The Note’s Must-Reads for Friday, September 18, 2009

The Note’s Must-Reads are a round-up of today’s political headlines and stories from ABC News and the top U.S. newspapers. Posted Monday through Friday right here at www.abcnews.com

Compiled by ABC News Desk Assistants PETER MARTINEZ, JAYCE HENDERSON, KRISTEN RED-HORSE, CARRIE HALPERIN, CLAUDIA MORALES and DOMINIK TAO

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PRESIDENT OBAMA & HEALTH CARE:

ABC News’ Jonathan Karl: “Health Care Battle Intensifies Despite Baucus’” LINK

Politico’s Carrie Budoff Brown: “Left and right plot Baucus bill” LINK

Politico’s Nia-Malika Henderson: “Michelle Obama turns to health care” LINK

The Los Angeles Times’ Noam N. Levey: “Splitting healthcare tab is a balancing act” LINK

Time’s Jay Newton-Small: “5 Things Dems Don’t Like About the Baucus Bill” <a href=http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1924350,00.htmlv
Newsweek’s Holly Bailey: “What You Need to Know About the Baucus Proposal” LINK

The Wall Street Journal’s Greg Hitt: “Baucus Will Tinker With Health Bill to Mollify Critics” LINK

Bloomberg’s Patrick Cole and Thomas R. Keene: “Bill Clinton Says Obama Will Prevail on Health-Care Overhaul” LINK

The New York Times’ Jackie Calmes: “Rockefeller Stands Up for Liberals on Health Care” LINK

The New York Times’ Robert Pear and David Herszenhorn: “New Tax in Senate Health Plan Draws Bipartisan Fire” LINK

The Washington Post’s Shailagh Murray and Lori Montgomery: “Affordability Is Major Challenge for Reform” LINK

The Washington Post’s Ceci Connolly: “Obama to Speed Up Tort Reform Tests” LINK

The Washington Post’s Anne Kornblut and Megan Greenwell: “At U-Md., Obama Calls on Young Adults to Back Heath-Care” LINK

PRESIDENT OBAMA & HIS ADMINISTRATION:

USA Today on Politics: “Network rounds mean no rest on Sunday for Obama” LINK

The Los Angeles Times’ Ann Gerhart: “Obama honors heroism in Afghan war” LINK

The New York Times’ Cornelia Dean: “Obama Seeks National Oversight of Waters” LINK

The New York Times’ Jeff Zeleny: “Medal of Honor Is Given to Hero of Afghan Battle” LINK

The New York Times’ Mark Leibovich: “Obama the Omnipresent” LINK

MISSILE-DEFENSE SYSTEM:

ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos: “McCain Calls Obama’s Missile Defense Move ‘Seriously Misguided’ But Will It Work?” LINK

ABC News’ Luis Martinez, Martha Raddatz, and Ann Compton: “Obama: New European Missile Plan will Strengthen U.S. Defenses” LINK

USA Today’s Ken Dilanian: “Obama scraps Bush missile-defense plan” LINK

The Wall Street Journal’s Marc Champion and Peter Spiegel: “U.S. Missile U-Turn Roils Allies” LINK

Bloomberg’s Janine Zacharia: “Obama Missile Defense Move Wins Russia Praise, No Shift on Iran” LINK

The New York Times’ Peter Baker: “White House Scraps Bush’s Approach to Missile Shield” LINK

The Los Angeles Times’ Julian E. Barnes and Greg Miller: “Obama overturns Bush-era plan for missile shield in Eastern Europe” LINK

ECONOMY / STIMULUS:

USA Today’s Dennis Cauchon: “Incomes of young in 8-year nose dive” LINK

The Washington Times’ David M. Dickson: “Economist expects U.S. recovery to speed up” LINK

The Wall Street Journal’s “John D. Mckinnon: “Panel Probing Crisis Adds to Role” LINK

Bloomberg’s Mike Dorning: “Americans Plan to Limit Spending on Recovery Concern” LINK

PRESIDENT OBAMA AND FOREIGN AFFAIRS:

USA Today’s Kevin McCoy: “Mexico asks U.S. for help in finding hidden assets in U.S. banks” LINK

The New York Times’ David Sanger and William Broad: “New Plan Cuts Back Reagan’s Vision but Not Basis in Politics” LINK

ACORN:

The Associated Press: “House votes to defund ACORN” LINK

The Hill’s Molly K. Hooper and Walter Alarkon: “House votes to de-fund ACORN” LINK

The Washington Times’ Sonny Bunch: “How rogue conservative filmmakers took down ACORN” LINK

The Wall Street Journal’s Brody Mullins and Jake Sherman: “Acorn May Cut Voter-Registration Work” LINK

The New York Times’ Carl Hulse: “House Prohibits Federal Money to Acorn” LINK

VACANT SENATE SEAT:

The Boston Globe’s Matt Viser: “House backs an interim senator” LINK

Bloomberg’s Tom Moroney: “Appointment Measure for Kennedy Seat Advances in Massachusetts” LINK

The Boston Herald’s Hillary Chabot: “Successor bill advances in House” LINK

The Boston Herald’s Edward Mason: “Stephen Pagliuca vows pursuit of Senate seat serious” LINK

The Boston Herald’s Dave Wedge and Edward Mason: “Candidate swings big bucks for GOP” LINK

The New York Times’ Abby Goodnough: “Plan for a Kennedy Successor Advances” LINK

ENERGY & THE ENVIRONMENT:

The Washington Times’ Helene Franchineau: “Bangladeshi fears land will vanish” LINK

ARMED FORCES / TROOPS / AFGHANISTAN:

Time’s Joe Klein: “The Afghanistan Problem: Why Are We in Helmand?” LINK

CONGRESS:

ABC News’ Mary Bruce and Rachel Martin: “House Passes Student Loan Overhaul” LINK

The Hill’s Kim Hart: “FCC chief gets new net neutrality support in House from Waxman” LINK

The Wall Street Journal’s Jake Sherman: “House Ethics Panel Probes Rep. Waters” LINK

The Wall Street Journal’s Corey Boles and Robert Tomsho: “Bill Upends System for College Loans” LINK

The New York Times’ Tamar Lewin: “House Passes Bill to Expand College Aid” LINK

The Washington Post’s Paul Kane: “Pelosi Says Anti-Obama Rhetoric Sounds Familiar” LINK

The Washington Post’s Ellen Nakashima: “Intelligence Oversight Bill Faces Obstacles” LINK

UNITED NATIONS:

Politico’s Laura Rozen: “Hot off the presses: Revised U.S. UN arms control resolution” LINK

DEMOCRATS / REPUBLICANS:

Politico’s Andy Barr: “NFL kicks in big for GOP” LINK

Politico’s Michael Falcone: “Massachusetts mulls Senator Dukakis” LINK

Politico’s Josh Kraushaar: “Obama endorses Bennet” LINK

OTHER MUST-READS:

ABC News’ Karen Travers: “Yay for Vegetables!”—First Lady Drops by New DC Farmers’ Market to Buy Produce, Promote Healthy Eating” LINK

Politico’s Carol E. Lee: “Hispanic group to CNN: Rein in Dobbs” LINK

The Boston Globe’s Carolyn Y. Johnson: “Spotting a terrorist” LINK

The Wall Street Journal’s Alicia Mundy: “Many U.S. Health Officials Outearn Cabinet Secretaries” LINK

ABC NEWS VIDEOS:

“Obama’s Nuke Diplomacy Under Fire” LINK

“Sebelius Reprimands Reporter for Sneeze” LINK

“First Lady Promotes Wellness: ‘Yay Vegetables’” LINK

“Sen. John McCain Blasts Missile Defense Decision” LINK

“Pelosi Chokes Up Amid Fears of Political Violence” LINK

“Obama to Shelve U.S. Missile Defense Plan” LINK