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Vice President Joe Biden is downplaying news the government Web site Recovery.gov reported hundreds of millions of stimulus dollars spent on projects in congressional districts that in fact do not actually exist.

(CNN) - Vice President Joe Biden is downplaying news the government Web site Recovery.gov reported hundreds of millions of stimulus dollars spent on projects in congressional districts that in fact do not actually exist.

The districts don't exist, but the projects do, Biden said Tuesday night.

And the administration isn't to blame - the fault lies with the nation's educational system.

In an appearance on The Daily Show, Biden said the errors - first reported by ABC News - do not indicate unaccounted-for spending but are rather the result of 70 people who are the product of "bad civics classes."

"Every single solitary penny that got sent out there to a state, a construction company, a nonprofit had to be accounted for," Biden told host Jon Stewart. "And it all got put on Recovery.gov. What happened was, out of 130,000 people reporting in what they did with the money…70 did not know how to count."

"There was bad civics classes for those 70 people," Biden continued. "They had to fill out a form, what district are you in, and there was no such district."

Biden said checkers are now going through the reports to determine the actual districts where the money was spent.

Palin is not happy with the latest Newsweek cover.

(CNN) - Sarah Palin's image is everywhere as she launches a highly-anticipated book tour this week, but the former Alaska governor is unhappy with at least one media organization's depiction of her.

Palin took aim at Newsweek's eye-catching cover this week that shows the former vice presidential candidate in her running outfit - an image that was apparently lifted from a Runner's World photo shoot months ago. Writing on her Facebook page Monday night, Palin said the depiction is flat out "sexist, and oh-so-expected."

"The choice of photo for the cover of this week's Newsweek is unfortunate. When it comes to Sarah Palin, this 'news' magazine has relished focusing on the irrelevant rather than the relevant," Palin wrote. "The out-of-context Newsweek approach is sexist, and oh-so-expected by now."

"If anyone can learn anything from it: it shows why you shouldn't judge a book by its cover, gender, or color of skin. The media will do anything to draw attention – even if out of context," Palin also said.

The photo is accompanied by text that states "How Do You Solve A Problem Like Sarah? She's bad news for the GOP - and for everybody else too."

Palin has held back few punches at the media in the initial stages of her publicity tour. The former governor slammed the Associated Press for its recent fact check that took issue with several of the memoir's contentions and, in her Oprah appearance that aired Monday, Palin slammed the way the media treated her family during the campaign.

The Alaska Republican also doesn't hold back in her book, writing at one point, "I had been out of journalism for a long time, and it was pretty obvious the rules had changed. I felt sick about the depths to which some in the press had apparently sunk, not because it was unfair to me and John, but because it was unfair to the American electorate."

UPDATE: Newsweek editor Jon Meacham is defending the image the magazine chose for its cover.

"We chose the most interesting image available to us to illustrate the theme of the cover, which is what we always try to do," he told CNN Tuesday. "We apply the same test to photographs of any public figure, male or female: does the image convey what we are saying? That is a gender-neutral standard."

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Ted Kennedy, Jr. is not making an endorsement in the race to succeed his father.

(CNN) – Ted Kennedy, Jr. said Tuesday he has no plans to endorse a candidate in the field of Democrats vying to replace his father in the U.S. Senate.

"It's hard for me to get excited, honestly, about it, because it's a tough emotional time," Kennedy told the Boston Globe.

A recent poll suggests Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley holds a clear lead in the primary battle with more than all three of her chief competitors combined. Given the state's political demographics, the winner of the Democratic primary is heavily favored to win the general election in January.

"People will make the best decision, I'm confident of that," Kennedy also said. "I know my dad always thought that elections were a great time to size people up. He had to go before the voters nine times, and he had faith in the process, so I'm sure the most qualified person will be elected to this job."

After his father's death in August, there was talk that Kennedy, 48, would pursue a bid to succeed him. While he ultimately ruled out that option, the younger Ted Kennedy told the Globe Tuesday that politics might still be in his future.

"This was not the time, for personal and family reasons," he said. "So close to my father's death, it just didn't feel right to me. But I would be interested down the road, when my kids get older, and I feel like I can bring more to the table through my experiences."

Palin talks about controversies and future with Oprah.

(CNN) – When Sarah Palin got a surprise phone call from the McCain campaign one August afternoon asking if she'd like to be on the Republican presidential ticket, the then-Alaska governor didn't doubt for a moment she was ready for the challenge.

"When I got the call, it was not such a shocking call to me," Palin told talk-show host Oprah Winfrey in a highly anticipated interview that aired Monday. "I felt quite confident in my abilities and my executive experience and I knew that this is an executive administrative job. I was happy to get in there and contribute."

Nor was Palin deterred by the fact she had five kids at home, including an infant with special needs.

"It never occurred to me that I couldn't do the job because of children," she said. "My children are my strength. ... They allow me to be grounded."

But what did shock Palin was just how much the campaign knew about her and her family before she even formally met with Sen. John McCain to discuss the job. Contrary to what was reported in the media, Palin said, she was extensively vetted and the campaign knew exactly "who they were getting."

Full story

Coakley is leading in a new poll.

(CNN) – Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley holds a clear lead in that state's U.S. Senate Democratic primary contest, according to a new poll out Thursday.

The Suffolk University/WHDH-T.V. survey of likely primary voters shows Coakley at 44 percent, more than the support of all her competitors combined. Boston Celtics co-owner Steve Pagliuca stands at 17 percent,

Rep. Michael Capuano is at 16 percent, and Boston businessman Alan Khazei registered 3 percent in the survey.

But the race isn't necessarily over: 20 percent of likely voters remain undecided, and more voters say Pagliuca is running the best campaign.

On the Republican side, State Sen. Scott Brown has a big lead over Jack E. Robinsion, 45 percent to 7 percent. Nearly 50 percent of voters remain undecided.

The primaries - to determine who will vie to fill the seat long held by the late Sen. Ted Kennedy - are set for December 8.

The poll surveyed 600 Massachusetts residents AND was conducted from November 4-8. It has as has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.

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Oprah and Palin are revealing some details of their big interview.

(CNN) - Sarah Palin enjoyed her highly-anticipated sit down with talk show host Oprah Winfrey so much that the two went "way over time," the former Alaska governor wrote on her Facebook Page.

But Palin gave few details of what the two discussed for more than hour, saying only that Winfrey was "very hospitable and gracious."

The former Republican vice presidential nominee also praised the show's studio audience, which she said was "full of warm, energized and (no doubt) curious viewers."

Meanwhile, Winfrey was a little more forthcoming with details of the interview, revealing in a Web video late Wednesday that the two "talked about everything."

"We talked about inside the campaign, what it felt like when she was first asked to be vice president. We talked about Bristol, the pregnancy. We talked about Trig, her baby. We talked about Levi Johnston. We talked about her marriage…there's nothing we didn't talk about."

The interview will air on Monday, a day before Palin's memoir "Going Rogue: An American Life" is released.

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Washington (CNN) – Dede Scozzafava, the Republican New York assemblywoman who gave up her bid for a House seat late last month, is decrying the "vicious" attacks she underwent from people within her own party.

"The attacks were pretty vicious, especially since it was coming from people that identified themselves as Republicans," Scozzafava told CNN's John Roberts on American Morning Wednesday. "So that was difficult to overcome."

Scozzafava ultimately gave up her bid in New York's special congressional elections for the 23rd district after conservatives rallied around third-party candidate Doug Hoffman and charged Scozzafava was too liberal on a host of issues including government spending, taxes, and abortion rights.

Scozzafava, who maintains she is not as liberal as her critics claim, endorsed the Democrat in the race who ultimately went on to victory - the first time a Democrat won in that district in over 100 years.

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Gov. Pawlenty will be visiting New Hampshire next month.

(CNN) - Next month, Gov. Tim Pawlenty is heading to New Hampshire, the latest presidential proving ground the Minnesota Republican will have visited this fall.

Pawlenty will keynote a $50-per-person fundraiser for the state's Republican Senate Majority Committee in Concord on December 16 in what could be seen as an effort to build early support in the key primary state.

The planned trip comes on the heels of a foray to Iowa last weekend, where Pawlenty headlined the state GOP's annual leadership dinner, one of the two major annual events for the state party.

Pawlenty announced this past summer he would not seek a second gubernatorial term in 2012, fueling speculation he is setting his sights on a presidential bid instead.

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Huckabee wants to be taken seriously.

(CNN) – There's a likely GOP 2012 presidential candidate who is a former governor, darling of the party's conservative base, and the leader of nearly every early presidential poll.

And his name is not Sarah Palin.

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, whose upstart presidential campaign toppled Mitt Romney in Iowa and nearly brought down John McCain in South Carolina last year, wants people to know he's every bit as serious as other potential presidential aspirants, and suggested there's a double standard when it comes to how some in his party treat him and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.

"Some of the people who had excoriated me and really been very dismissive of me for views that I had taken, and labeled me anything from a populist to an ignoramus - the same people have been very defensive [of] and laudatory to Sarah Palin," Huckabee told Politico in an article published Monday.

I'm a very serious person," he also said. "I may not be dour, but I'm serious."

The former two-term Arkansas governor has expressed criticism of Palin before, suggesting her abrupt resignation of the Alaska governorship may suggest she's not ready to handle the pressures of a hardscrabble presidential primary campaign.

"If she's looking to be a national political figure, it's not going to get easier," he said in July. "In a primary this is going to be an issue she'll have to face. Will she be able to withstand the pressure?"

In many respects, Huckabee should be considered the early favorite in what already appears to be a crowded field of 2012 Republican contenders. He consistently leads Palin and his old rival Romney in presidential polls and has maintained a legion of faithful followers. He's also out with a new book this month and a concurrent book tour through some of the country's most conservative townships - including some in politically important Iowa.

Huckabee was also the winner of a recent Values Voter Summit straw poll, grabbing nearly 29 percent of the vote in a crowded field that, in addition to Palin and Romney, included Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, Indiana Rep. Mike Pence, House Speaker Newt Gingrich, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, Texas Rep. Ron Paul, and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum.

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Palin is again saying the new health care bill will establish 'death panels.'

(CNN) - Sarah Palin is returning to the two words widely credited with helping to spur angry town-halls on health care reform over the summer: "death panels."

In a Facebook post over the weekend, the former Alaska governor launched into a torrent of criticism about the recently-passed House health care reform bill, including the notion "bureaucratic panels" will ultimately decide who lives and who dies.

"We had been told there were no 'death panels' in the bill either," Palin wrote in the post. "But look closely at the provision mandating bureaucratic panels that will be calling the shots regarding who will receive government health care."

Palin initially backed the death panel claim early last August in comments that sparked many of her supporters, and critics of the health care reform bill as a whole, to publicly express their disapproval at heated town-hall forums across the country.

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The Club For Growth officially backed Marco Rubio in the Florida Senate race.

(CNN) – The conservative Club For Growth formally endorsed former Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio Monday over the Republican Party's choice of current Gov. Charlie Crist in that state's Senate primary race, setting the stage for what again could be a bitter intra-party battle within the GOP.

"Marco Rubio is the real deal, one of the brightest young stars in American politics today, and a proven champion of economic liberty," Club President Chris Chocola said in a statement. "He is a dynamic spokesman for the principles of limited government and economic freedom, and he will make a fantastic senator."

The endorsement is not surprising, especially after The group launched a television ad last week attacking Crist for claiming recently on CNN he did not endorse President Obama's stimulus measure back in February.  In fact, Crist did attend a rally with the president during which he hailed the measure as one that will "reignit[e] the economy."

"Charlie Crist has repeatedly joined with big government liberals on major economic issues facing America today, from taxes to spending to cap-and-trade," Chocola said. "He represents the wrong direction for our economy and our nation."

The endorsement comes weeks after The Club spent upwards of $1 million in a special New York congressional election on behalf of a third-party conservative over the Republican Party-backed candidate. When the Democrat ultimately won what had been a longtime reliably Republican district, those conservatives faced fire from some in the GOP for language that seemed to push moderates away.

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Armey says the health care reform bill will stifle innovation.

(CNN) - Dick Armey, the former House majority leader whose leadership of FreedomWorks has proved vital to organizing opposition to Democrats' health care reform efforts, told CNN Monday the recently-passed House health care bill could cripple the entire pharmaceutical industry.

"You go right back to Shakespeare, who first said, 'If it can't be sold for a profit, it's not worth writing,' or take Thomas Edison's reiteration of it, 'If it can't be sold for a profit, it's not worth inventing,'" Armey told CNN's John Roberts on American Morning. "If the government is going to control what it is, whether it can be distributed, what it is, what price it can be sold, you will disincentive the whole process of research. We've seen it before and we'll see it again."

The Texas Republican also said the government should not force health insurance companies to insure individuals who have not been responsible with their own health.

"Now [the government] comes along and says, 'Irrespective of the fact they've gone 20, 30, 40 years of their adult life without ever having bought insurance prior to getting a liver inflammation due to their excessive drinking habits or diabetes because they eat like a pig, you must now insure them,'" Armey said.

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Obama is taking heat for skipping the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.'

(CNN) - Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is taking aim at President Obama's decision not to travel to Germany next week to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, the latest in a string of conservatives to criticize Obama's decision to skip the ceremony on November 9.

"Some consider President Obama's refusal to attend the commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall in Germany next week an outrage, I consider it a tragedy." Gingrich wrote in an op-ed published Friday in The Washington Examiner.

"To commemorate, after all, is to remember. And Americans need to remember, not just that the Wall fell, but why it fell," Gingrich added. "We need to remember that the Berlin Wall was the symbol of more than just the Cold War, more than just the division of Europe."

While the president had originally planned to be on hand for the event, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs confirmed earlier this week scheduling conflicts and preparation for his impending 10-day trip to Asia have instead caused Obama to stay in Washington.

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Paterson is going up early with two campaign ads.

(CNN) - In what may be an effort to quiet speculation he will drop his bid for a full term, embattled New York Gov. David Paterson is hitting the airwaves with a major ad buy intended to reintroduce himself to voters.

Just under a year before Election Day, the New York Democrat is going up with two ads statewide that highlight his unique biography and address his critics head on.

"Some say I shouldn't be running for governor," Paterson says in one of the ads, called 'Some say.' "It might have been easier if all I thought about was running for governor. But I think it's more important to do what's right for the people of New York."

The second ad, called "When," notes the governor's blindness and the lessons he has learned from both his successes and failures throughout life.

"When you become governor, you learn you will make mistakes," the ad's narrator states. "But in the depths of a historic recession you take what you have learned and have the strength to do what's right."

Tracy Sefl, a spokeswoman for Paterson, said the commercials will run for several weeks and constitute a "multi-million dollar" ad buy.

The early and expensive advertising blitz is perhaps a gamble for Paterson, whose approval rating stands at 30 percent, according to a recent Quinnipiac University poll. Paterson also trails New York Attorney Gen. Andrew Cuomo by more than 40 points in a hypothetical 2010 Democratic primary match up, according to that poll. Cuomo has not yet announced whether he will challenge Paterson.

But Sefl brushed aside suggestions the campaign is in danger of burning through its coffers before most voters are paying attention, noting they have already received an "incredible response" from supporters who had seen the ads.

"Voters want to hear his story," Sefl said.

Paterson was lieutenant governor when a scandal led to then-Gov. Eliot Spitzer's departure from the office in March 2008.

Palin will bypass several major cities in her upcoming book tour.

(CNN) - Those living in the country's biggest cities who hope to catch a glimpse of Sarah Palin while she is on her much-anticipated book tour may be disappointed: the former Alaska governor will instead hit a string of mid-size cities, many of which voted for her and John McCain last November.

According to Harper Collins, the publisher of Palin's forthcoming memoir "Going Rogue," Palin will bypass several of the major cities that are often the pillars of any big book tour, including Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, New York, and Philadelphia.

Palin's schedule instead takes the former Republican vice presidential candidate to smaller - and in many cases more conservative - cities like Fort Wayne, Indiana, Washington, Pennsylvania, Roanoke, Virginia, and Jacksonville, Florida.

Palin will kick off the tour in Grand Rapids, Michigan on November 18, one day after her book is released. The choice of Michigan to begin her cross-country blitz may be no accident: Palin publicly disagreed with the McCain campaign's decision to pull its resources out of that key battleground state a month before the election - one of the initial moves that led anonymous McCain operatives to declare Palin was "going rogue."

The first week of the tour will take Palin thorough Indiana (Fort Wayne and Noblesville), Ohio (Cincinnati and Columbus) New York (Rochester), Virginia (Roanoke), North Carolina (Fayetteville), Alabama (Birmingham), and Florida (Jacksonville, The Villages, and Orlando).

A spokeswoman for Harper Collins tells CNN more cities could be added to that list.

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Crist told CNN Wednesday he never endorsed the president's stimulus measure.

(CNN) – Florida Gov. Charlie Crist tells CNN he never endorsed President Obama's $787 billion stimulus measure, in what appears to be the latest effort by the Florida Republican to distance himself from the president as he seeks his party's Senate nomination.

"I didn't endorse it. I didn't even have a vote on the darned thing," Crist told CNN's Wolf Blitzer in an interview Wednesday on The Situation Room. "But I understood that it was going to pass and I wanted to be able to utilize it for the benefit of my fellow Floridians."

The comments came a day after former Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio, Crist's conservative challenger for the GOP nomination, launched a Web site featuring a photograph of the governor appearing with President Obama at a Florida rally for the stimulus measure last February.

Text under the image reads, "Get the picture? Donate now to stand up for conservative principles."

Crist was one of only a handful of Republican governors to publicly extend some support to the president's $787 billion stimulus package – a move that rankled some conservatives in his home state and across the country.

Watch:  Crist extends support for stimulus measure

In the interview with CNN, Crist called the move a "pragmatic" one given that the bill was certain to pass and his state stood to benefit from federal dollars.

"That was back in February, less than a month after the president was sworn into office, the first time he visits our state," Crist said. "And I was pragmatic, I think, about what we needed to do. Everybody knew the bill was going to pass."

"I, like all other Republican governors, utilized that money for the benefit of the people in my state. And that's what a pragmatic conservative does - a CEO, if you will, of a state does that," Crist also said.

But Crist appeared considerably more enthusiastic about the spending measure at the Florida rally on February 10 when he was introducing the president.

"It's getting harder every day, and we know that it's important that we pass this stimulus package," he said then with the president by his side. "It's important that we do so to help education, to help our infrastructure, and to help healthcare for those who need it most - the most vulnerable."

"This is not about partisan politics, this is about rising above that, helping America, and reigniting our economy," Crist also said then. (video below)

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Clinton and Bush are set to appear at Radio City Music Hall Wednesday.

(Update 4 pm ET: A Clinton spokesman confirms to CNN the event has now been canceled. Full story)

(CNN) - Former Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton are set to appear at Radio City Music Hall in February - though if history is any guide, the matchup is likely to produce few fireworks.

The famous New York City venue announced Wednesday the two former presidents will share the same stage February 25, nine months after the ex-presidents shared a similar stage in Toronto, Canada.

A ticket to what Radio City is calling "the hottest political ticket in history" will cost anywhere form $60 to $1,250. Though $1,250 may seem on steep side for the 90 minute event, a VIP ticket includes a pre-show reception with the two former presidents along with the evening's yet-to-be-announced moderator. Cocktails and hors d'oeuvres will also be served and each guest will have a chance to pose with the former commanders-in-chief.

The two were largely chummy during the last joint appearance at the Toronto event in May. At one point, former President Bush joked that his mother, Barbara Bush, told him Clinton "was like a son to her" because of all the time he was spending with Bush's father.

"So brother, it's good to see you," Bush said then.

During that event, at which tickets cost an eye-popping $2,500, Clinton also showered praise on the former president on a host of issues.

"What he did on the AIDS drugs and the diversity in the cabinet … he deserves a lot of credit," he said.

The New York event is likely to be a lucrative one for both former presidents - each usually charge well over $100,000 in appearance fees. But Radio City isn't officially disclosing how much the former president's are being compensated.

Matt McKenna, a spokesman for former President Clinton, made clear the New York event will not be a heated debate.

"Just a moderated conversation...no fireworks," he said.

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Carly Fiorina is running for Senate.

Updated at 1:30 p.m. ET with Fiorina's remarks

(CNN) - Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina finally made it official Wednesday: She's running for Senate in California.

The first woman to lead a Fortune 500 company made the announcement at an event in conservative Orange County, pledging her focus will be on "economic recovery and fiscal accountability."

"The decisions made in Washington impact every family and every business, of any size, in America. Throughout my career I've brought people together and solved problems and that is what I plan to do in government-set aside ego and partisanship and work to develop solutions to our problems," she told supporters.

"I will not settle for a jobless recovery and we must start the important work of getting our financial house back in order," Fiorina added. "Washington must show discipline to cut spending and create policies that encourage and empower businesses and put people back to work."

Fiorina, considered to be a moderate Republican with little history on social issues, will face off against conservative California Assemblyman Chuck DeVore for the GOP nomination. In a friendly statement Wednesday, DeVore said he looks forward "to engaging [her] on the issues Californians care about."

A recent Field poll suggested both Fiorina and DeVore polled at about 20 percent, with 60 percent of Republican voters undecided.

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Full story

Palin reveled details of her book tour on Facebook.

(CNN) - Sarah Palin says she's gearing up for her highly anticipated book tour later this month, writing on Facebook Tuesday she is "very, very excited to travel the country as she promotes her forthcoming memoir, "Going Rogue: An American Life."

The former Alaska governor hinted she'd likely sit down with a string of friendly faces during the tour that begins in two weeks, a list of conservative television hosts that include Fox's Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity, and Glenn Beck. She also wants to appear with Fox host Greta Van Susteren.

Palin added she'll likely appear on the radio programs of conservative talkers Rush Limbaugh, Mark Levin, Dennis Miller, and Laura Ingraham, and Tammy Bruce.

The former Republican vice presidential nominee already has a high-profile sit down on The Oprah Winfrey Show November 16 - the day before her memoir is released.

The Alaska Republican said she also wants to sit down with legendary interviewer Barbara Walters during the tour.

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