• Christian Weller, economist with the Center for American Progress, calls in at 7:05am Pacific to update us on jobs, the economy, and holiday retail sales.

• Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY) calls in at 8:05am Pacific to defend The Bronx, and to talk about health care reform and Afghanistan.

• Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA) calls in at 8:30am Pacific to talk about health care reform, Afghanistan, and the cops that were killed in his district.

• Unflinching on a critical first test, Senate Dems closed ranks yesterday behind $460 billion in politically risky Medicare cuts at the heart of health care reform legislation, thwarting a GOP attempt to doom President Obama’s sweeping overhaul. The Senate also backed a guarantee for all insured women age 40 and older to receive mammograms with no out-of-pocket costs.

• President Obama promised at a White House jobs forum yesterday to take “every responsible step to accelerate job creation,” including some ideas he said could be put into action quickly. He cited an expanded program to make more U.S. homes energy efficient as an example.

• The White House as authorized an expansion of the CIA’s drone program in Pakistan’s tribal areas, paralleling President Obama’s decision to send more troops to Afghanistan.

• Lorie Van Auken, 9/11 Widow and one of the “Jersey Girls,” calls in at 7:30am Pacific to talk about the ongoing debate about closing Gitmo and moving the trials to New York.

• John Fugelsang joins us from the NYC Bureau at 8:05am Eastern for another edition of “Fridays With Fugelsang.”

• Digging in for a long struggle, GOP senators and governors assailed the Dems’ newly minted health care legislation yesterday as a collection of tax increases, Medicare cuts, and heavy new burdens for deficit-ridden states. Sen. Reid has scheduled an initial test vote for Saturday evening and full debate is expected to begin after Thanksgiving.

• Defense Secretary Robert Gates is putting former U.S. Army Secretary Togo West and former Navy chief Vernon Clark in charge of a broad Pentagon review of the circumstances surrounding the Fort Hood shootings. The 45 day review will look into gaps in how the military identifies service members who might be a threat to others.

• “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” an iconic broadcast that grew over two decades into a daytime television powerhouse and the foundation of a media empire, will end its run in 2011 after 25 seasons on the air. Winfrey plans to announce the final date for her show during a live broadcast today.

• Christian Weller, economist with The Center for American Progress, calls in at 7:05am Pacific to give us an update on the economy.

• John Fugelsang joins us in studio at 8:05am Pacific for “Fridays With Fugelsang.”

• Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY) calls in at 8:30am Pacific to talk about health care reform, the economy, and texting while driving.

• Military officials are starting today to piece together what may have pushed an Army psychiatrist trained to help soldiers in distress to turn on his comrades in a shooting rampage that killed 13 people and wounded 30 at Ft. Hood, Texas. The suspected shooter, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, is on a ventilator and unconscious in a hospital after being shot four times by military police.

• Chanting “Kill the bill,” thousands of conservatives rallied at the Capitol yesterday against health care reform. “This bill is the greatest threat to freedom that I have ever seen,” House GOP leader John Boehner told the crowd.

• A drop in unemployment claims gave investors new reason to be optimistic about the economy and sent the Dow jumping by over 200 points to close above 10,000 yesterday.

• Rep. Tim Ryan (D-OH) calls in at 7:05am Pacific to talk about health care reform and the economy.

• Rep. Bruce Braley (D-IA) calls in at 8:05am Pacific to talk about health care reform and the economy.

• Former Vice President Dick Cheney last night accused the White House of “dithering” over the strategy for the war in Afghanistan and urged President Obama to “do what it takes to win.” Cheney said that signals of indecision out of DC “hurt our allies and embolden our adversaries.”

• President Obama unveiled plans yesterday to refocus spending of the government’s $700 billion financial bailout away from Wall Street’s big financial institutions and toward small businesses. He announced initiatives that would make it easier for smaller community banks to provide credit to small businesses.

• Dems launched a drive at both ends of the Capitol yesterday to strip the insurance industry of its decades-old exemption from federal antitrust laws. The change would put an end to “price-fixing, bid-rigging, and market allocation in the health and medical malpractice” insurance areas.

• Christian Weller, Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress, calls in at 7:05am Pacific to talk about the economy and housing crisis.

• Rep. John Yarmuth (D-KY) calls in at 7:30am Pacific to talk about the health care crisis and the rebuke of Rep. Joe Wilson.

• Comedian Hal Sparks joins us in studio at 8:05am Pacific to talk about all things politics and pop culture.

• Former President Jimmy Carter said yesterday that Rep. Joe Wilson’s outburst to President Obama during a speech to Congress last week was an act “based on racism” and rooted in fears of a black president.

• The House formally rebuked Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) yesterday for shouting “You lie!” at President Obama during last week’s nationally televised speech. Lawmakers thought Wilson had violated basic rules of decorum and civility in his outburst.

• ABC News says it was wrong for its employees to Tweet that President Obama had called Kanye West a “jackass” for the rapper’s treatment of country singer Taylor Swift. ABC said some of its employees overheard a conversation between the president and CNBC and didn’t realize the conversation was off the record.