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Her fans would say she mattered in 2009, and though she certainly generated headlines, too much of the year’s Palin coverage focused on the opinions and lower

President Barack Obama (Pic by The White House, via Flickr ) According to new information, a provision in the Affordable Care Act has helped 2.5 million young adults gain health insurance since the law took effect. It was previously estimated that about 1 million young adults under the age of 26 were affected by President Obama’s health care reform law, but new reports suggest it was more than twice that number.

Things are looking good for Eric Holder, Obama’s pick for attorney general, formally announced today. In addition to the highly flattering portrait of

The newest issue of the Catholic pro-choice magazine Conscience raises several questions about the current administration’s stance on abortion-rights issues. # The recently published issue, which is a project of Catholics for Choice, is meant as a “comprehensive analysis of President Barack Obama’s prochoice record,” and the current “administration’s abysmal failure to take action on choice issues.” # Jodi Jacobsen’s article, “Is Obama Prochoice?,” highlights the differences between candidate Obama and President Obama, which the author says is akin to a “volte-face”: # As a candidate, Obama said all the right things.

Peter Wallsten reports that the conservative author who governed Alaska for 31 months will make an appearance at Fort Hood on Dec. 4. It’s less sensational than

DENVER– Veterans, state lawmakers and Democratic Party officials gathered on the capitol steps here Monday to celebrate the end of the policy known as “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” which for the last 18 years barred gay Americans from serving openly in the military. The Pentagon on Tuesday is offically lifting Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell across all branches of the armed services in accordance with legislation passed last December. At a time when nearly any issue can generate incendiary political rhetoric and gridlock Congress, the end of the controversial military policy is being lauded as a rare bipartisan victory for equality and common sense and a sign of progress in service of the nation.

If, as was reported, Gen. Stanley McChrystal and Ambassador Karl Eikenberry really were at an impasse over the question of a troop increase to Afghanistan,

In an email to supporters on Monday evening, the Minnesota Family Council (MFC) urged voters to consider incumbent Anoka-Hennepin School Board members Marci Anderson and Tom Heidemann because they support a district policy that limits discussion of LGBT issues in district schools. The policy, often dubbed the neutrality policy, is at the center of a nationwide discussion about suicide and anti-LGBT bullying and the subject of a lawsuit by six district students and their families. The family council wrote that this is a “critical election” for the board.

Senator Carl Levin (D-MI) — a strong backer of funding for the Afghan war — is among the politicians that were illegally targeted by a U.S. Army psy-ops unit at Camp Eggers in Kabul last year, according to a new report

Stevens embodies a Western spirit that encompasses conflicting views of government. He represents a state where people go to escape their past and government restrictions to find their fortune. Yet Alaska is a state heavily dependent on federal money for its infrastructure.

Though it received an intense amount of scrutiny and was branded as an “incredible faux pas,” Michele Bachmann’s remark that she wouldn’t be opposed to drilling for oil in the Everglades isn’t going away. In fact, the GOP presidential candidate is going even further with her claims, arguing that only “radical environmentalists” would oppose drilling in the Everglades.

Tom Jensen of Public Policy Polling sent out some explanatory tweets last night about a coming survey of South Carolina voters, asking them what they thought of

A concentrated oil burn in the Gulf of Mexico, conducted in May 2010 (Pic by Deepwater Horizon Response, via Flickr) Though BP has continued to deny that any of its gulf wells are leaking oil, a large-scale oil slick reported in the area is worrying Gulf Coast watchdogs. Concerns abound that the oil could spell trouble for area fisheries, especially since reports of dead dolphins have persisted in recent days. Since Tropical Storm Lee recently made landfall in the Gulf Coast region, tar balls have started washing up on the shores of Louisiana all the way to Florida

My friend Steve Gordon posts Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Environment Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment, a nine-page

For a few months, I’ve been following the efforts of the unemployed -- specifically the long-term unemployed, and especially the 99ers, who have exhausted the

The governor-turned-Fox News pundit tells Greta Van Susteren that she’s still headlining the embattled National Tea Party Convention next week. Oh, you betcha

AMES — Tensions reached their apex Thursday night during the Fox News/Washington Examiner GOP presidential debate, sending Republican enthusiasm through the roof with less than 48 hours until the Ames Straw Poll gates open Saturday. Debate topics were typical: conflict in the Middle East, American’s floundering economy, immigration, states’ rights, and of course, hot button social issues

A pollution warning sign along the Caloosahatchee River (Pic by Florida Water Coalition) Testifying on behalf of the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (aka DACS) yesterday, Rich Budell, director of the Office of Agricultural Water Policy, said that a set of federally mandated water pollution standards would have a “devastating” impact on the Florida economy. Environmentalists say the EPA’s numeric nutrient criteria would help alleviate algal blooms and fish kills that overtake many state waterways. Affected industries, however, see it differently — arguing that the cost of the criteria would far outweigh the benefits.

Moments before members of the Iowa House voted to institute new criminal penalties for those involved in undercover sting operations at agricultural facilities, U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin cautioned that such penalties don’t appear to be in the public’s best interest