• Rep. Chris Murphy (D-CT) calls in at 6:30am Pacific to talk about health care reform.

• Humorist Charlie Pierce , author of “Idiot America” calls in at 7:30am Pacific to riff on the news of the day.

• Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) calls in at 8:30am Pacific to talk about health care reform.

• Health care legislation heading to the Senate floor will give millions of Americans the option of purchasing government-run insurance coverage, Majority Leader Harry Reid announced yesterday. Reid said individual states would have the choice of opting out of the program.

• The government will release figures this week expected to show that the economy has emerged from its recession and is in the early stages of recovery. But the following week, the government will issue another set of figures expected to show unemployment continuing to rise toward and possibly above a clearly recessionary 10 percent.

• An al-Qaida linked group claimed responsibility for the twin suicide bombings in the heart of Baghdad that killed at least 155 people ahead of January’s elections.

• Rep. John Larson (D-CT), Chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, calls in at 7:30am Pacific to talk about health care reform and the economy.

• Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY) calls in at 8:05am Pacific to talk about health care reform and the public option.

• Health care legislation shepherded by Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) would expand coverage to 94% of all eligible Americans at a 10-year cost of $829 billion, congressional budget experts said yesterday, a preliminary estimate likely to power the measure past a major hurdle within days. The CBO added the measure would reduce federal deficits by $81 Billion over a decade.

• House Republicans failed yesterday for a third time to oust Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-NY) as chairman of the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee. Rangel is under investigation by the House Ethics Committee for his financial and fundraising activities.

• Opposition to President Obama’s health care overhaul has dropped dramatically in a matter of weeks, the latest AP poll has found. The public is split 40-40 on supporting or opposing the health care legislation. An even split is welcome news for Dems, as sharp improvement from September, when 49% said they opposed the Congressional proposals and just 34% supported them.

• Comedian Will Durst calls in at 6:30am Pacific to do a little bipartisan bashing and to promote his upcoming gigs in Washington, DC.

• Eric Boehlert, Senior Fellow at Media Matters for America, calls in at 7:05am Pacific to give us even more info about the Birthers.

• Rep. Chris Murphy (D-CT) calls in at 7:30am Pacific to talk about health care reform.

• Judge Sonia Sotomayor is expected to easily win Senate confirmation today as two more Republicans, Sen. Kit Bond of Missouri and Sen. Judd Gregg of New Hampshire, announced their support for the country’s first Hispanic high court pick.

• President Obama announced yesterday that the federal government will provide $2.4 billion in grants for the development of more fuel-efficient, battery-powered automobiles. Obama’s announcement was the latest in a series of administration initiatives designed to accelerate a nationwide transition to a “green economy.”

• Former U.S. Rep. William Jefferson of Louisiana was convicted yesterday on 11 of the 16 corruption charges against him in a case that included the discovery of $90,000 in his freezer. A federal court jury convicted Jefferson on four bribery counts, three counts of money laundering, three counts of wire fraud, and one count of racketeering.