Good morning, Capitolists! The president is heading to Asia today for an economic summit, and the House and Senate are out of session until next week, but there's more than enough happening to keep you occupied for the next 60 seconds.

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

* Nobody panic! Before heading for the global economic summit, President Obama discussed the middling state of the American economy this morning. Although unemployment is above 10 percent and heading higher, the president said, "Hiring often takes time to catch up with economic growth." To close the gap, he said he'll have a "jobs summit" at the White House in December to brainstorm ways to get businesses to grow their payrolls.

* USA Today Backs Coverage for Illegal Immigrants. The nation's largest paper editorializes today that keeping illegal immigrants out of the insurance pool will only drive up costs for everyone. "Just as the public is better protected when illegal immigrants buy auto insurance, the same goes for health coverage," the paper says.

* Lou Dobbs, Seriously Unplugged. After Lou Dobbs stepped down from CNN last night, his CNN boss said the longtime host would be practicing his "advocacy journalism" elsewhere. A gander a LouDobbs.com shows he's getting an early start online, where he slams "Nancy Pelosi's hypocrisy," "ethnocentric advocacy groups" and "ObamaCare" and recommends Carrie Prejean's memoir, "Still Standing," to be the next book on your nightstand.

* Jenny Sanford Endorses Woman to Replace Her Husband. Mrs. Mark Sanford has picked Nikki Healy, a 37-year-old conservative state representative, to replace her husband when his term ends next year. The State writes that the first lady said Healy "doesn't back down," and also touched on her own family matters in a letter of endorsement. She wrote, "Our family is resilient, and we will be fine. And the people of our state are resilient too. I have no doubt South Carolina will get back on its feet."

* Smackdown, nerd-style. The gossip girls at The Washington Post have an account of what passes for gang violence in Washington's think-tank circles -- verbal fisticuffs between Time magazine's Joe Klein and New Republic's Jamie Kirchick over who said what about whom during a panel discussion. After calling Kirchick a "dishonest [expletive]" and "[expletiving] propagandist," Klein later said of the other pundit, without irony, "He's one of those people who has opinions but no facts or experience."