The Note’s Must-Reads for Wednesday, December 16, 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 KRISTEN RED-HORSE, JAYCE HENDERSON, CARRIE HALPERIN and CLAUDIA MORALES

BOOKMARKS:

The Note: LINK

The Must-Reads Online: LINK

Top Line Webcast (12noon EST M-F): LINK

ABC News Politics: LINK

The Political Punch (Jake Tapper): LINK

George’s Bottom Line (George Stephanopoulos): LINK

Clem’s Chronicles: LINK

Follow ABC News on Twitter: LINK

ABC News Mobile: LINK

ABC News app on your iPhone/iPod Touch: LINK

HEALTH CARE:

ABC News’ Z. Byron Wolf: “Lieberman Moving Toward Support of Health Reform, Not Swaying Republican Collins” LINK

ABC News’ Jonathan Karl and Devin Dwyer: “’On the Precipice?’ Obama’s Final Plea on Health Care Reform” LINK

ABC News’ Devin Dwyer: “Schwarzenegger: Congress Must Rethink Health Care Legislation” LINK

ABC Mews’ Rick Klein: “Howard Dean: ‘Kill the Senate Bill’” LINK

The New York Times’ Sheryl Gay Stolberg and Robert Pear: “Obama Health Care Meeting Aims to Rally Senators” LINK

The Washington Post’s Lori Montgomery and Shailagh Murray: “Obama urges Senate to pass health-care bill; Lieberman signals support” LINK

The Washington Times’ Jennifer Haberkorn: “Obama pushes Senate to pass health bill” LINK

The Los Angeles Times’ Janet Hook and Noam N. Levey: “Senate healthcare bill advances with rejection of imported drugs” LINK

USA Today: “Obama: ‘On the precipice’ of health care change, though ‘differences’ remain” LINK

The Wall Street Journal’s Alicia Mundy: “Measure to Allow Drug Imports Fails” LINK

The Wall Street Journal’s Greg Hitt and Janet Adamy: “Democrats Urged to Act on Health” LINK

The Wall Street Journal’s Naftali Bendavid and Patrick Yoest: “Lieberman’s Ties to Ex-Party Frayed by His Use of Swing Vote” LINK

Bloomberg’s Kristin Jensen and Laura Litvan: “Obama Presses Senators to Defy Past by Voting for Health Bill” LINK

The Boston Herald Wire Services: “President Obama signals health-care will pass” LINK

The Boston Globe’s Lisa Wangsness and Susan Milligan: “Public option out, Democrats press on” LINK

Time’s Michael Scherer: “Can Obama Get Dems to Agree on Health Reform?” LINK

The Hill’s Jeffrey Young: “Liberals grit their teeth and gather behind healthcare reform bill” LINK

GUANTANAMO PRISONERS/ILLINOIS PRISON:

ABC News’ Jake Tapper: “Gitmo Detainees to Thomson, Illinois” LINK

The New York Times’ Helene Cooper and David Johnston: “Obama Tells Prison to Take Detainees” LINK

The Washington Times’ Mathew Mosk: “Gitmo debate goes to heartland” LINK

USA Today: “Obama and Gitmo: Big steps on policy and politics” LINK

The Wall Street Journal’s Evan Perez in Washington and Joe Barrett in Chicago: “Detainees Heading to Illinois” LINK

FOREIGN AFFAIRS:

The Washington Post’s Walter Pincus: “Up to 56,000 more contractors likely for Afghanistan, congressional agency says” LINK

The Los Angeles Times’ Julian E. Barnes: “U.S. steps up special operations mission in Afghanistan” LINK

The Wall Street Journal’s Yaroslav Trofimov: “Surge Focus Is Roads, Police” LINK

The Washington Post’s Karen DeYoung and Griff Witte: “Pakistan’s Zardari resists U.S. timeline for fighting insurgents” LINK

Newsweek’s Katie Connolly: “Time For Obama’s Enough Moment” LINK

The Hill’s Ian Swanson: “Japan ‘clunkers’ plan angers many in U.S.” LINK

CONGRESS:

ABC News’ Devin Dwyer: “Legal Limbo: Undocumented Students Eager for Congress to Act” LINK

The New York Times’ Randal Archibold: “New Immigration Bill Is Introduced in House” LINK

The Washington Post’s Paul Kane: “House takes steps to boost cyber security” LINK

The Wall Street Journal’s Brody Mullins and T.W. Farnam: “Congress Travels More, Public Pays” LINK

Politico’s Patrick O’Connor and Manu Rajul: “House Dems: Senate is ‘dithering’” LINK

Politico’s David Rogers: “Congress punts problems to 2010” LINK

COPENHAGEN / ENVIRONMENT:

The New York Times’ Elisabeth Rosenthal: “Climate Talks Near Deal to Save Forests” LINK

USA Today’s Kathy Kiely: “Senators rally across party lines to fight climate change” LINK

Bloomberg’s Alex Morales and Jeremy van Loon: “Obama Faces ‘Constipagen’ on Global Warming Accord in Denmark” LINK

Bloomberg’s Kim Chipman: “Trade Discord Fuels U.S.-China Tension in Copenhagen” LINK

The Boston Globe’s Beth Daley: “US, China called upon to step up greenhouse pledges” LINK

Politico’s Glenn Thrush: “Todd Stern feels the heat from all angles” LINK

Politico’s Glenn Thrush: “Copenhagen Connection: Kerry on the scene” LINK

The Hill’s Ben Geman: “U.S.-China Copenhagen fight key to Capitol Hill climate change debate” LINK

ECONOMY / JOBS / FED:

The Wall Street Journal’s Jonathan Weisman and Elizabeth Williamson: “Obama’s Drive to Create Jobs Starts Slowly” LINK

The Wall Street Journal’s Sudeep Reddy: “Bernanke Foes Seek to Curtail Fed” LINK

PRESIDENT OBAMA AND HIS ADMINISTRATION:

ABC News’ and Washington Post Poll: “President Obama’s Approval Ratings Keep Sliding” LINK

ABC News’ Sunlen Miller: “Obama Says Home Insulation is ‘Sexy’” LINK

DEMOCRATS / REPUBLICANS:

The New York Times’ Carl Hulse: “Democrats Put Off Some Difficult Issues Until 2010” LINK

The Boston Herald’s Dave Wedge: “Taking page from Sarah Palin, Mitt Romney readies book blitz” LINK

GAY RIGHTS:

The New York Times’ Ian Urbina: “D.C. Council Approves Gay Marriage” LINK

Politico’s Jonathan Martin and Ben Smith: “Houston election signals key trend” LINK

OTHER MUST-READS:

ABC News’ Rick Klein: “Ross Ohlendorf: From Major League Pitcher to Unpaid Intern” LINK

Boston Herald Staff and wire reports: “Cops nab Ted Kennedy staffer in fraud” LINK

ABC NEWS VIDEO:

“Teabaggers Protest on Capitol Hill” LINK

“Obama ‘Cautiously Optimistic’ on Health Bill” LINK

“Gitmo Transfer” LINK

“Inching Closer to Health Care Reform” LINK