**Health Care
*The New York Times: "Aides to Mr. Obama tried to tamp down concern on the left by emphasizing Monday that the president still supported the idea of a public plan and had not decided whether to drop it. Some lawmakers said the White House had sent mixed signals, confusing friend and foe alike on Capitol Hill."

*The Hill: "Administration officials have been careful from the beginning of the healthcare debate to avoid taking hard-line public positions on some of the more controversial aspects of the proposals on Capitol Hill. That said, Republicans and Democrats for the most part read the weekend's news as indicating the administration was moving away from its support for the public plan to gain support for healthcare reform from centrists, particularly in the Senate."

*60 House Democrats wrote the White House seeking a firm commitment on the public option, saying no votes without it. Meanwhile, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R) is saying he won't vote for reform in the Senate without other Republican support, which only might come if there is no public option. Rock, meet hard place.

*AP has a helpful Q&A about what co-ops are, while noting, "Interest groups disagree on whether such co-ops would have enough negotiating clout to help consumers without threatening private insurance companies."

*"Several leading Democrats voiced concern Monday about an apparent White House shift on health-care reform, objecting to signals from senior administration officials that they would abandon the idea of a government-run insurance plan if it lacked the backing to pass Congress," Washington Post reports. "White House press secretary Robert Gibbs, speaking to reporters returning to Washington from Phoenix, said Obama has not shifted his position, suggesting that the president's support for a public option had never been absolute."

*"A group of left-leaning House Democrats tells POLITICO that a bill without a public option simply won't win enough votes in their caucus - a sentiment that raises fresh questions about the prospects to enact sweeping health care reform this year."

*"The White House is insisting the president wants a public plan in the health care bill," The Hill reports. "And a Democratic aide said Obama's shift is aimed at spurring the process along in the Senate, where the public option is less popular and the Senate Finance Committee hasn't been able to complete a bill. 'If that means he needs to relieve pressure to get the bill out of the Senate Finance Committee, he needs to do that,' the aide said. 'He's trying to get things moving. Then there will be another discussion about public option.' "

*"The hate-tinged sniping at "red America" by "blue America" and vice versa more resembles the turf wars of the L.A.-based street gangs the Crips (blue bandanas) and the Bloods (red bandanas) than any kind of deeply principled philosophical difference of opinion. Anything bad said about my homeys is a blood libel. Anything bad said about the other guy is obvious truth, or free speech or, you know, just satire. Lighten up, dude," writes Politics Daily's Carl Cannon.

**President Obama
*A year after then-Senator Obama picked him as his running mate, the L.A. Times looks at his role in the White House. Despite gaffes, "Biden appears to be solidifying his relationship with his boss and accumulating more assignments central to the administration's agenda." And he "was recently tapped by President Obama to play a bigger role in the healthcare debate that is now dominating the congressional agenda."

*The Washington Times reports, "The Obama administration continued its half-a-loaf approach to gay rights issues Monday by filing documents claiming that federal laws banning same-sex marriage are discriminatory, even as the federal government continues to defend them."

*AP on today's meeting with Mubarak. "After a serious falling out over Bush administration pressure on human rights and democracy in Egypt, Mubarak is back in the U.S. capital for the first time in more than five years to meet with Obama on Tuesday. The relationship is far from healed, despite Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton having eased back on those touchy issues and Egypt showing greater willingness to help with the peace effort."

*The Wall Street Journal reports that the White House shut down flag@whitehouse.gov "as congressional Republicans and bloggers continued to raise questions about why Obama officials were collecting negative statements made by ordinary Americans about the president's health care plan and what the administration was planning to do with the information it gathered. ... The White House's decision to pull the plug on its email tip list came as officials there also announced changes to its email policy designed to prevent advocacy groups from signing people up for White House emails without explicit permission."

*It's not just Obama and Biden doing some fundraising. HHS Secretary Sebelius will be in Ohio raising money for Rep. Mary Jo Kilroy, the Columbus Dispatch reports.

**Campaign Stuff
*FL Sen: "U.S. Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart of Miami has taken himself off Gov. Charlie Crist's shortlist of potential appointments to the U.S. Senate. Crist said Friday that he had asked Diaz-Balart, former U.S. Attorney Roberto Martinez and former Secretary of Smith Jim Smith to submit the questionnaire for gubernatorial appointments," Miami Herald reports.

*As she kicked off her campaign for governor yesterday, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison still had no timetable for resigning from the Senate. "I haven't set a timetable because there are certain things that I need to do," she told the Dallas Morning News. "The end of the fiscal year is Sept. 30 and I've got huge responsibilities for Texas that I have to fulfill by Oct. 1."

*NJ Gov: "New Jersey Republican gubernatorial candidate Chris Christie said he talked to Bush strategist Karl Rove twice about running for governor before he left the U.S. Attorney's office, but the two never discussed criminal investigations or cases being prosecuted by the office," AP reports.

Another big development in the New Jersey governor's race in what's shaping up to be a rough few weeks for Chris Christie. The Newark Star-Ledger and others report that Christie "has an ongoing financial relationship with one of the top federal prosecutors in his old office, mortgage records show." Corzine's camp "questioned whether it is proper for a candidate for governor to have any financial relationship with someone inside the U.S. Attorney's Office." But Christie tells the paper that he lent the money after the employee's husband lost his job, "and it was nothing more than he and his wife helping out a friend."

*Washington Post takes a long look at the Pennsylvania Senate race. "Specter chose to become a Democrat, after a kitchen-table strategy session with his son, and concluded it would be an easier reelection route -- until Democratic Rep. Joe Sestak declared his candidacy Aug. 4," the paper notes.

*NV Gov: "Former Nevada Attorney General Brian Sandoval has stirred up some much-needed excitement in the state Republican party with his resignation Aug. 14 as a federal judge with the U.S. District Court in Nevada," CQ reports.

"Can [the Nevada GOP] be saved?" asks Politics Daily's Jill Lawrence. "A week ago, given the problems of Sen. John Ensign and Gov. Jim Gibbons, the answer was probably not in time for the 2010 elections. This week the picture is much brighter because of one man: U.S. District Judge Brian Sandoval."

*The Raleigh News & Observer talks to former Lt. Gov. Dennis Wicker about a potential Senate run. "I still have those pangs of emotion about being involved in public service. But I have been focused on my practice," he said. But, "I'm doing some listening."

**Sigh of Relief: Pitching wunderkind Stephen Strasburg, the No. 1 overall draft choice of the Washington Nationals, signed a contract last night in the last hour before the deadline. "No team has ever paid more to an amateur. And perhaps no team has ever gained more by signing one of its draft picks," writes WaPo's Chico Harlan.

--Kyle Trygstad and Mike Memoli