• Rep. Ron Kind (D-WI) calls in at 7:33am Pacific to talk about health care reform, the economy, and yesterday’s elections.

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

• Republicans won gubernatorial races in Virginia and New Jersey yesterday, two states that had backed President Obama last year. Dem Bill Owens beat Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman in upstate New York. Opponents of gay marriage claimed a victory in Maine, but voters approved an “everything but marriage” law in Washington State that greatly expands the rights of gay couples.

• In a blow to the White House, Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) signaled yesterday that Congress may fail to meet a year-end deadline for passing health care legislation, leaving the measure’s fate to the uncertainties of the 2010 election season.

• Republicans boycotted the start of committee debate yesterday on a bill to curb greenhouse gases, protesting that the bill’s costs have not been fully examined. The action put a spotlight on the difficulties Dem leaders face in moving climate legislation this year.

• House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-SC) calls in at 6:35am Pacific to talk about health care reform.

• Karl Frisch, Senior Fellow at Media Matters for America, calls in at 7:05am Pacific to help us with Right Wing World.

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

• The Senate Finance Committee yesterday rejected two amendments to include a government-run public health insurance option in the only compromise health care bill so far. The amendments were opposed by all 10 GOP-ers on the committee and a few Dems, including committee chairman Sen. Max Baucus of Montana.

• A powerful earthquake in the South Pacific hurled a massive tsunami at the shores of Samoa and American Samoa, flattening villages and sweeping cars and people out to sea, leaving at least 99 dead and dozens missing.

• The U.S. is speeding up its military withdrawal from Iraq, sending 4,000 more troops home next month. The reduced number of troops in Iraq marks the latest U.S. step in winding down the six-year war.

• Rep. Ron Kind (D-WI) calls in at 6:05am Pacific to talk about health care reform.

• Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ) calls in at 8:30am Pacific to talk about health care reform.

• House Dem leaders conceded yesterday that concerns raised by fiscally Conservative Blue Dog Democrats will prevent the chamber from voting on a health care reform bill before the August recess begins at the end of the week.

• A senior administration official said Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Sgt. James Crowley of the Cambridge, MA Police Department will be visiting the White House on Thursday. The meeting among the three men will take place at 6pm.

• Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, announced yesterday that he will not vote to confirm Judge Sonia Sotomayor for the Supreme Court. The committee is expected to vote today on Sotomayor’s confirmation.

• Michael Jackson’s personal doctor administered the powerful anesthetic Propofol to help him sleep, and authorities believe the drug is what killed the pop singer, a law enforcement official told the AP yesterday. On June 25, the day Jackson died, Dr. Conrad Murray gave him the drug sometime after midnight, the official said.

• Rep. Ron Kind (D-WI) calls in at 7:30am Pacific to talk to us about the president’s health care reform press conference last night.

• Eric Boehlert, Senior Fellow at Media Matters for America, calls in at 8:30am Pacific to talk about “Birthers,” people who are still demanding to see President Obama’s birth certificate.

• President Obama sought last night to rally support for sweeping health care legislation he’s struggling to push through Congress, expressing support for a surtax on families making more than $1 million a year to help pay for it. He also vowed to reject any measure “primarily funded through taxing middle-class families.”

• Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) announced yesterday he plans to vote for Supreme Court nominee Judge Sonia Sotomayor, bucking the views of most of his conservative GOP colleagues. Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ) and Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss) announced yesterday that they plan to oppose the judge.

• The Senate yesterday narrowly rejected a controversial measure to allow people to carry concealed weapons from state to state. The measure would have required each of the 48 states that currently allow concealed firearms to honor permits issued in other states.

• Outgoing Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is rejecting allegations she broke state ethics laws by letting supporters set up a legal defense fund for her.

• Rep. Ron Kind (D-WI) calls in at 7:30am Pacific to talk about health care reform.

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

• House Dems put their divisions on display over the details and timing of health care legislation yesterday despite fresh attempts by President Obama to hasten a compromise on the issue that looms increasingly as a major test of his clout. President Obama will hold a news conference on the issue tonight at 8pm Eastern.

• An Associated Press poll shows that a majority of Americans are back to thinking that the country is headed in the wrong direction. While President Obama still has a solid 55% approval rating, 54% think the country is going in the wrong direction, up from 46% in June.

• The Senate Judiciary Committee put off its vote yesterday on Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor for one week amid objections from the panel’s conservative GOP-ers, even as Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) became the latest GOP-er to publicly commit to voting for Sotomayor.

• Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV), the longest serving senator in history, returned to the chamber yesterday after being absent for more than two months due to illness.

• Rep. Ron Kind (D-WI) calls in at 7:30am Pacific to talk about health care reform.

• Penn Jillette calls in at 8:05am Pacific to talk about the new season of “Penn & Teller: Bullsh**” on Showtime

• Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) calls in at 8:30am Pacific to talk about movement on the energy reform bill.

• South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford (R), just back from a secret trip to Argentina unknown to his staff or his wife, admitted yesterday he has carried on an extramarital affair with a woman in Buenos Aires. In a press conference yesterday, Sanford apologized to his wife and 4 sons, his staff and supporters, and said he would resign immediately as the head of the Republican Governors’ Association.

• A ceremony today to remember the victims of Iran’s post-election protests has been postponed – a day after security forces crushed a planned demonstration with a show of force. The event has been postponed for a week, but no specific rescheduled date was given.

• President Obama took his case for major health care reform to the airwaves last night in a nationally televised health care forum while congressional negotiators tackled numerous proposals relating to coverage and cost control.