Holly Bailey

Here's more evidence that independents will be the voting bloc to watch ahead of next year's 2010 midterms: for the first time in seven years—and more important, this election cycle—a new Gallup poll finds Republicans narrowly leading Democrats in the so-called generic congressional ballot.

To no one's surprise, the Club for Growth today endorsed Marco Rubio in the GOP primary for Florida's open Senate seat. The move, which had been rumored for weeks, comes just a few days after the club ran an ad attacking Gov.

You knew it was coming. A day after Charlie Crist told CNN's Wolf Blitzer that he "didn't endorse" the $787 billion federal stimulus bill, Club for Growth is up with an ad featuring TV footage of the Florida governor onstage with President Obama earlier this year praising the bill. "We know it's important to pass this stimulus package," Crist said at a joint rally with Obama in early February, a clip that opens up the club's ad.

There are many things to love about New York Magazine's cover story on Nancy Pelosi this week: the very prominent photo of Pelosi with Obama just over the House speaker's left shoulder in the lead photograph; how she takes only the stairs in the Capitol, forcing her aides and security detail to huff and puff up and down them all day long; and how she was shocked—shocked—that CIA types were upset when she suggested the agency had lied to Congress about waterboarding.

    Ahhh, to be a former president. While we were all consumed with the outcome of the 2009 elections, George W. Bush was overseas in Tokyo, throwing out the first pitch at Japan's equivalent of the World Series.

GOP sweep? Not exactly. In one of the few bright spots Tuesday night for Democrats, Bill Owens narrowly defeated Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman in New York's closely watched 23rd Congressional District.

A major story tonight is how independent voters turned out strongly for Republicans this Election Day, a not-so-encouraging sign that Democrats have lost touch with a voting bloc considered pivotal to Barack Obama's win in 2008 and the party's recapture of Congress in 2006.

The Atlantic's Chris Good has an interesting breakdown on who spent what on New York's hotly contested 23rd congressional district race. The big news: the Club for Growth spent more than $1 million in support of Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman.

The GOP is gaining in 2010, but it's no landslide.

For the congenitally sunny Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, these have been dark days. Polls have shown his Republican Senate primary contest against Marco Rubio tightening.

    You've gotta hand it to Nancy Pelosi: She is queen of the photo op. Four days after Harry Reid unveiled his version of health-care reform in a windowless room deep inside the U.S. Capitol, Pelosi chose perhaps the most dramatic setting in Washington to make her own health-care pitch: the west front steps of the Capitol building.

Politico's Jonathan Martin has a good story today about an Iowa conservative group's efforts to lure Sarah Palin to a fundraising dinner in Des Moines next month.

Guess who's finally joining the administration? At the White House today, President Obama will announce that he's naming former GOP Sen. Chuck Hagel as cochair of the President's Intelligence Advisory Board, which oversees the intel community.

Remember those rumors that Sarah Palin was asking for an $11 million book advance for her upcoming autobiography? Well, she didn't get that much. According to a newly-filed financial-disclosure form, the former Alaska governor was given a $1.25 million advance for Going Rogue.

Writing in The Huffington Post this morning, Democratic strategist Peter Daou laments the fact that liberal bloggers aren't getting any love for their role in pressing Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to include the so-called public option in the Senate's health-care legislation. "Don't hold your breath waiting to read about the netroots' pivotal role in forcing the inclusion of a public option," Daou writes. "It's just not the way things work in our current media and political world.

  With just under a month to go before it's released to the masses, Sarah Palin's upcoming autobiography, Going Rogue, has already been near the top of Amazon's bestseller list for weeks.

  Annie Leibovitz has been spending a lot of time at the White House lately, and now we know why. The famed photographer, in the headlines lately for drama over her personal finances, shot the official Obama family portrait, which was posted on the White House's Flickr account this morning.

Forget President Obama's basketball skills. Check out this photo of Michelle Obama playing double Dutch at the White House yesterday. And that's not all she did.

Tim Kaine used to be Obama's heir apparent. Then he was named DNC chair.

It's no secret that Rep. Joe Wilson's "You lie!" outburst turned into major cash cow for the South Carolina Republican and his Democratic opponent Rob Miller, but we're now learning more details on exactly how many millions those two words generated in the race and where that money came from.

When Sarah Palin resigned as governor of Alaska last summer, it seemed she was finally taking the advice of many political professionals and retreating from the spotlight to rebuild her brand and find her message.

Here's a record John Edwards probably won't brag about: a new Gallup poll finds the two-time Democratic presidential hopeful, who has been caught up in personal drama over an affair with a former campaign worker, has suffered the single biggest slide in public opinion ever recorded for a prominent public figure in consecutive polling.

This week in The Weekly Obsession: GOP Sen. Olympia Snowe. She was the only Republican to vote in favor of the Senate Finance Committee's health care bill this week, a decision that not only irked many in her party but set off a literal Snowe-storm, heh heh, of really, really bad puns. Snowe day, Snowe job, Snowe patrol: Seriously people. Make. It. Stop. Here's the latest clip from Newsweek's amazing Sarah Frank.

It's no secret that Harry Reid is in trouble in Nevada. For months, the Senate Majority Leader's approval ratings back home have been in the dumps. A poll conducted last week for the Las Vegas Review Journal found Reid with a paltry 38 percent approval rating, down more than 15 points since he won re-election back in 2004.

Look out Tom DeLay. Here's video of President Obama getting his salsa on with Mexican pop star Thalia at the Fiesta Latina concert held Tuesday night at the White House. Our verdict: Not bad—but he's no Hillary Clinton.

For weeks, New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine has been slyly playing up the fact that his GOP opponent Chris Christie is—how can we put it delicately?—a very big man.

From health-care reform to Afghanistan, Joe Biden has bucked Obama—as only a good Veep can.

Does the world feel a little more empty today? Last night Tom DeLay called it quits on Dancing With the Stars after he decided he just couldn't weather the pain of having stress fractures in both his feet. "If you can't practice, you make a fool of yourself out there," he told viewers last night.

  When President Obama received his copy of Gen. Stanley McChrystal's Afghanistan assessment last month, one of the first questions posed to the White House was how long it would take Obama to decide whether he'd send additional troops into the region. "Weeks," White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters.

If there's one thing that they really, really love on Dancing With the Stars, it's the suspense. And when we say love, we mean torture you until you almost want to change the channel back to Gossip Girl, which, to be honest, is what we'd rather be watching anyway.