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In Today’s Times:

– President Obama is proposing to throw a lifeline to states that have borrowed billions of dollars from the federal government to continue paying unemployment benefits during the economic downturn. Michael Cooper and Sheryl Gay Stolberg report that his plan would give the states a two-year breather before automatic tax increases would hit employers, and before states would have to start paying interest on the loans. But Republicans on the Hill reacted coolly to the idea.

–Binyamin Appelbaum describes how President Obama and House Republicans are engaged in a game of chicken over the future of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the mortgage giants taken over by the federal government in 2008 at the height of the financial crisis. The White House is expected to outline a range of options on Friday that would eliminate or scale back the government-sponsored entities. Meanwhile, House Republicans will hold a hearing this afternoon to weigh alternatives.

–Jennifer Steinhauer looks at how Republicans are resurrecting the issue of abortion, and how Democrats are fighting back with a charge that Republicans leveled at them in the last Congress: that they are distracted with policy objectives and neglecting the fragile economy.

–Robert Pear explains a developing struggle between the Federal Trade Commission and the Justice Department over who should police the cooperatives encouraged by the new health care law. The agencies normally work together to enforce the nation’s antitrust laws, but a Republican member of the trade panel has voiced skepticism about the agencies’ ability to protect consumers.

–When the Conservative Political Action Committee opens its annual conference on Thursday in Washington, several potential Republican contenders for the presidency will heed what is essentially the opening bell for the 2012 race. Jeff Zeleny explains how the forum offers prospective candidates like Gov. Haley Barbour of Mississippi and former Gov. Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota an opportunity to distinguish themselves.

–Mark Landler and Helene Cooper explain how anxieties among Egypt’s neighbors are influencing the Obama administration’s diplomatic response to Cairo’s political turmoil.

–Michelle Obama has been crisscrossing the nation for her campaign to reduce childhood obesity and encourage healthy eating habits. Sheryl Gay Stolberg reports that the first lady is now preparing to take her fitness message abroad.

Around the Web:

–While lawmakers look for ways to pare the federal budget, taxpayers are expected to fork over more than $26 million this year to pay former lawmakers’ pensions, Roll Call reports.

Happening in Washington:

–Ben S. Bernanke, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, testifies at 10 a.m. before the House Budget Committee on the state of the economy.

–At the same time, Janet Napolitano, the secretary of Homeland Security, addresses the House Homeland Security Committee on the threat of homegrown terrorism.

–Mr. Obama will host a private lunch this afternoon with House Republican leaders: Speaker John Boehner of Ohio; Eric Cantor of Virginia, the majority leader, and Kevin McCarthy of California, the majority whip. Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. will join them.

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The ever-expanding media-publicity empire that is headed by former Gov.  Sarah Palin of Alaska got a bit larger Monday with the official release of her second book, “America by Heart.”

Some parts of the book had leaked earlier, prompting Twitter messages from Ms. Palin complaining about illegal publishing activity.

But now the book is fully available for perusal by anyone.

It is dedicated to her younger son Trig, and begins with the sentence: “Do you love your freedom?” As the subtitle of the book suggests, it is primarily full of “Reflections on Family, Faith and Flag.”

It is also a road map to the kinds of political attacks that Ms. Palin would most likely use against President Obama should she decide to run for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012.

The book is clearly not a vehicle for venting the intraparty feud that will by necessity come before a general election campaign. Of her likely Republican opponents, only former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts and Newt Gingrich, the former House speaker, are mentioned — and both in a positive way. The rest — former Gov. Mike Huckabee of Arkansas, Gov. Mitch Daniels of Indiana, Gov. Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota, Gov. Haley Barbour of Mississippi and others — receive nary a word in the book.

Mr. Obama’s name, by contrast, appears 44 times (eight as part of the term “Obamacare”).

Among the criticisms Ms. Palin levels at Mr. Obama and his White House:

*  Mr. Obama and the Democratic Party think “something is wrong with our country and what we value. So they are hell-bent on changing it.”

* Mr. Obama  favors judges who will follow their hearts rather than the law. In this charge, she dusts off Mr. Obama’s comments about the need to have judges who base their decisions, in part, on empathy. (Ms. Palin inaccurately says Mr. Obama made the remarks as president. In fact, they were from 2005, when as a senator he voted against confirming John G. Roberts to the Supreme Court.)

* Some people believe America that is a fundamentally unjust and unequal country, and “Barack Obama seems to believe this, too,” Ms. Palin writes, raising repeated questions about his love for his country. She also recalls Michelle Obama’s comments during the 2008 campaign, saying Mrs. Obama “never felt proud of her country until her husband started winning elections.”

*  The president’s tendency to apologize to foreign leaders is suspect, Ms. Palin writes: “I think that Americans are tired of Obama’s global apology tour and of hearing about what a weak country America is from left-wing professors and journalists.”

* Ms. Palin appears disturbed by Mr. Obama’s answer to a question about “American exceptionalism,” posed by a reporter during the president’s first major trip abroad. She notes his answer, that he believes in American exceptionalism in the same way that “the Brits believe in British exceptionalism and the Greeks believe in Greek exceptionalism.” Later she adds, “When President Obama insists that all countries are exceptional, he’s saying that none is, least of all the country he leads.”

* The $787 billion stimulus that Mr. Obama pushed through Congress was an example of “bribing the states to surrender their rights.”

* Mr. Obama’s health care reform has produced untold numbers of unfunded mandates and regulations, she writes. “In the process, America has come to be less a federal republic than a 50-state colony of Washington, D.C.”

Ms. Palin is scheduled to take the new book on tour during the next several weeks, and if history is a guide, she will generate huge crowds in each of the 16 cities she plans to visit.

“The question going forward, is how?” she asks in her concluding chapter. “How do we embrace our exceptionalism at home and abroad? How do we take this great awakening among the American people and turn it into a positive force for reclaiming our country and our heritage?”

She adds, “Like so many Americans, I have been thinking about this a lot lately.”

But it remains far from clear from her latest literary endeavor whether Ms. Palin truly wants to campaign for office again, or whether she is more interested in the political commentary that she offers in the book and on Fox News.

One of the pictures in the book is of her and the Fox host Glenn Beck, posing together near the Statue of Liberty.

“Glenn and I share an appreciation for Lady Liberty,” she writes. “America’s most famous symbol for freedom-loving immigrants serves as an inspiration to all: America, continue to be exceptional, hard-working, faithful and free.”

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Gov. Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota has been gearing up for a bid for the Republican presidential nomination for months. He chose not to run for re-election as governor. He has hit the early-state circuit. Everything is ready once he leaves office on Jan. 3.

Except for this: He may not be able to leave.

Under Minnesota law, the governor’s term extends as long as it takes to swear in a  successor, even if a recount takes months. And that could just happen.

The race to replace Mr. Pawlenty between the Democrat Mark Dayton and the Republican Tom Emmer ended last Tuesday in what is becoming a regular outcome in the North Star state — a virtual tie. Out of about 2.1 million votes cast, Mr. Dayton leads Mr. Emmer by about 8,500 votes, less than the half-percentage point margin that mandates an automatic recount.

That recount will start on Nov. 27 and is scheduled to last until early December, at which point the trailing candidate could choose to challenge the recount by filing a lawsuit. Mr. Emmer’s advisers and state Republicans have made it clear they will do so if they feel they have a legitimate case.

“If we are behind and we think that there are issues with the recount, we could file a contest,” said Tony Sutton, the chairman of the Republican Party of Minnesota. “We’re not looking to kick this past the first of the year. We are not going to do things to throw stuff against the law and see what sticks.”

In 2008, a recount in the race between the Democratic senate candidate Al Franken and the incumbent Republican Norm Coleman took eight months and ended only when Mr. Franken was sworn in on July 7, 2009.

If that were to happen this time around – possible, though not exactly likely — Mr. Pawlenty’s presidential ambitions could be put on hold for months as he sits in the governor’s mansion. In a statement after the election, Mr. Pawlenty said that “I will continue to serve as governor until a new governor takes the oath.”

The margin between Mr. Dayton and Mr. Enmmer is much larger than it was in Mr. Franken’s Senate race, and even Republicans in the state privately think it’s unlikely to drag out for that long again.

But if it did, what would that mean for Mr. Pawlenty and his presidential hopes?

It could present an opportunity for Mr. Pawlenty, who is not well known around the country, to raise his profile. With the state’s Legislature soon to be in Republican control and headed back into session on Jan. 4, Mr. Pawlenty could theoretically be sitting in the governor’s chair, ready to sign into law some legislation that conservative primary voters might find appealing.

Such a move would generate controversy – and much-needed national news media attention – since it would amount to a lame-duck Republican governor pushing a conservative agenda with the possibility of a Democratic governor waiting in the wings. That could be just the kind of story that Mr. Pawlenty needs to bolster his credentials with Tea Party supporters.

But gaming the political system that way may offend the voters of Minnesota, not to mention others. In an interview this week, Mr. Pawlenty said that he would not seek to quickly sign any major legislation before the next governor is known. And the incoming state House speaker has promised not to try and ram legislation through for Mr. Pawlenty’s signature.

“If there was a holdover situation, it’s not something you try to exploit,” Mr. Pawlenty said.

Being in St. Paul instead of out on the 2012 campaign trail might not be how Mr. Pawlenty’s advisers would like to begin the year. But either way, the two-term — and maybe a bit more — Minnesota governor has a plan for January he intends to keep: a book tour that aides promise will happen one way or the other.

“Courage to Stand: An American Story” is due out in bookstores on Jan. 11.

Jeff Zeleny contributed reporting.

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The libertarian Cato Institute is out with its report card today, and it could provide a major boost for the presidential prospects of Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, who earned an A. According to its website, Cato is “dedicated to the principles of individual liberty, limited government, free markets and peace.” Just four governors received an [...]

Minnesota Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty is widely considered a likely candidate to run for president in 2012, and has thus, been savaged for sagging poll numbers in his home state. (Some of this has been attributed to his having spent too much time outside the state. The DNC even compiled a video of news clips [...]

The race to succeed outgoing Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty remains a dead heat between former Democratic Sen. Mark Dayton and Republican state Rep. Tom Emmer, according to a SurveyUSA poll conducted Sept. 12-14. Dayton leads Emmer by 38 percent to 36 percent with 18 percent for Independence Party candidate Tom Horner. Five percent prefer another [...]