• 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.

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

• President Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao emerged from hours of intense talks today determined to marshal their combined clout on crucial issues, but still showing divisions over economic, security, and human rights issues that have long bedeviled the two powers.

• Sarah Palin told Oprah Winfrey yesterday that she doesn’t have her sights set on the 2012 presidency. She said that she’s concentrating on 2010 and making sure that there are issues to tackle

• Some American conservative commentators are seizing on President Obama’s bow to Japan’s emperor during the weekend, accusing the U.S. commander in chief of groveling to a foreign leader.

• Investors kept the stock market’s upward momentum going yesterday, sending shares sharply higher after retail sales rebounded more than expected in October and the dollar extended its slide. The Dow jumped 136 points yesterday to a new 13-month high.

• 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. 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.

• Sen. Roland Burris (D-IL) calls in at 6:30am Pacific to talk about health care reform.

• Jennifer Palmieri, Senior Vice President of Communications for the Center for American Progress, calls in at 7:05am Pacific to talk about health care reform and Obama’s speech to kids yesterday.

• Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) calls in at 8:05am Pacific to talk about health care reform.

• Comedian Hal Sparks joins us in studio at 8:05am Pacific for another edition of “Humpdays with Hal.”

• Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY) calls in at 8:30am Pacific to talk about health care reform and Obama’s speech to school kids yesterday.

• House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) said yesterday he could vote for a health care bill that lacks a public option. However, his statement differed from the insistence later yesterday by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that a public option was essential to passing a bill in the chamber.

• President Obama steered clear of politics yesterday in a pep talk to students that sparked controversy among high-strung conservatives, who accused him of trying to indoctrinate America’s children.

• Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA) held four town hall meetings in his home state yesterday. He said that there were large turnouts because people are scared about health care reform. Some booing and arguments occurred, but the overall tone was more orderly than similar health care meetings by Dem politicians.

• With the recession easing, the Federal Reserve has begun pulling back. It said that in October, it will wind down a program to buy U.S. government bonds. The central bank seeks to remove its expansive efforts to support the economy soon enough to prevent inflation but not so son that the fragile economy is quashed.

• President Obama threw a big White House party yesterday to celebrate Sonia Sotomayor as the U.S. Supreme Court’s first Latino justice. The event was packed with Sotomayor’s family and friends, lawmakers, issue advocates, Hispanic community leaders, and two of her fellow Supreme Court justices.

• President Obama awarded the nation’s highest civilian honor, the Medal of Freedom to 16 “agents of change” yesterday, highlighting their accomplishments as examples of the heights a person can reach and the difference they can make in the lives of others. Recipients included Sidney Poitier, Ted Kennedy, Billie Jean King, Stephen Hawking, and Harvey Milk.

• Rep. John Sarbanes (D-MD) calls in at 7:30am Pacific to talk about health care reform.

• Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY) calls in at 8:30am Pacific to talk about health care reform.

• Secretary of State Hillary Clinton today expressed happiness and relief at the release of two journalists, on whose behalf her husband, former President Bill Clinton, sought amnesty from North Korea. North Korea pardoned Laura Ling and Euna Lee after the former US president arrived in Pyongyang.

• After a “pep talk” from President Obama, Senate Dems said yesterday they believe Congress will pass a bipartisan health care bill this year. Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) now says the Dem senators are ready to “take on the world.”

• Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top US commander in Afghanistan, is expected to ask the Obama administration for additional troops and equipment for conducting intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance, as well as more military resources to deal with roadside bombs and explosives.

• Paula Abdul announced yesterday that she will not be returning to American Idol when the show debuts its ninth season early next year.

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

• Comedian John Fugelsang joins us in studio at 8:10am Pacific to talk about all things politics and pop culture.

• President Obama sat down for a beer at the White House last night with a top African-American professor and the police officer who arrested him earlier this month. After the meeting, Sgt. James Crowley told reporters that the men had a “cordial and productive discussion” in which they agreed to move forward rather than dwell on past events. He said they plan to meet again.

• A key Senate committee won’t vote on its compromise health care overhaul plan before the upcoming month-long August recess, giving GOP-ers and some conservative Dems their desired slowdown in congressional action on President Obama’s top domestic priority.

• According to a new CNN Poll of Polls, 54 percent of Americans approve of how President Obama is handling his duties in the White House. That’s down 7 points from late June. In the same Poll of polls, 48 percent approve of how he’s handling the economy, and 43 percent approve of his handling of health care reform.

• Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY) calls in at 8:35am Pacific to talk about the economy and the stimulus.

• CIA Director Leon Panetta recently testified to Congress that the agency concealed information and misled lawmakers repeatedly since 2001, according to a letter from seven House Democrats to Panetta made public yesterday. The letter contained no details about what information the CIA officials allegedly concealed of how they purportedly misled members of Congress.

• House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) said Tuesday he would consider supporting a second economic stimulus bill, but said people need to give the package that passed in February more time to work.

• Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) said yesterday that lawmakers still need to come up with $320 billion over the coming decade in taxes to pay for health care reform. The remaining cost of the bill would be paid for through savings in Medicare, Medicaid, and other programs.

• The leaders of the G-8 nations issued a joint statement last night expressing serious concerns about the post-election violence in Iran, as well as its continued pursuit of nuclear weapons, but the G-8 will not push for new economic sanctions or tougher enforcement of those that exist, the Obama administration announced yesterday.

• Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY) calls in at 7:30am Pacific to talk about President Obama’s first 100 days, the torture memos, Specter’s defection, the swine flu pandemic, passage of the budget.

• Comedian Hal Sparks joins us in studio for the 8am Pacific hour to hang out and to promote his show at the Irvine, CA Improv tonight, and the Hollywood, CA Improv on Friday night.

• Veteran GOP Sen. Arlen Specter disclosed plans yesterday to switch parties, bringing the Dems closer to the 60-vote supermajority they need to push President Obama’s agenda through the Senate. Specter called it a “painful decision,” and said he was disappointed by the reactions of his colleagues on the Right.

• As he enters his 100th day in office today, more than 6 in 10 Americans approve of Obama’s job, nearly two-thirds view him favorably, and a majority believe he has gotten off to a solid start during his first three months on the job, according to a new NBC News / Wall Street Journal poll.

• The toll from the swine flu epidemic appears to be stabilizing in Mexico, the health secretary said late last night, with only seven more suspected deaths. Cuba and Argentina became the first two countries to ban travel to and from Mexico outright.  The first American death from swine flu, a Texas baby, was confirmed this morning.

• Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY) calls in at 6:30am Pacific to discuss President Obama’s stimulus plan.

• Richard Greene, host of “Clout,” calls in at 8:05am Pacific to discuss the progressive celebrity focus of his radio show.

• The U.S. Senate confirmed Eric Holder as attorney general yesterday, voting 75-21 to place him in charge of the Department of Justice. His confirmation makes him the first African-American confirmed to the post, though he held the job on an acting basis in 2001.

• Republican Sen. Judd Gregg of New Hampshire has accepted President Obama’s offer to be commerce secretary and the announcement is scheduled for today. In a move that will leave the balance of the Senate unchanged, NH’s Dem governor will name a GOPer to replace Gregg.

• Dem senators stood behind Heath and Human Services Secretary-designate Tom Daschle yesterday after a closed-door session of the Senate Finance Committee on the former SD senator’s tax troubles. The committee is expected to hold a hearing on Daschle’s nomination next week.

• A group of GOP senators have drafted an alternative stimulus measure that narrows government spending to infrastructure programs and helping unemployed Americans, address the housing crisis, and relies mostly on tax cuts. Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has dismissed the idea that the GOP is trying to block passage of the Dems’ stimulus plan.