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• Will Toomey or won't he? Aaron Blake is following the possible primary challenge to Sen. Arlen Specter.


• Now Norm Coleman's supporters get heartburn, too: Their private info may soon be all over the Web.


• Newt Gingrich floats the establishment of a "Healthcare Network Authority."


• Want to debate the card-check bill? See what politicos have to say about the Employee Free Choice Act on the Congress Blog.


• Hot topic sparks discussion at the Pundits Blog: A.B. Stoddard on why Mitt Romney looks "like a man among boys."


• Hot off the Hill, too: Become a fan over at The Hill Facebook page.

Bipartisanship is a "fiction of politics," Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairman Michael Steele said in an interview released Wednesday.

Steele told conservative columnist Cal Thomas that bipartisanship is a "is a fiction of politics...an idea people work toward, but the reality is something else" in an interview last Thursday that was published today.

"Having a photo-op with a bunch of Republicans, inviting them to have a beer with you, or watch a football game is great theater, but when you don't take our suggestions seriously...you're not serious about bipartisanship," Steele said, accusing the Obama administration of only going through the motions in their outreach to the GOP.

Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) defended his decision to turn down approximately $100 million in federal stimulus funding for his state of Louisiana Wednesday, saying the cash would inevitably cause the state to raise taxes on businesses which he said isn

A new "Healthcare Network Authority" could be necessary to oversee the healthcare system and compel healthy behavior, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) argued Wednesday.

Appearing before a Michigan state Senate committee, Gingrich emphasized the need for healthcare companies to have more latitude to reward healthy behavior -- or, alternatively, punish unhealthy behavior.

In his appearance, Gingrich called for the establishment of a "Healthcare Network Authority" that would "administer regulations, define standards, settle financial accounts, arbitrate discrepancies and assess fines and penalties within the legislative framework that places the importance of the Healthcare System above any Participant or groups of Participants."

Gingrich told Michigan lawmakers that reforming healthcare in that state would need to focus on curbing unhealthy behavior like smoking or encouraging mandatory exercise for children, according to the Detroit Free Press.

According to a prepared handout by Gingrich, such an authority "would use reimbursement rates, pricing, penalties and/or payment terms to incent Participant behavior for not only compliance but to continually enhance and enrich the Network to identify and tackle new forms of fraud, waste, abuse and administrative cost."

The Obama administration missed an opportunity to stake out a bold policy on earmarks by agreeing to the omnibus spending package, Obama's one-time opponent, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), declared Wednesday.

"The President's rhetoric is impressive, but his statement affirms we will continue to do business as usual in Washington regarding earmarks in appropriations legislation," McCain in a statement following the announcement of a strategy by President Obama to curb earmarks. "This is an opportunity missed.

Freshman Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) may not yet be used to voting on the scores of symbolic resolutions the House passes each session.

Via Twitter, the congressman expressed incredulity that he'd be voting for "Pi Day," commemorating the March 14th holiday whose date resembles the numercal value of the mathematical figure pi (3.14159265...)

"Actually going to vote on supporting 'Pi Day,'" Chaffetz tweeted. "Yes, as in 3.14. I have nothing against Pi, but hard to believe we have to vote on this."

President Barack Obama laid out his plan for earmark reform Wednesday morning, saying Congress must do more so future earmarks "have a legitimate and worthy public purpose."

The president's speech comes as he prepares to sign a $410 billion omnibus spending bill that passed through Congress on Tuesday. That bill includes 8,500 spending projects introduced by legislators that are commonly referred to as earmarks. Obama has come under criticism from Republicans for pledging to sign the measure in spite of vowing to fight earmarks during his presidential campaign last year.

Obama's reforms are five-fold. First, Obama said lawmakers must post their spending projects on their websites "so the public and the press can examine them and judge their merit for themselves." Second, those earmarks must also be open to scrutiny at public hearings, Obama said.

Third, earmarks that go to for-profit private companies would be subject to a competitive bidding contract structure like the one used for other federal contracts. Obama called earmarks that go to private companies the "single most corrupting element of this practice."

"Private companies differ from the public entities that Americans rely on every day Read more...

The Texas House of Representatives is scheduled to vote on a resolution this week that honors former President George W. Bush.

The Obama administration is "hyperfocused" on the economy and is not being distracted by other issues, Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) argued Wednesday.

"I got to tell you: from where I sit, it feels like the White House is singularly focused on the economy," McCaskill said during an appearance on "Morning Joe" this morning. "It feels like, from Congress, that they are hyperfocused on just the economy."

Republicans have accused the administration of having been unfocused during its first 50 days in office. On Sunday, House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.) accused the administration of creating a "distraction" from the economy by lifting a ban on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research.

"People need to remember: this is the beginning of a new government," McCaskill asserted, while acknowledging there may be a "modest perception problem" in the gamut of issues the administration has tried to tackle.

The Missouri Senator also pushed back against suggestions by House Democratic leaders that a second stimulus package may be necessary. "I think it's way too early to talk about a second stimulus," she said.

Watch a video of the appearance below:

MoveOn.org, the liberal political action group, is launching the opening shot at the health insurance industry on Wednesday with the release of a television ad.

The ad portrays patients in a waiting room of a hospital and suggests that insurance companies view patients as piles of money.