A short list of things newsy:

• Kent Conrad definitely snuck in some help for the state-chartered Bank of North Dakota in the student loan title of the reconciliation bill. But if this helps spur other states to chartering a North Dakota-style state bank, I’m all for it. There’s a reason North Dakota’s unemployment rate is among the nation’s lowest. Conrad, however, just asked that the provision be removed because he didn’t want to cause a distraction. I’m more interested in Conrad’s assessment (probably true) that reconciliation won’t survive the Senate without changes. That would mean another ping-pong back to the House, and another vote. And another whip count! Gah!

• WellPoint pledged $30 million to help the uninsured, didn’t give it to them. Merry Christmas, uninsured!

• DADT repeal activist Lt. Dan Choi handcuffed himself to a fence at the White House to protest the continuation of the policy. They were later arrested. The Human Rights Campaign issued a weird, contradictory statement about it.

• A lesser-publicized CBO analysis shows that the bailouts will cost $106 billion dollars, about $18 billion less than what the Obama Administration estimated.

• Polls, polls, polls: Charlie Crist is toast in Florida but Kendrick Meek has a real shot to win the general; Barbara Boxer is definitely in a race with her Republican counterparts in the Senate; John McCain really could have trouble in his primary with Man on Horse J.D. Hayworth; Dem Mark Critz has a narrow lead in a Republican poll in his special election in PA-12 (Jack Murtha’s seat).

• Jobless claims ticked slightly down but are still high enough to show job losses in March.

• Last year the Congress passed a law allowing the FDA to regulate tobacco in a variety of ways. Here are the new FDA rules arising from that process. They look really good.

• Dennis Kucinich is out and out whipping the health care vote these days.

• Hilarious threat of the day from Tom Coburn: “Don’t vote for the health care bill or I’ll put holds on everything!” Um, Tom, you ALREADY put holds on everything.

• Historians, who would know, lambasted the Texas school board’s proposed curriculum today.

• Christiane Amanpour is an incredibly good choice for ABC’s This Week, in fact a bold one. She’d get me to watch the Sunday morning talk shows again.

• Toning down the “war on drugs” rhetoric is a good step, but ending the medical marijuana raids – for real, this time – would be better.

• Spencer Ackerman 1, Abe Foxman 0. Who will introduce the resolution of condemnation against the ADL?

• Movement on Chinese currency manipulation?

• David Paterson was the source for the story that caused him to end his own election campaign?

• Public Equals Online is the organizing site for the new online transparency bill in Congress.