Greg Walden (OR) advocating for taking the funds for his district
-- Blaine Luetkemeyer (MO) touting "shovel-ready" as well as educational benefits of the bill;
-- Don Young claiming he "won a victory for the Alaska Native contracting program and other Alaska small business owners" in the stimulus;
-- Ken Calvert (CA) saying he'd take what money he can; and
-- John Mica (FL), who we mentioned yesterday, lauding Obama's dedication to high-speed rail.

Huh? This is going to be a tight rope for these GOPers to walk. It's why we thought they'd given themselves cover to vote for it on the second go round when $100 billion had been stripped out. But they were all whipped into voting against, and if these statements are any indication, could be problematic at home.

*** You don't know Jack: AP does a roundup of all the ethically challenged Democrats, included in the roundup is just one line about the mess involving Democratic Rep. Jack Murtha.

It involves illegal contributions from a defense contractor, among other things; of course, Murtha's always had a very cozy relationship with the defense industry, thanks to the prominence of his brother, the defense lobbyist. But keep an eye on this one: it could to be ugly. First, Murtha himself, seems to walk the ethical line regularly, starting with his involvement in ABSCAM in the early '80s to now. Second, he's close to Speaker Nancy Pelosi, will he end up muddying her up, even if it's unsuspecting? DId she turn too much of a blind eye toward him, simply because she goes out of her way to respect the House's seniority system? Murtha was a cause celeb for about six months in '06 when he became the party's anti-war spokesperson; quite a few unaware Democrats sidled up to Murtha and may now find out they made a mistake.  

*** Obama today: While the governors will be getting Obama's attention over the weekend, today he meets with mayors. Obama, Vice President Biden, Energy Secretary Steven Chu, HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan, Education Secretary Arne Duncan, Attorney General Eric Holder, EPA administrator Lisa Jackson and Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood attend a meeting at the White House at 10:30 am ET with the U.S. Conference of Mayors to discuss the stimulus bill. If there's been one group that has embraced the stimulus, it's been this one, but Obama, per NBC's Savannah Guthrie, will also issue a bit of a warning: Spend the money on good projects; don't be wasteful or you'll have to come back to the White House to answer for it. Afterward, the president meets with senior advisers and then lunches with Biden. Obama's schedule also has him looking at next week. In the afternoon, he works on his Tuesday address to Congress.

*** BCS meet Capitol Hill: After an undefeated season, Utah finished sixth in the BCS and was eliminated from contention for a potential national championship. (Of course, other teams, like Texas -- no specific reason for mentioning them -- had even better claims to the title game.) And today, the commissioner of Utah's Mountain West Athletic Conference pitches Congressional staffers on his proposed reforms to the Bowl Championship Series. (There will be more details on his proposal in a couple of weeks. Generally, he wants to make it more of a "performance-based system" -- was all we could get from his folks.) The system is broken; we've oft-advocated on this page for an eight-team college playoff solution. 'Horns spring practice starts later this month. Let's get this done.

Countdown to NJ GOP primary: 102 days
Countdown to VA Dem primary: 109 days
Countdown to Election Day 2009: 256 days
Countdown to Election Day 2010: 620 days

Click here to sign up for First Read emails. 

Text FIRST to 622639, to sign up for First Read alerts to your mobile phone.

"President Obama and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, emerging with smiles after a meeting in Harper's office and a working lunch, said this afternoon they had agreed to work closely on stimulus plans to tackle the global recession, to create a joint clean energy initiative, and to pursue stability and progress in Afghanistan," the Boston Globe writes. 

Video: Obama makes first foreign trip on friendly turf. NBC's Chuck Todd reports.

A few things to ponder: if residents of other countries react the way Canadians reacted to Obama, he's not going to be popular with a lot of world leaders... potentially. We wonder what was going through Prime Minister Stephen Harper's head when thousands showed to Parliament just hoping to catch a glimpse of the American leader.

On policy, it was interesting to see and hear Obama in Canada have to walk the line on NAFTA again. But if yesterday highlighted anything, it's the difference between being a candidate and being a president. Harper may have shown the U.S. and Canada's cards, by the way, when he said that the U.S. and Canada have the same goals on trade. Reading between the lines, he's saying, "Hey, we're not the problem here when it comes to labor and environmental standards." Over to you, Mexico.

On Air Force One, Deputy Secretary of State Jim Steinberg said Harper "raised the issue of 'Buy America.' The President basically said what he said in the press conference about the fact that he was committed to making sure that everything we did was consistent with NAFTA and the WTO, and recognized that it was important under these circumstances for trade not to contract and for countries to work together to address that."

Clinton's Bluntness on North Korea: Staying abroad, NBC's Andrea Mitchell reports from Asia, following Secretary of State Hillary Clinton: Clinton is trying to reinvent the role of Secretary of State -- surprising reporters on her plane and a lot of diplomats yesterday by talking plainly, even if it wasn't exactly diplomatic. Asked today why she had been so blunt about North Korea's ailing leader Kim Jong Il, she said, "I don't think it's a forbidden subject to talk about succession in the Hermit Kingdom. ...To worry about something that is so self-evident is an impediment to clear thinking." It does mark a change from the usual diplomatese.

She's been getting a rock star reception -- just take a look at what happened in Jakarta when she waded into a poor neighborhood to look at a water sanitization project and was mobbed. But she also fielded questions on balancing love and a career. She runs the risk becoming a Dear Abby of secretaries of state. On the docket today is Beijing. Clinton says she will focus on the global economy, on climate change, and on a range of security issues like North Korea. Some human rights groups are complaining already that she is downplaying their concerns to play up to the Chinese.

The Washington Post rounds up Clinton's trip to Asia by framing it as an international "listening tour."

In Israel, NBC's Yael Factor reports that the office of President Shimon Peres said in a statement today that right-wing leader Benjamin Netanyahu will be asked to form the next Israeli government. The Likud party leader would meet the head of state at 2:15, to receive a formal invitation to form an administration. He would then have six weeks to forge a coalition cabinet.

Netanyahu told Peres he understood the need for unity government, and that he's willing to go far in order to establish such a government."

After the round heard round the Web and (by cable gawkers), "It seems like everyone -- even those who don't own a home -- has an opinion about whether the country should spend $75 billion to let strapped homeowners refinance at lower interest rates," the New York Daily News reports. 

"President Obama's massive housing bailout plan ignited a furious national debate yesterday, with advocates calling it a godsend and critics demanding to know why homeowners who pay their mortgages on time should subsidize those who don't," the New York Post writes.

Video: CNBC's Rick Santelli and Steve Liesman debate housing plan and the continuing slump on Wall Street.

TODAY had on CNBC ranter Rick Santelli to debate the merits with colleague Steve Liesman, who penned a favorable review of Obama's plan yesterday in the New York Daily News. Pressed for real solutions, Santelli offered none.

Meanwhile, the New York Times' David Brooks reluctantly endorses what the Obama folks are doing. "Actually executing this is a near-impossible task. Looking at the auto, housing and banking bailouts, we're getting a sense of how the propeller heads around Obama operate. They try to put together programs that are bold, but without the huge interventions in the market implied by, say, nationalization. They're balancing so many cross-pressures, they often come up with technocratic Rube Goldberg schemes that alter incentives in lots of medium and small ways. Some economists argue that the plans are too ineffectual, others that they are too opaque (estimates for the mortgage plan range from $75 billion to $275 billion and up). Personally, I hate the idea of 10 guys sitting around in the White House trying to redesign huge swaths of the U.S. economy on legal pads. But at least they seem to be driven by a spirit of moderation and restraint. They seem to be trying to keep as many market structures in place as possible so things can return to normal relatively smoothly."

Following a coalition of liberal groups' issue ads, a conservative group counters (really late, by the way) with an anti-stimulus ad that invokes... Jesus: "Suppose you spent $1 million every single day starting from the day Jesus was born -- and kept spending through today. A million dollars a day for more than 2,000 years. You would still have spent less money than Congress just did." 

Politico compares the stimulus debate to the 1990s. "During the presidential campaign, Candidate Obama told voters that he did not want to 'refight the battles of the 1990s.' Apparently, Congress did not get the memo."

About a year after the New York Times ran a lengthy piece that in a clause alluded to an affair McCain advisers were worried he was having with lobbyist Vicky Iseman, the Times runs this statement to readers in a settlement with Iseman: "An article published on February 21, 2008, about Senator John McCain and his record as an ethics reformer who was at times blind to potential conflicts of interest included references to Vicki Iseman, a Washington lobbyist. The article did not state, and The Times did not intend to conclude, that Ms. Iseman had engaged in a romantic affair with Senator McCain or an unethical relationship on behalf of her clients in breach of the public trust."

Reportedly, no cash exchanged hands. Here's the joint statement from the Times and Iseman's lawyers and one solely from her attorneys.

Per its filing to the Federal Election Commission, the Republican National Committee ended the month of January with $22.8 million cash-on-hand, and raised $5.8 million last month, says RNC spokesman Alex Conant.

Meghan McCain, campaign blogger extraordinaire and daughter of Sen. John McCain, has some tough medicine for the GOP. "When I first suggested launching a blog chronicling my experience on my father's campaign for president, I was met with confusion and resistance," she writes in an entry on The Daily Beast. "A few people even asked me what's a blog." Yikes. She even explains that she thinks many in the party were and are in denial, that the biggest problem was not having enough money, not their inability to mobilize voters in the way the Obama campaign did.

More: "The Republican party isn't exactly Internet savvy. That's no secret. This has been a source of personal frustration for me for a very long time. Unless the GOP evolves as the party that can successfully utilize the Web, we'll continue to lose influence. I think nothing confirms this fact to be more true than this recent election." … Until the Republican party joins the twenty-first century and learns how to use the Internet, its members will keep getting older and the youth of America will just keep logging on to the other side."

AP does a roundup of all the ethically challenged Democrats, included in the roundup is just one line about the mess involving Democratic Rep. Jack Murtha.   

And, of course, there's Roland Burris, who Politico writes "is embracing a strategy of riding out the storm." " 'There is no way' Roland Burris is going to resign from the Senate, and he will return to Washington to vote in the Senate next week, sources close to Burris told Politico. 'There is fight in him, fight in his team,' said one associate, requesting anonymity so he could speak candidly. 'He's not resigning … because he's done absolutely nothing wrong. What would be the message if he did [resign]?'" Just sayin,' but, who's all this "I will fight" and "done absolutely nothing wrong" business sound like?

The Boston Globe continues its series on Ted Kennedy with its sixth chapter.

MINNESOTA: The latest, per the Star-Tribune: Pressing its case in the Senate election trial, Norm Coleman's campaign argued Thursday that some votes already tallied during the recount must be illegal, going by a ruling issued by the judges last week. It's a mess that only the court can fix, Coleman spokesman Ben Ginsberg said. 'There are more illegal votes in the current counts than in Al Franken's erstwhile [225-vote] lead, ... the margin in the race right now,' Ginsberg said after Thursday's proceedings."

Yesterday on Hardball, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty said this could take to the "summer or longer" and that there's "no end in sight." He said not having a senator "puts us at a disadvantage" because the big issues are being decided in Washington and Minnesota is lacking in representation. He didn't push for someone to be seated, however. And he went on to criticize the stimulus.

NEW YORK: NRSC Chair Jon Cornyn has met with and is recruiting ex-New York Gov. George Pataki to run for Senate. Meanwhile, RNC Chairman Michael Steele and Pataki will headline a March 4 fundraiser for NY-20 Republican challenger Jim Tedisco.

From NBC's Athena Jones
OTTAWA, Canada -- Snow flurries and cheering throngs greeted President Obama today, as he made his first foreign trip as president to meet Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

Some 17 Royal Canadian Mounted Police, clad in red, marched to the foot of the stairs as Obama deplaned at the airport, where he had brief meetings with several Canadian officials.

At least a thousand people waited outside Parliament to greet Obama, some holding aloft signs -- one read "Yes we CANada" -- and cheering as his motorcade pulled up a short time later. Others, including a person dressed as a polar bear, held banners demanding action on climate change.

Obama and Harper met privately and held a working lunch, where they discussed trade, the economy, restructuring the American auto industry, the war in Afghanistan, and energy and the environment before taking questions from the press.

In his opening statement at the media availability, Obama said the two countries were working closely on a bilateral basis and within the G-8 and G-20 to restore confidence in our financial markets. He also sought to ensure America's biggest trading partner -- some $1.5 billion in goods and about 300,000 people cross the border each day -- that he was not eager to renegotiate the North America Free Trade Agreement, despite his tough language during the primary fight with Hillary Clinton. And he said that he did not support projectionist action, despite the "Buy America" provisions included in the stimulus package.

"Now is a time where we've got to be very careful about any signals of protectionism," he began. "As obviously one of the largest economies in the world, it's important for us to make sure that we are showing leadership in the belief that trade ultimately is beneficial to all countries."

The president repeated earlier arguments he made in an interview this week with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, saying that he wanted labor and environmental provisions incorporated into the main body of the NAFTA deal, and that any provisions in the stimulus fit current trade agreements.
 
Obama said he had assured Harper that he wanted to grow trade and not contract it.
For his part, Harper said that trade agreements had been "nothing but beneficial" for the two countries and had led to a "massive explosion of trade" that supports millions of jobs. He argued Canada could look closely at some of the provisions in NAFTA without "unraveling what is a very complex agreement." The prime minister was equally stern when it came to discussion of the "Buy America" provisions, saying domestic preferences and purchasing policies are not allowed without limit.

"We expect the United States to adhere to its -- to its international obligations; I have every expectation, based on what the president's told me and what he said publicly many times in the past, that the United States will do just that," Harper said.

Obama thanked Canadians for their sacrifices in the war in Afghanistan and said he had not asked Harper to extend the country's troop presence past 2011. Harper said he expected the country to become more engaged with economic development in Afghanistan.

The leaders also announced a plan to cooperate on climate change by expanding clean energy research and the development of clean energy technology and by building an efficient electric grid based on renewable energy. Officials from both countries are set to meet "in the coming weeks" to launch the clean energy dialogue.

Both leaders underscored the close relationship between Canada and America, and said they expected it to grow stronger during the course of Obama's administration. Obama even took a moment to thank Canadians who had come down to campaign for him during the fall election.

After leaving Parliament, the president created another stir among locals when he made a couple of unscheduled stops at an indoor crafts market and a bakery, telling the pool of reporters following him that he was on a quest for gifts for his family, including a snow globe, a key chain, and a beaver tail (which is a deep-fried pastry popular here).

This particular beaver tail was made by a local chef who began making so-called "Obama Tails" around the time of the inauguration. The "Obama Tail" features a whipped cream "O" with chocolate drizzle. The president, known for his healthy eating and exercise habits, ate part of the pastry, telling reporters "it was very large."

Hundreds lined the president's route, some shouting "we love you" as he made his way around.

Obama met briefly with opposition leader Michael Ignatieff, who heads the Liberal Party, and spoke to U.S. Embassy employees at the airport before it was wheels up to Washington, marking the end of his third trip in as many days.