Palin to Oprah: Levi Johnston Pursuing ‘Porn’ Career; ‘I Pray for Levi’

ABC News’ Rick Klein reports:

We wrote last week that, based on the initial clip distributed by Oprah Winfrey's shop, Sarah Palin seemed to be seeking a ceasefire with the father of her grandson.

Now that the full Oprah interview is out — not so much.

Asked by Oprah about Levi Johnston, Palin, R-Alaska, responded: “I don't think a national television show is the place to discuss some of things he'd been doing and saying.”

She continued: “By the way, I don't know if we call him Levi — I hear he goes by the name Ricky Hollywood now, so, if that's the case, we don't want to mess up this gig he's got going…. Kind of this aspiring, aspiring porn — the things that he's doing. It's kind of heartbreaking.”

Oprah clarified that Palin was referencing Johnston's decision to pose for “Playgirl.”

Said Palin: “I call that porn, yes. So it's a bit heartbreaking to see the road that he's on right now.”

Asked about Johnston's relationship with his son, Tripp, Palin said:

“He hasn't seen the baby for a while, but we will let that be the discussion between Bristol and Levi, as they work out their relationship. Because Levi will forever be the father of this beautiful little baby, and I continue to hope for the best, and pray for Levi.”

McCain to Aides on Palin Book: This Will Pass

ABC News' Kate Snow reports:

So what does John McCain really think of Palin's book?

Sources tell ABC that there was a conference call on Friday between McCain and many of his top former aides.

On the call, McCain essentially told them that he would prefer that they stay out of the Palin book coverage and not engage in a public debate with Palin. But he told also them he understood if they needed to refute factual errors or protect their own reputations.

Says one aide in the know: “He apologized to everyone on the call for people having to go through this. Said something like ‘You are all my dear friends. This will pass. It’ll pass faster if everyone will just stay out of it.’”

He talked about being proud of the campaign they ran and said he’s moved on, they’ve moved on and he was sorry that the aides were having to go through this.

McCain himself received a signed copy of Palin’s book on Friday. Aides say the Senator hasn’t actually spoken with Palin in months.

The Din: Afghanistan Looms for Obama, but Palin Dominates Another News Cycle

ABC News’ Rick Klein reports:

Think President Obama misses being on American soil?

Democrats, in November, are looking for new ideas to pay for health care… and Republicans are now warring over abortion, too… there’s rumblings inside the top levels of the administration… a major Gitmo announcement is coming Friday… we’re about to get in deeper in Afghanistan, but only if it brings us closer to the way out… George W. Bush wants smaller government…

But this is Sarah Palin’s world — and that’s really all we can see from our porches right now.

There may be no better example of the power and perils associated with the former governor of Alaska than what we’ll see over the next week.

There is precisely one superstar in the Republican Party — and she happens, by choice, not to hold elected office, or feel as if she owes much of anything to anyone in the party establishment. (And you thought tea parties might be dangerous?)

On this Friday the 13th, the Palin craze is starting a few days earlier than anticipated — with Oprah and an early copy of the book coming before the Barbara Walters interviews next week.

According to the AP, which got hold of a copy of “Going Rogue” a few days early, Palin writes she was “bottled up” by the McCain campaign, and decries the “jaded aura” of political operatives.

This breaks some china — and is specific enough for dispute: “She says that most of her legal bills were generated defending what she called frivolous ethics complaints, but she reveals that about $50,000 was a bill she received to pay for the McCain campaign vetting her for the VP nod,” the AP’s Richard T. Pienciak writes. “She said when she asked the McCain campaign if it would help her financially, she was told McCain’s camp would have paid all the bills if he’d won; since he lost, the vetting legal bills were her responsibility.”

And, cue: “To my knowledge, the campaign did not receive any bill from Gov. Palin for legal expenses connected to her vetting, nor did the campaign ask her to pay any vetting-related expenses,” Trevor Potter, a lawyer for the McCain presidential campaign, told USA Today’s Kathy Kiely.

Drudge has an excerpt from the section on Nicolle Wallace pushing for the Katie Couric interview: “She just has such low self-esteem,” Wallace is quoted as saying of Couric. “Katie [wants] people to like her… She wants you to like her.”

Writes Palin: “Hearing all that, I almost started to feel sorry for her. Katie had tried to make a bold move from lively morning gal to serious anchor, but the new assignment wasn’t going very well.”

ABC’s Kate Snow, on “Good Morning America” Friday: “Last year, she had a campaign bus; this year, the bus will be wrapped with the front cover of her new book. . . . It’s payback time.”

ABC’s George Stephanopoulos: “There’s no question that this book tour can put her in a position to run.”

Get set: “The rollout for former Alaska governor Sarah Palin’s highly anticipated and score-settling memoir began Thursday with all the orchestrated stagecraft, wild accusations, inconvenient leaks and media fascination that characterized her campaign as Sen. John McCain’s running mate during the 2008 presidential race,” Jason Horowitz and Michael D. Shear write in The Washington Post.

The responses from former McCain aides are mostly anonymous — so far: “John McCain offered her the opportunity of a lifetime, and during the campaign it seems that, for all of her mistakes, she is searching for people to blame,” said one former senior official in the McCain campaign. “We don’t need to go through this again.”

Another broadside, in Palin’s interview with Oprah, on the fallout from the Couric interview: “The campaign said, ‘Right on. Good. You’re showing your independence. This is what America needs to see and it was a good interview,’ ” Palin said. “And of course I’m thinking, if you thought that was a good interview, I don’t know what a bad interview is, because I knew it wasn’t a good interview.”

(She goes easy on Levi Johnston, and Levi thinks he knows why: “She knows what I got on her. It’s a smart move on her part,” Johnston said Thursday, at the Fleshbot awards. Yes, it is what you think it is. You absolutely, positively, cannot make this stuff up.)

The president is in Japan Friday, and held a news conference with Prime Minister Hatoyama Friday morning.

On Afghanistan: “I don’t think this is a matter of some datum of information I’m waiting on,” the president said. “It is a matter of making certain that when I send the young men and women into war, and I devote billions of dollars of US taxpayer money, that it’s making us safer.”

And on the Gitmo announcement: “I’m absolutely convinced that Khalid Sheikh Mohammad will be subject to the most exacting demands of justice. The American people insist on it. My administration will insist on it.”

More on that front, per the AP: “An Obama administration official says accused Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other Guantanamo Bay detainees will be sent to New York to face trial in a civilian federal court. The official tells The Associated Press that Attorney General Eric Holder is scheduled to announce the decision later Friday morning.”

On the president’s agenda Friday, per ABC’s Sunlen Miller: “The White House says that it is likely the President and Prime Minister will discuss the controversial Futenma base issue, but did not anticipate an agreement coming out of their meetings today.”

Looming over everything is Afghanistan.

Getting out, as we get deeper in: “President Barack Obama is seeking an approach to eventually ending U.S. involvement in Afghanistan even as he weighs a possible expansion of the American military role in the conflict,” Bloomberg’s Edwin Chen and Viola Gienger write.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates: “How do we signal resolve and at the same time signal to the Afghans as well as to the American people that this isn’t an open-ended commitment?”

AP dispatch from Friday morning: “President Obama aimed Friday to shore up relations with a new Japanese government vowing to be more assertive with its U.S. ally, even as he grapples with sending more U.S. troops to Afghanistan.”

“The key sticking points appear to be timelines and mounting questions about the credibility of the Afghan government,” an administration official tells ABC’s Jake Tapper. “After years of substantial investments by the American people, governance in Afghanistan must improve in a reasonable period of time to ensure a successful transition to our Afghan partner.”

Anyone shocked that he’s after middle ground? “President Barack Obama wants to blend together elements of the different troop-increase options presented to him Wednesday to formulate a new strategy for the Afghan war, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Thursday,” The Wall Street Journal’s Peter Spiegel writes.

What else Gates is saying, on all the leaks: “Everybody out there ought to just shut up,” he said, per ABC’s Kirit Radia.

What the president is saying: “We’ll give you the strategy and clear mission you deserve,” Obama said at his stop-off in Anchorage, per ABC’s Rachel Martin.

Casualties of the war over the war: “The Obama administration’s internal debate over Afghan policy has escalated into a battle of media leaks that’s straining relations between officials who’re seeking a major troop increase and those who want a more limited approach and a greater focus on domestic priorities,” McClatchy’s Jonathan S. Landay, Dion Nissenbaum and John Walcott report.

“The feud also has poisoned ties between the top U.S. military commander in Afghanistan and the U.S. ambassador in Kabul, and left the administration struggling for leverage to press Afghan President Hamid Karzai to appoint untainted officials to his new government, attack corruption and share power with the parliament and provincial officials.”

RNC scrambling, then action: “The chairman of the Republican National Committee announced late Thursday that he is unilaterally ending coverage of elective abortion under the RNC’s Cigna health-care plan,” per ABC’s Teddy Davis.

“Money from our loyal donors should not be used for this purpose,” said RNC Chair Michael Steele in a written statement. “I don’t know why this policy existed in the past, but it will not exist under my administration. Consider this issue settled.”

Per Politico’s Jonathan Allen and Meredith Shiner, who broke the story Thursday: “Federal Election Commission Records show the RNC purchases its insurance from Cigna, and two sales agents for the company said that the RNC’s policy covers elective abortion. As of Thursday, the RNC’s plan covers elective abortion — a procedure the party’s own platform calls ‘a fundamental assault on innocent human life.’ ”

On health care — liberal groups targeting Democrats, again: Health Care for America Now has new TV ads launching, in Nebraska and Arkansas. From the release going out Friday: “The ads customized for each state and titled ‘Debate’ will run for one week starting today in Fort Smith, Jonesboro, and Little Rock, Arkansas and in Lincoln and Omaha, Nebraska. The total advertising buy is approximately $310,000. The spot explains that while the nation has been discussing health care reform for months, it’s now time for the full Senate to begin its official debate.”

As first reported by the AP’s David Espo: “[Senate Majority Leader Harry] Reid is apparently considering an increase in the Medicare payroll tax rate for workers with incomes of more than $250,000 a year, Senate aides said. One idea is to increase the tax rate by one-half of 1 percentage point, to 1.95 percent for high-income people, with an expectation that the government could raise $40 billion to $50 billion over 10 years,” Robert Pear reports in The New York Times.

W. speaks: “I went against my free-market instincts and approved a temporary government intervention to unfreeze the credit markets so that we could avoid a major global depression,” former President George W. Bush said at the unveiling of the George W. Bush Presidential Center at Southern Methodist University, per ABC’s Devin Dwyer and Evan Harris.

They write: “And without mentioning President Obama by name the former President did have some rather pointed comments for the current Administration claiming that generally ‘history shows that the greater threat to prosperity is not too little government involvement, but too much.’ “

“As the world recovers, we will face a temptation to replace the risk-and-reward model of the private sector with the blunt instruments of government spending and control,” Bush said, per Joseph Curl of the Washington Times.

More adieus: “The White House counsel, Gregory B. Craig, has told associates that he intends to step down from his post on Friday, putting to rest long-running speculation about whether he would remain as President Obama’s top lawyer,” Jeff Zeleny writes in The New York Times. “Mr. Craig had been at the center of controversial decisions over whether to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, as well as revising administration policies on the interrogation and detention of prisoners. For months, questions have circulated inside the White House about his status, but an official said early Friday that Mr. Craig had made the decision to resign.”

ABC’s Jake Tapper: “Craig will be replaced by attorney Bob Bauer, who has served as President Obama’s private attorney. Bauer will start work in December, so as to help create a seamless transition.”

In Massachusetts, with few distinctions, some endorsements: “Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York, a Medford native, is endorsing City Year cofounder Alan Khazei,” per The Boston Globe’s Matt Viser. “House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is set to endorse US Representative Michael E. Capuano, a coup for any challenger to [Martha] Coakley, who is seeking to become the first female US senator from Massachusetts.”

Boosting a 2012er — David Brooks really likes Sen. John Thune, R-S.D.: “If you wanted a Republican with the same general body type and athletic grace as Barack Obama, you’d pick Thune,” Brooks writes in his column. “Republicans are still going to have to do root-and-branch renovation if they hope to provide compelling answers to issues like middle-class economic anxiety. But in the meantime, people like Thune offer Republicans a way to connect fiscal discipline with traditional small-town values, a way to tap into rising populism in a manner that is optimistic, uplifting and nice.”

The Kicker:

“Are you tough enough to come here to Massachusetts … So Stephen, are you willing to come?” — Senate candidate Alan Khazei, D-Mass., in a challenge to Stephen Colbert — and looking for a way to get another debate.

“I wouldn’t say they’re making up numbers, but there are no standards or consistency.” — Nevada Controller Kim Wallin, a Democrat, to the Las Vegas Sun, on how the stimulus is being tracked.

For up-to-the-minute political updates check out The Note’s blog . . . all day every day:
http://blogs.abcnews.com/thenote/

Intern for the ABC News Political Unit:

The ABC News Political Unit is now seeking full-time spring 2010 interns in Washington, D.C.

The paid internship begins Monday, Jan. 4, 2010, and runs through Friday, June 4, 2010.

Political Unit interns attend political events and contribute to stories for the politics page of ABCNews.com. They also help ABC News by conducting research, maintaining our calendar of upcoming political events, and posting stories to ABCNews.com.

In order to apply, you MUST be either a graduate student or an undergraduate student who has completed his or her first year of college. The internship is NOT open to recent graduates.

You also must be able to work eight hours per day, Monday through Friday. Interns will be paid $8.50/hour.

If you write well, follow politics closely, and have some familiarity with web publishing, send a cover letter and resume to Teddy Davis, ABC News’ Deputy Political Director, at teddy.davis@abc.com, by Sunday, Nov. 22, 2009, with the subject line: “INTERN” in all caps.

Please indicate in both your cover letter and the body of your email your student status and the specific dates and hours of your availability.

‘Top Line’ — Palin’s Book Behavior May Hold Clues to Future Plans

ABC News’ Kim Berryman reports: November 17th, just over a year since the former Alaska governor and current Facebook account holder wasn't elected vice president, Sarah Palin will release her book “Going Rogue: An American Life”. Politico’s Jonathan Martin told ABC’s Top Line today that he will be watching Palin’s book tour closely for clues about her future aspirations.

“If it’s a book that’s defined by score settling, by getting even, that’s not what somebody who wants to start a serious national campaign would do. And we’ll also see exactly what she does on this book tour. Is she collecting names and email addresses?” Martin speculated.

Palin has been the source of national attention since Senator John McCain introduced her as his running mate in 2008. Despite popular Saturday Night Live skits and countless late night jokes aimed at the former candidate’s credibility, Martin maintains “she’s not just a politician, she’s a phenomenon, there are not half-mile lines out there for (Minnesota Governor) Tim Pawlenty.”

ABC News’ David Chalian and Rick Klein also asked Jonathan Martin about this morning’s announcement of a White House job summit as well as the President’s decision to travel to Asia in the midst of the healthcare debate.

ClickHERE to catch all of Jonathan Martin’s comments today.

Also on today’s Top Line, ABC welcomed USA Today’s Joan Biskupic author of American Original: The Life and Constitution of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.

The abortion issue raised by the Stupak amendment last week continues to fuel debates on Capitol Hill. When asked about Scalia’s possible views on the issue, Biskupic felt confident that the justice would respond with “I told you so.”

CLICK HERE to watch the entire interview with Joan Biskupic.

Biden v. Palin — The Re-Match

ABC News’ Rick Klein reports:

Campaigning in an upstate New York congressional district, Vice President Joe Biden today attacked his one-time opponent, Sarah Palin, who has led a succession of big-name Republicans in backing the candidacy of the Conservative Party nominee.

“Sarah Palin thinks the answer to energy is ‘Drill, baby, drill,' ” Biden said at a rally this afternoon. Then he leaned in to the microphone: “It's a lot more complicated, Sarah.”

Biden called on Democrats to “join us in teaching a lesson” to a Republican Party he said is promoting “absolutism” and “cannot tolerate any dissent.”

On Saturday, Republican candidate Dede Scozzafava dropped out of the race in New York's 23rd congressional district, as she saw her support crater in part because Republicans like Palin questioned her conservative credentials. Scozzafava on Sunday endorsed Democrat Bill Owens for the seat.

UPDATE: Palin responded to the vice president's comments via — of course — her Facebook page, blasting the Obama administration's energy policies.

“Apparently the Obama-Biden administration only approves of offshore drilling in Brazil, where it will provide security and jobs for Brazilians. This election is about American security and American jobs,” Palin writes.

And she closes with a new twist on a famous slogan: “There's one way to tell Vice President Biden that we're tired of folks in Washington distorting our message and hampering our nation's progress: Hoffman, Baby, Hoffman!”

Palin: Levi Johnston ‘Mean-Spirited,’ ‘Malicious,’ Selling ‘Body for Money’

ABC News’ Rick Klein reports: Former Gov. Sarah Palin is blasting away at the father of her grandson, issuing a blistering statement today that impugns Levi Johnston’s motives in continuing to speak out against the Palin family, and attacks his decision to pose for “Playgirl.”

In a statement issued this afternoon, Palin, R-Alaska, said: “We have purposefully ignored the mean spirited, malicious and untrue attacks on our family. We, like many, are appalled at the inflammatory statements being made or implied.”

“Trig is our 'blessed little angel' who knows it and is lovingly called that every day of his life. Even the thought that anyone would refer to Trig by any disparaging name is sickening and sad.”

Palin also attacks CBS, which aired the first part of an interview with Johnston on “The Early Show” this morning.

“CBS should be ashamed for continually providing a forum to propagate lies. Consider the source of the most recent attention-getting lies — those who would sell their body for money reflect a desperate need for attention and are likely to say and do anything for even more attention,” Palin says in the statement.

The attack comes after Johnston hinted this morning that he has damaging revelations he can make about Palin.

“There are some things that I have that are huge. And I haven't said them because I'm not gonna hurt her that way,” he said.

“I have things that can, you know — that would get her in trouble, and could hurt her. Will hurt her. But I'm not gonna go that far. You know, I mean, if I really wanted to hurt her, I could, very easily. But there's — I'm not gonna do it. I'm not going that far.”

Also in the interview, Johnston expanded on an allegation he made in an interview with Vanity Fair, that Palin regularly refers to her youngest child, Trig, as “retarded” — a charge Sarah Palin denies. Trig Palin has Down syndrome.

“I was just in shock for the first time I heard it,” Johnston told CBS. “And then she'd say it regularly. And I think she was joking, but it doesn't make it right.”

Palin’s memoir, “Going Rogue,” publishes next month.

Rogue to Redemption: Palin endorsement brings intra-party battle to fore

ABC News’ Rick Klein reports:

There's nothing quite like putting lipstick on an identity crisis.

Sarah Palin declared more than her independence from the GOP establishment with her endorsement of Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman Thursday night. (That didn't need much more formality, anyway.)

Palin also escalated the war inside the Republican Party — ratcheting up the battle that's been brewing (like so much tea) virtually since President Obama's inauguration.

And if there's a Republican who commands a bigger army at this moment in American politics, name her or him.

“Political parties must stand for something,” Palin wrote on her Facebook page — naturally. “Republicans and conservatives around the country are sending an important message to the Republican establishment in their outstanding grassroots support for Doug Hoffman: no more politics as usual.”

Palin's decision to take sides, and to take the particular side of a conservative locked in a long-shot battle for ideological purity, crystallizes the debate about the future of the GOP.

It ensures that a race for an open House seat in upstate New York is going to be viewed through a prism of tea parties, Glenn Beck, and ideological purity. Two of the highest-profile races on the ballot Nov. 3 feature right-leaning third-party candidates — vessels for the anger that's been percolating all year.

And it all could begin to shape the early 2012 field, with would-be candidates who'd rather sit this battle out under pressure to declare sides.

So this is what going rogue is all about — and it's going to be interesting.

“Her action increased the race's profile as a national test between the GOP establishment and the conservative base,” the Washington Times' Amanda Carpenter writes.

“The New York race is a microcosm of the dilemma faced by parties out of power: How much purity should you insist on from your members?”ABC's Teddy Davis reports. “The Republican that Palin has passed over supports abortion rights, same-sex marriage and legislation that would make union organizing easier. In backing the Conservative Party candidate, Palin finds herself in the company of many TEA party activists, plus former House Republican Leader Dick Armey of Texas.”

Game on: “Tea party activists from across the nation are rallying around the House special election in upstate New York, viewing it as the first electoral test of the nascent conservative movement's political muscle,” Politico's Alex Isenstadt reports.

In the other corner… Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich: “The choice in New York is a practical one,” Gingrich writes in endorsing Republican Dede Scozzafava. “My number one interest in the 2009 elections is to build a Republican majority. If your interest is taking power back from the Left, and your interest is winning the necessary elections, then there are times when you have to put together a coalition that has disagreement within it.”

Can Democrats pick up the GOP's pieces? From a memo going out to Democratic House members Friday, from DCCC Chairman Chris Van Hollen: “This race presents a unique opportunity for Democrats in a conservative-leaning Republican open seat. NY-23 has not been represented by a Democrat in nearly 120 years (since 1890).”

And: “The 2010 election is not and will not be 1994,” Van Hollen writes.

But the 2009 elections may remind you of 1992. The Wall Street Journal's Gerald Seib: “There is an important contest under way that will test how the rising ‘pox on both your houses' thinking can affect real-life outcomes. It's next month's governor's election in New Jersey, where the notably unpopular Democratic incumbent, Jon Corzine, could win re-election because so many people are choosing not to vote for his notably unpopular Republican foe, Chris Christie, but instead for independent candidate Chris Daggett.”

If this is Round One… “[The] divide isn't likely to go away no matter who wins in New York's 23rd in 11 days,” Washingtonpost.com's Chris Cillizza writes. “The head versus heart dynamic is already shaping up in Florida's Senate primary between Gov. Charlie Crist and former state House Speaker Marco Rubio.”

Speaking of intra-party warfare… This is breaking four days before President Obama campaigns for the Democratic gubernatorial candidate in Virginia:

“Senior administration officials have expressed frustration with how Democrat R. Creigh Deeds has handled his campaign for governor, refusing early offers of strategic advice and failing to reach out to several key constituencies that helped Obama win Virginia in 2008, they say,” Rosalind S. Helderman and Anne E. Kornblut writes in The Washington Post. “A senior administration official said Deeds badly erred on several fronts, including not doing a better job of coordinating with the White House.”

Said a senior administration official: “Obama, Kaine and others had drawn a road map to victory in Virginia. Deeds chose another path.”

The long knife: “Privately, administration officials said they see almost no way for Deeds to win on Nov. 3,” Helderman and Kornblut write.

(Do you need another example of the Obama political operation's willingness to cut off body parts that aren't operating at full capacity? And if the president apologized to Gov. David Paterson, D-N.Y., for trying to strong-arm him out of a race, how does he explain to Deeds why his people are giving up for him 10 days before Election Day?)

And wouldn't you know — the GOP isn't the only party undergoing something of a battle for its soul.

For Democrats, the fight is going on inside the halls of Congress. The latest salvo: The public option is back — take cover in the middle.

“Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is leaning toward including the creation of a new government-run insurance program — the so-called public option — in the health care reform bill he will bring to the full Senate in the coming weeks,” per ABC's Jonathan Karl, who was first out of the box with the news. “Democratic sources tell me that Reid – after a series of meetings with Democratic moderates – has concluded he can pass a bill with a public option.”

On “Good Morning America” Friday, Karl called it a “dramatic development”: “Reid's actions mean that this idea of creating a new government-run insurance program is now once again front-and-center in the Senate. . . . It looks like there will be no Republican support for this.”

Reid “is taking a calculated gamble that the 60 members of his caucus could support the plan if it included a way for states to opt out,” Robert Pear and David M. Herszenhorn write in The New York Times. “Mr. Reid met with President Obama at the White House Thursday to inform him of his inclination to add the public option to the bill, but did not specifically ask the president to endorse that approach, a Democratic aide said. Mr. Obama asked questions, but did not express a preference at the meeting, a White House official said.” (He “did not express a preference”?)

A senior Democratic aide: “There is a growing sense that we need to lead on this issue and not wait for it to be offered on the Senate floor. . . . The idea is that it's better to show some fight.”

It's looking like a public option with a state-level opt-out (and if this comes together, does Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., get some kind of trophy?).

Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb.: “I keep hearing there is a lot of leaning toward some sort of national public option, unfortunately, from my standpoint,” Nelson said, per the AP's David Espo.

Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine: “A public option at the forefront really does put the government in a disproportionate position with respect to the industry,” Snowe said in an interview with Bloomberg TV's “Political Capital With Al Hunt,” airing this weekend.

Over on the other side — under $900 billion: “House Democrats are coalescing around an $871 billion health-care package that would create a government-run insurance plan to help millions of Americans afford coverage, raise taxes on the nation's richest families and impose an array of new regulations on private insurers, in part by stripping the industry of its long-standing exemption from federal antitrust laws,” Lori Montgomery and Shailagh Murray write in The Washington Post.

Maybe not so robust, however: “Speaker Nancy Pelosi's (D-Calif.) drive for a public option in healthcare reform ran into turbulence Thursday when a survey of her caucus showed she needs more votes to pass such a bill,” The Hill's Mike Soragham writes. “The survey ordered by Pelosi turned up 46 Democrats who said they would vote against the so-called ‘robust' public option, according to a Democratic lawmaker who spoke on the condition of anonymity.”

There's endorsements, and then there are steps too far: “President Obama will travel Friday to Massachusetts, one of only two states to implement a universal health-care program similar to his ambitions for the entire country. But he does not plan to use the trip to make his case for far-reaching reform; he will tout clean energy and raise money for the Democratic governor,” Ceci Connolly writes in The Washington Post.

The president raises money for two New England friends Friday: Gov. Deval Patrick, D-Mass., and Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., both get a presidential visit, after a clean-energy event at MIT.

Cue the populist rage: “Citigroup Inc., which has yet to repay $45 billion in federal assistance, has more lobbyists than any other company who registered to try to shape legislation regulating the financial industry, U.S. Senate records show,” Jonathan D. Salant and Lizzie O'Leary report. “The New York-based bank, 34 percent-owned by the U.S. government, is listed as a client by 46 of the 1,537 lobbyists who filed with Congress to work on President Barack Obama's push for rules to limit financial risks and impose stricter consumer protections.”

Getting in front: “You would hope after American taxpayers stepped in to save these companies from a disaster of their own making they would be deploying their army of lobbyists to strengthen and not thwart financial reform,” senior Obama adviser David Axelrod tells Bloomberg.

More populism: “I just don't buy this, these brilliant minds out there that went to Harvard Business School are making the world safe for democracy, no they're not,” Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, said on ABCNews.com's “Top Line” Thursday. “They're making the world safe for themselves, but they're not helping the economy.”

Is the recession over? In the new ABC News/Washington Post poll, 82 percent say it isn't. 82 percent.

“That marks more than the disconnect between definitions of recession; it also points to the land mines that pockmark the political landscape, threatening potential woe to President Obama in particular and incumbent office-holders in general. Claims of a recovery that few people feel are fraught with the taint of disconnect,” ABC Polling Director Gary Langer writes.

Accountability: “President Obama, in office a month longer than Bush was when 9/11 hit, now owns his presidency,” Peggy Noonan writes in her Wall Street Journal column. “Does he know it? He too stands on rubble, figuratively speaking — a collapsed economy, high and growing unemployment, two wars. Everyone knows what he's standing on. You can almost see the smoke rising around him. He's got a bullhorn in his hand every day.”

The next chapter in the wars with former Vice President Dick Cheney — and the headline Friday is that the White House is firing back, again.

“What Vice President Cheney calls ‘dithering,' ” said White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, “President Obama calls his solemn responsibility to the men and women in uniform and to the American public. I think we've all seen what happens when somebody doesn't take that responsibility seriously.”

“Even more curious,” Gibbs said, “given the fact that an increase in troops [for Afghanistan] sat on desks in this White House, including the vice president's, for more than eight months.”

ABC's Jake Tapper checks that fact: “It's a bit more nuanced than that. The troop requests to which Gibbs referred were made by then-Gen. David McKiernan. McKiernan started off making individual requests for brigades, and that list kept growing. Officials from that time say that demands in Iraq prevented the Bush administration from fulfilling the requests until just before Bush left office. (Prioritizing troops to Iraq over those to Afghanistan is, of course, a choice.)”

Why the White House wants this fight: “Cheney lecturing Obama on Afghanistan is laughable, but the joke is on him. The ex-veep may not realize this, but he and his former boss exited office as profoundly unpopular men,” David Corn writes for Politics Daily.

No more lockouts — but the Countrywide battle heats up, with two Democrats now supporting GOP efforts to widen the investigation. ABC's Matthew Jaffe: “Rep. Paul Hodes, D-NH, and Rep. Mike Quigley, D-IL, wrote to House Oversight & Government Reform committee chairman Ed Towns, D-NY, and Darrell Issa, R-CA, informing the panel chiefs of their desire to issue a subpoena.”

Gov. Tim Pawlenty, R-Minn., held his first PAC fundraiser in Washington Thursday night.

Politico's Jonathan Martin: “Pawlenty's appearance attracted a significant number of staffers from Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign last year, some of whom have fond memories of the governor's time as a loyal surrogate for the Arizonan during the primary and general election. Also present were scores of aides from Hill offices, some of them still sporting their badges, as well as operatives from the RNC, NRSC and NRCC – many of whom are interested in working on a White House campaign and wanted to see the man who is emerging as the chief establishment alternative to former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.”

Said Pawlenty: “We don't have a big enough party to be throwing people overboard.” (Did Sarah Palin hear that?)

(Pawlenty will be a guest on ABCNews.com's “Top Line” Friday, airing at noon ET.)

The Kicker:

“We want to make sure that when we do our 'Kumbaya' moment, that we're all there.” — Rep. John Larson, D-Conn, not singing yet.

For up-to-the-minute political updates check out The Note's blog . . . all day every day:

Palin Hits Dems on ‘Unsustainable Mandate’, ‘Cadillac Tax’, and C-SPAN Promise

ABC News' Teddy Davis reports:

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is once again weighing in on the health reform debate, this time echoing the insurance industry's argument that the individual mandate contained in the Senate Finance bill will prove unworkable as young and healthy Americans conclude that they are better off paying a small fine than purchasing costly insurance.

“Even factoring in government subsidies, the cost of purchasing a plan is much more than $750,” Palin writes in her latest Facebook message. “The result: many people, especially the young and healthy, will simply not buy coverage, choosing to pay the fine instead.

“They'll wait until they're sick to buy health insurance,” she adds, “confident in the knowledge that insurance companies can't deny them coverage, such a scenario is a perfect storm for increasing the cost of health care and creating an unsustainable mandate program.”

The former Republican vice presidential candidate, whose book, “Going Rogue,” is set to be released on Nov. 17, is keeping people guessing about her political future. Some top Republicans expect her to become a candidate for president in 2012. Others, including some top Republicans with ties to her, think that she wants to be influential on issues of concern to her without undergoing the rigor of a White House run.

Palin's critique of the weakened individual mandate echoes concerns about the Finance bill that were raised last week by America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), the lobbying arm of the health insurance industry.

After spending months at the table with the Obama administration and Democratic lawmakers pushing for a strong individual mandate, AHIP turned against the Senate Finance bill last week just two days before the measure came to a vote. AHIP's campaign against the Finance bill has thus far included a widely criticized report by PriceWaterhouseCoopers warning about higher premium costs and a television ad blitz warning seniors about proposed cuts to Medicare Advantage.

Even though the Finance Committee approved an amendment reducing the individual mandate penalty, the Congressional Budget Office did not change its estimate that the percentage of legal nonelderly U.S. residents with insurance coverage would rise from the current 83 percent to 94 percent over the next decade.

In addition to targeting the “unsustainable” individual mandate penalty, Palin uses her Facebook post to try to drive a wedge between President Obama and some traditional Democratic allies by criticizing the Finance bill for proposing to tax the “so-called 'Cadillac' health care plans enjoyed by many union members.” The union-funded Health Care for America for Now group launched an ad on Thursday blasting the proposed tax on high-cost insurance plans.

When it comes to the process being used to develop health-care policy, Palin criticizes Obama for not sticking by his sweeping campaign promise to broadcast health-care negotiations on C-SPAN.

Obama brought cameras into the White House at the beginning of the reform effort for a made-for-TV event, but the most consequential negotiations have taken place behind closed doors as they have in previous administrations.

Palin is also pushing Obama to live by a promise on his campaign web site not to sign “any nonemergency bill” without giving the American public “an opportunity to review and comment on the White House web site for five days.”

She concludes her post by reiterating her free-market prescription for health reform.

Palin does not support an individual mandate requiring all Americans to purchase health insurance. Instead, she favors (1) allowing individuals to purchase slimmed down, mandate-free health insurance policies across state lines; (2) giving individuals who purchase their own health care the same tax benefits as those who receive coverage from their employer; and (3) converting Medicare from an open-ended entitlement into a voucher system that provides seniors with a fixed sum of money to purchase private health insurance.

Palin: No Time for ‘Cold Feet’ on Afghanistan

ABC News’ Rick Klein reports:

Former Gov. Sarah Palin is endorsing calls for additional troops in Afghanistan, calling on President Obama “to act as commander-in-chief” and increase US force levels.

“Hundreds of thousands of Americans have sons, daughters, fathers, mothers, sisters and brothers in harm's way in Afghanistan right now. We owe it to all those brave Americans serving in uniform to give them the tools they need to complete their mission,” Palin, R-Alaska, wrote in a message posted to her Facebook page last night.

Palin warns that not following Gen. Stanley McChrystal's recommendations could mean that al Qaeda “will once again find a safe haven, the Taliban will impose its cruelty on the Afghan people, and Pakistan will be less stable.”

“Our allies and our adversaries are watching to see if we have the staying power to protect our interests in Afghanistan. I recently joined a group of Americans in urging President Obama to devote the resources necessary in Afghanistan and pledged to support him if he made the right decision. Now is not the time for cold feet, second thoughts, or indecision — it is the time to act as commander-in-chief and approve the troops so clearly needed in Afghanistan,” Palin writes.

Palin posted her message just hours after Democratic and Republican congressional leaders — including her former running mate, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., met at the White House to offer views and perspectives on the war in Afghanistan. McCain is also calling for the president to send additional troops.

Palin, whose memoir is set to publish next month, has increasingly turned to Facebook as a means of public communication since resigning her post as governor in July.

ABC News? Jacqueline Klingebiel and Lindsey Ellerson report: Levi Johnston discloses exclusive details about life behind the scenes at the Palin household in an upcoming October issue of Vanity Fair, whichis set to hitstands today.

In the exclusive interview, Johnston, who fathered Bristol Palin?s baby, revealed that Alaska Governor Sarah Palin asked the young parents to keep their pregnancy a secret during her unsuccessful bid for the 2008 vice presidency.

?She told me that once Bristol had the baby she and Todd would adopt him. That way, she said, Bristol and I didn?t have to worry about anything,? Johnston wrote. ?Sarah kept mentioning this plan. She was nagging?she wouldn?t give up. ?

Johnston goes into great lengths describing the Palins' parenting style, sayingthey didn?t cook or clean and often household chores were left up to the children.

?The kids would do it all themselves: cook, clean, do the laundry, and get ready for school. Most of the time Bristol would help her youngest sister with her homework, and I?d barbecue chicken or steak on the grill,? said Johnston. ?Even before the campaign, Bristol was already the mom in the house, and she got tired of having to take care of her siblings.?

In a throw to the controversial exchange during the campaign betweenCBS?s Katie Couric and Palin about what publications the then-governor read habitually, Johnston also remarked that Palin only reads ?once in a blue moon.?

[I] ?actually never saw Sarah reading much at all?once in a blue moon, I?d see her reading a book, and I?ve never even seen her read a newspaper in my life. The Frontiersman and the Anchorage Daily News were always there in the morning, but the only one who looked through them was Todd.?

During the campaign and shortly after, Johnston told Vanity Fair that there was a lot of tension in the Palin?s relationship, often fighting and sleeping in separate rooms. Johnston disclosed there was also talk of divorce.

?They?re good on television, but once the cameras would leave they didn?t talk to each other,? Johnston said.

But it was after the elections that Johnston characterized life in the Palin household as rather dismal, saying the then-governor would walk ?around the house pouting.? When the McCain camp began accusing her of being the reason the Arizona senator lost the election, Palin would defensively remark, ?I brought everything to the table? and ?the majority of people were out there voting because of me!?

The aftermath of the election hit Palin hard, said Johnston, and ?she definitely thought she was running for president.?

Shortly after, Palin decided to step down from her role as governor of Alaska.Johnston told Vanity Fair Palin would blatantly say, ?I want to just take this money and quit being governor.?