The Note’s Must-Reads for Friday, October 23, 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 JAYCE HENDERSON, PETER MARTINEZ, KRISTEN RED-HORSE, CLAUDIA MORALES, CARRIE HALPERIN and DOMINICK TAO

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HEALTH CARE:

ABC News’ Huma Khan: “Health Care Reform Would Entail Major Changes for Americans” LINK

ABC News’ Jonathan Karl: “Public Option: It’s Back” LINK

The New York Times’ Robert Pear and David Herszenhorn: “Senate Leader Takes Risk Pushing Public Insurance Plan” LINK

The Washington Post’s Lori Montgomery and Shailagh Murray: “Lawmakers warm to the public option” LINK

The Washington Post’s Ceci Connolly: “In Massachusetts, Obama won’t promote state’s plan” LINK

Time’s Karen Tumulty and Michael Scherer: “How Drug-Industry Lobbyists Won on Health-Care” LINK

Newsweek’s Katie Connolly: “Medicare Bill Fails Because of Nervous Democrats” LINK

The Wall Street Journal’s Greg Hitt and Janet Adamy: “Offer to Let States Opt Out of Health Plan Gains Support” LINK

Bloomberg’s Laura Litvan and Catherine Dodge: “Snowe Rejects Public Option as Senate Democrats Weigh Measure” LINK

Bloomberg’s Kristin Jensen and James Rowley: “House Targets Insurers on Antitrust, Public Option” LINK

The Los Angeles Times' Shari Roan: “H1N1 vaccine a tough sell to pregnant women” LINK

The Washington Times' Jennifer Haberkorn and Kara Rowland: “Health public option to stay on table” LINK

The Hill's Alexander Bolton: “Healthcare for Christmas: Reid under pressure to go slow” LINK

Gannet Washington Bureau's Nicole Gaudiano: "Debate rages over public option" LINK

The Associated Press' David Espo: "Senate bill may have public insurance plan" LINK

Boston Globe's Political Intelligence: "Public option gains momentum" LINK

PRESIDENT OBAMA AND HIS ADMINISTRATION:

The New York Times’ Jim Rutenberg: “Behind the War Between White House and Fox” LINK

The Boston Herald’s Edward Mason and Hillary Chabot: “Bay State liberals shun Barack Obama’s visit” LINK

The Washington Times' Stephen Dinan: “Czar war escalates between Congress, W.H.” LINK

The Washington Times' Matthew Mosk: “Biden: U.S. committed to NATO” LINK

The Associated Press: "Obama signs law on veterans’ care funding" LINK

FOREIGN AFFAIRS:

ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos: “Biden Ally: Obama Team Got Bush’s Afghanistan Report But Didn’t Put Much Stock In It” LINK

Politico’s Laura Rozen: “Special liaison: Holbrooke appoints Mia Farrow’s son as NGO liaison” LINK

Time’s Daniel Pepper: “Darfur Activists Frustrated with Obama's Sudan Policy” LINK

The Wall Street Journal’s Yaroslav Trofimov and Anand Gopal: “Afghan Ballots Go Out, by Air and Donkey” LINK

The Wall Street Journal’s Ed Johnson and Janine Zacharia: “Pakistan Must Spend War Aid Against Taliban, U.S. Congress Says” LINK

The Los Angeles Times' Julian E. Barnes and Greg Miller: “U.S. aiding Pakistani military offensive” LINK

The Associated Press' Lara Jakes: "McChrystal to brief NATO defense ministers" LINK

WHITE HOUSE AND FORMER VICE PRESIDENT CHENEY:

ABC News’ Jake Tapper: “White House Pushes Back Against Cheney” LINK

The Washington Post’s Michael D. Shear: “White House and Cheney in a war of words over Afghanistan” LINK

NY Daily News’ Thomas M. Defrank: “White House to Cheney: Your administration wimped out on Afghanistan” LINK

FIRST LADY MICHELE OBAMA:

Newsweek’s Holly Bailey “Michelle Obama May Be the Coolest First Lady Ever” LINK

USA Today's Susan Page: "First lady more popular than president" LINK

ECONOMY/TARP:

ABC News’ Betsy Stark, Jake Tapper, and Mathew Jaffe: “Obama’s Pay Czar Slashes Executive Compensation” LINK

ABC News’ David Chailan: “Sherrod Brown Decries Wall Street Bonuses” LINK

The Washington Post’s Frank Ahrens and David Cho: “Government widens control over paychecks” LINK

The Wall Street Journal’s Aron Lucchetti, David Enrich and Joann S. Lublin: “Fed Hits Banks With Sweeping Pay Limits” LINK

Bloomberg’s Ian Katz: “U.S. Clears 66 Executives For at Least $1 Million in Total Pay” LINK

The Hill's Silla Brush: “New consumer financial agency passes its first test” LINK

The Hill's Walter Alarkon: “Bernanke has Obama’s back cracking down on Wall Street pay” LINK

USA Today's Paul Wiseman, Paul Davidson and Pallavi Gogoi: "Wall Street feels wrath of man on the street with exec pay cuts" LINK

HOUSING MARKET:

ABC News’ Tom Giusto: “Fraud in First-Time Homebuyer Program” LINK

CONGRESS:

ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos: “Congress Passes Hate Crimes Bill” LINK

Politico’s Andy Barr: “Palin backs Hoffman in NY-23” LINK

Politico’s Alex Isenstadt: “NY-23 race first test of tea party power” LINK

Politico’s Jen Dimascio: “Senate passes hate crimes bill” LINK

The New York Times’ David Stout: “Senate Approves Broadened Hate-Crime Measure” LINK

The New York Times’ Ian Urbina: “Congress Approves Bill Helping Overseas Voters” LINK

The Wall Street Journal’s Damian Paletta: “Consumer-Agency Bill Moves in House” LINK

The Los Angeles Times' James Oliphant: “Bill making violence against gays a hate crime headed to White House” LINK

The Hill's Roxana Tiron: “Senate OKs defense bill, 68-29” LINK

USA Today On Deadline: "Congress extends hate-crimes protections to gays" LINK

The Associated Press Jim Abrams: "Senate votes to expand hate crimes protection" LINK

DEMOCRATS/REPUBLICANS:

The Washington Post’s Rosalind Helderman and Anne Kornblut: “Deeds ignored advice, White House says” LINK

The Washington Post’s Anita Kumar: “Debate pitted by verbal grenades” LINK

The Washington Times' Amanda Carpenter: “Palin endorses Hoffman over GOP candidate in N.Y.” LINK

Politico’s Jim Vandehei and Mike Allen: “Conservatives roar; Republicans tremble” LINK

Politico’s Jonathan Martin: “2012 peek at Pawlenty’s PAC fundraiser” LINK

ENERGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT:

The Los Angeles Times' Kim Murphy: “Critical habitat in Alaska is proposed for polar bears” LINK

The Washington Times' David M. Dickson: “Priming the pump, Iraq seeks foreign investment to rebuild” LINK

OTHER MUST-READS:

Time's Jay Newton-Small: “Senators Take On Obama's Czars“ LINK

The Wall Street Journal’s Martin Vaughan and John D. Mckinnon: “Home-Buyer Credit Tempts Tax Cheats” LINK

USA Today's Susan Page: "Poll: Hopes buoyed on race relations" LINK

USA Today's Matt Kelley: "HUD counseling funds tripled despite criticism" LINK

The Associated Press: "Panel says NASA needs more funding" LINK

ABC NEWS VIDEOS:

“White House Pushes Back Against Cheney” LINK

“Pay Czar: Primary Concern is Repay Taxpayers” LINK

“George: 'Deep Divisions' on Troop Surge” LINK

“Outlook for 2010: Dems v. Republicans” LINK