Washington in 60 Seconds: Palin 'Hatchet Man' to Tell All; Tucker Carlson Calls Press 'Shameful' for Ignoring Fox

Good morning, Capitolists! Welcome to your daily dispatch from the front lines of democracy.

Here's what's making news in Washington today:

* President Obama is having Capitol company over at the White House today. He'll do lunch with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and meet later with Sens. Jim Webb and Patrick Leahy.

* Top White house officials and Democratic senators continue to meet secretly privately to hammer out a unified Senate health care reform bill.

* The Senate will debate defense funding on the floor, where Republicans are livid that Democrats attached a hate-crimes amendment to the Pentagon funding bill.

* At 10 a.m., a Senate panel looks into the administration's appointment of policy czars; former Homeland Security czar Tom Ridge will be among those questioned.

* On the House side, an oversight panel investigates claims of fraud in the $8,000 first-time home-buyer program, including allegations that some of the people taking advantage of the tax credit weren't really first-time buyers.

* In a move that should warm the heart of any angry, populist mob, the White House pay czar will slash the salary and benefits of some key bailed-out bigwigs by up to 90 percent. The Washington Post reports on the happy developments.

* Formerly bow-tied Tucker Carlson writes in the Daily Beast that many in the press have been "shamefully silent" as the White House has frozen out their brothers and sisters in the fourth estate from Fox News. The Capitolist thinks he has a point.

* And finally, the Sarah Palin confidant who innocently asked why a certain Alaska state trooper "still has a job" is penning a tell-all book, and has a Web site, www.PalinsHatchetMan.com, to schedule advanced interviews for the still-without-a-publisher exposé. The Anchorage Daily News has the details. Keep it classy, Hatchet Man.