MOE LANE: Looking at the Cook Competitive Race Chart.

“EMPOWERING CONSUMERS” — with a tax hike?

STIMULUS! FHA runs low on cash, fueling bailout concerns. “The Federal Housing Administration, which propped up the collapsing housing market last year, acknowledged yesterday that it has drained its cash reserves to dangerously low levels, heightening concerns that it might need a taxpayer bailout.”

GALLUP: Majority Say Health Care Not Government Responsibility. “More Americans now say it is not the federal government’s responsibility to make sure all Americans have healthcare coverage (50%) than say it is (47%). This is a first since Gallup began tracking this question, and a significant shift from as recently as three years ago, when two-thirds said ensuring healthcare coverage was the government’s responsibility.”

Americans seem to be becoming steadily more libertarian. Thank you, Barack!

MICHAEL BARONE LOOKS AT THE POLLS and finds more bad Democratic numbers. Republicans shouldn’t take too much comfort from this, though, as the elections are still a year away. If they want to win, they’ll have to work.

But I liked this: “Dodd’s approval numbers look a lot like those of defeated New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine.”

THE TURKISH ARMY WOULDN’T HAVE DITHERED OVER NIDAL HASSAN: “In most Muslim countries, the military would not dither over the issue. In Turkey, for example, the armed forces impose a strictly secular ethos on their personnel. Over the years, scores of stealthy Islamists have been identified and unceremoniously booted out for trying to proselytize fellow soldiers and generally undermine the army’s values.”

AT TAXPROF: 100%+ Implicit Marginal Tax Rates. Hope and change!

ISN’T SUGGESTING THAT HOOKING UP IS “DEGRADING TO WOMEN,” kinda, you know, sexist?

SHELVING HEIDEGGER’S WORKS next to Mein Kampf.

MICKEY KAUS: “Am I the only one who smells Kabuki in the reports that President Obama has dramatically rejected all the Afghan war options with which he was presented, demanding to know where the ‘off ramps’ are? If you were about to recommend a troop increase that was unpopular, especially with your Democratic base, wouldn’t you precede it with some drama like this to demonstrate that you are a) in charge, b) not being conned, and c) insistent on a withdrawal as quickly as possible? Just asking.”

FEDS MOVE AGAINST Iranian mosques in the United States.

JAMES PETHOKOUKIS: Sinking Dem polls force Stimulus 2.0.

Get ready for Stimulus 2.0 — Extreme Jobs Edition. Yes, the U.S. labor market is slowly healing. The declining number of monthly job losses and weekly initial unemployment claims show that. Yet President Obama still felt the need to announce a ‘jobs summit’ at the White House next month.

That’s compelling evidence that the White House doesn’t believe the job market is mending nearly fast enough to keep unemployment from trending higher — or Democratic electoral prospects in 2010 from trending lower.

The summit is likely a table setter for Obama to announce Stimulus 2.0 (though he surely won’t use the word ’stimulus’) at his State of the Union address in January. Indeed, Harry Reid is already cooking up a plan in the Senate.

A payroll-tax holiday would do more good, but I suppose it doesn’t offer sufficient opportunities for graft.

WHITE HOUSE COUNSEL GREG CRAIG pushed out, replaced by Anita Dunn’s husband.

I’LL START MY DIET TOMORROW: Politico: After spending binge, White House says it will focus on deficits.

CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER ON THE MEDIA: Explaining Away Mass Murder.

STATES IN FISCAL PERIL AND STATES THAT VOTED FOR OBAMA: Michael Silence notes the overlap.

CHARLES RANGEL UPDATE:

Rangel, meanwhile, has attracted criticism in recent weeks for lining his campaign coffers with donations from those on both sides of the contentious rum-tax issue.

Contributions to Rangel from the Virgin Islands totaled more than $167,000 between 1999 and 2008, and more than half of that — $84,800 — was given during the 2007-08 election cycle, just as the islands were finalizing the deal to relocate Diageo’s rum operations.

Since Puerto Ricans found out about the deal, their giving to Rangel also has shot up. Puerto Rico now ranks second only to New York this cycle in places from which Rangel has collected contributions, according to CQMoneyLine and a report in The Washington Times. Donors in Puerto Rico have written $36,600 in checks to Rangel this cycle.

Rangel, who is under investigation by the ethics committee for unrelated charges of financial violations, has denied taking sides in the rum-tax dispute and has not indicated whether he will consider moving Pierluisi’s bill.

He’s not taking sides. At least, not as long as both sides donate to him . . . .

DAVID BERNSTEIN on Joe Klein’s latest tantrum.

CHRIS DODD UPDATE: Poll: Chris Dodd In Trouble. “Perhaps the real story is about President Obama. According to poll director Douglas Schwartz, PhD, ‘Barack Obama is still popular with independents, but voters say that his support of Dodd won’t affect their Senate vote.’ While Obama’s personal popularity remains high, it doesn’t appear he’s able to nudge candidates up in the polls. Despite endorsing and campaigning for New Jersey governor Jon Corzine, Republican Chris Christie still won handily. A last-ditch effort to help Creigh Deeds in Virginia had no visible impact on Republican Bob McDonnell’s blow-out victory.”

MARK HEMINGWAY: NYT dishonestly distances Biden from alleged corruption. “What happened here is clear — Joe Biden advocated policies in Iraq that his adviser Galbraith also advocated. Galbraith profited handsomely off those policies through close ties to oil companies. Does anyone think that if this story were about an adviser to Dick Cheney profiteering as a nexus between powerful politicians and oil companies that the paper would dishonestly obscure the relationship between the two men?”

CHANGE: Home-Purchase Index in U.S. Plunges to Lowest Level Since 2000. It’s all about regime uncertainty. “Mortgage applications to purchase homes in the U.S. plunged last week to the lowest level in almost nine years as Americans waited for the outcome of deliberations to extend a government tax credit.” While the government dithers over how to jump-start the housing market, the uncertainty created by that dithering kills it . . . .

IS CHAMPAGNE STILL GLAMOROUS WHEN YOU DRINK IT OUT OF A CAN? In a word, no.

FACEBOOK PROVIDES an alibi.

CLAYTON CRAMER: Mayor Daley Blames Fort Hood on Guns, Not Islam. “If this wasn’t such a dreadfully serious matter, it would almost be funny watching Democrats insist that there’s no elephant in the bathtub.”

ANDREW BREITBART: ACORN: The L.A. Story, Part I. Andrew met them. They were unprepared for a confrontation. “In short, the ACORN story is far from over. There are more videos to come next week. You’ve seen the Baltimore story, the Philadelphia story, the New York story. Now you will know about the LA story.”

UPDATE: Related: Carnahans’ Ties To Acorn.