PPP says that as of this moment Mike Huckabee is the best GOP bet to beat Barack Obama. The best, mind you, not necessarily a good one. But the best.

When I go down the list, I’m inclined to agree. I don’t think Huckabee is a very strong national candidate. By rights, that should be Mitt Romney. Except that the 2012 presidential campaign will be fought over health care reform and Romney’s signature accomplishment is having passed reform in Massachusetts that was the blueprint for the one Dems passed last year. Pretty hard to head into a national campaign carrying that big a contradiction.

Ninth Circuit asks the California Supreme Court for guidance on what appears to be the key legal issue in the Proposition 8 case.

Judy Miller — now writing for Newsmax — defends her critique of Wikileaks’ Julian Assange.

Sen. Schumer (D-NY), the new messaging chief for Senate Dems, is getting behind the push to pressure anti-Health Care Reform Republicans to give up their government-provided health care like one of their number, freshman Rep. Joe Walsh (R) has already agreed to do.

Jon Stewart: Obama more Luke Skywalker than Comeback Kid. Watch.

When I first saw this report that the Saudis had taken an Israeli vulture into custody for spying I thought they were referring to a new drone aircraft. Actually, they arrested a bird.

House Republicans are about to use “deem and pass” — a.k.a., a self-executing rule — which you may recall was the same legislative mechanism they decried last year during the health care reform debate as a threat to all that is right and good about America.

The 20something Miami gun runner convicted of fraudulently repackaging old Albanian ammo as Chinese munitions and shipping them to Afghanistan under a U.S. government contract has been sentenced to four years in federal prison for the scheme.

Efraim Diveroli — allegedly recorded by the feds even after his initial arrest as saying “Once a gun runner, always a gun runner” — still faces up to 10 years in prison for possession of a firearm while he was awaiting yesterday’s sentencing.

As one of its last official acts in the old Congress, the House Ethics Committee declined to take action against any of the six Members under investigation for using their official per diems for things like souvenirs and gifts to their families. Ryan Reilly has the rundown on what the Members did with the money.

Aides to disgraced former House Majority Leader Tom Delay (R-TX) are finding their way back into staff roles in the new Republican-controlled House.