Iran's response Thursday to a proposed deal to transform its controversial nuclear material into fuel for a medical reactor is "inadequate," a senior Western diplomat said, adding that it failed to address key United States and European concerns about Iran's nuclear intentions.

Iran answered the proposal to temporarily move most of its enriched uranium to Russia and France to be further refined and shaped for use in a medical reactor after a delay of nearly a week and a flurry of contradictory signals.

The proposal would have depleted Iran's stockpile of nuclear fuel below the threshold necessary for making a single nuclear bomb, possibly creating diplomatic breathing room for a broader agreement between Tehran and those worried about its atomic research program.

Hours after POLITICO posted results of a poll showing a possible backlash by Indiana Dems, Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.) backed off of previous statement saying he was considering siding with the GOP on a public option filibuster.

A spokesman emailed me the following statement just now:

"Senator Bayh will support moving forward to a health care debate on the Senate floor, where he will work hard to address his concerns and craft affordable legislation that reduces the deficit and lowers health care costs for Indiana families and small businesses."

That comment apparently covers Bayh's support of the first procedural hurdle — a 60-vote motion to proceed — but it's unclear if the fiscally conservative Bayh is ruling out a filibuster of the final bill. I'm asking his office now.

UPDATE: Bayhs office said his commitment refers only to the motion to proceed.

Sarah Palin continues to post gruesome poll numbers for a supposedly serious presidential contender. The latest CNN poll found that only 29 percent of Americans believe she is qualified to be president. That number represents a significant decline from perceptions of her qualifications during the campaign, which were already terrible.

Indeed, perceptions of Palin's qualifications are unprecedented among presidential/vice presidential nominees and major presidential contenders in recent years. From Joe Biden to George W. Bush, no one has been perceived as less qualified since Dan Quayle and Ross Perot. The Palin-Quayle parallel, which Jon Chait nailed soon after her nomination, is particularly striking. Each was a surprise VP pick who sparked initial enthusiasm but later became widely perceived as incompetent.

American taxpayers paid a lot of cash for those clunkers: $24,000 for each new car sold, according to a study released Wednesday.

That’s a lot of money, especially when the so-called “cash for clunker” stimulus program offered only a maximum $4,500 in cash for each person who traded in an old gas-guzzler and bought a new car.

The government could have done almost as well by just giving away cars for free, instead of creating an elaborate incentive program, according to an analysis by the automotive information firm Edmunds.com in Santa Monica, Calif.

Employer Mandate Excise Tax (Page 275): If an employer does not pay 72.5 percent of a single
employee’s health premium (65 percent of a family employee), the employer must pay an excise tax equal
to 8 percent of average wages. Small employers (measured by payroll size) have smaller payroll tax rates
of 0 percent (<$500,000), 2 percent ($500,000-$585,000), 4 percent ($585,000-$670,000), and 6 percent
($670,000-$750,000).
Individual Mandate Surtax (Page 296): If an individual fails to obtain qualifying coverage, he must pay
an income surtax equal to the lesser of 2.5 percent of modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) or the
average premium. MAGI adds back in the foreign earned income exclusion and municipal bond interest.

A conservative Iowa group’s effort to lure Sarah Palin to its banquet next month has had an unintended effect: Rather than exciting conservatives about the prospect of a visit from the former Alaska governor, the group’s plan to raise a six-figure sum to bring her to the state has GOP activists recoiling at the thought of paying to land a politician's speaking appearance.

The Iowa Family Policy Center’s effort to cobble together $100,000 for Palin would represent a striking departure from customary practice in the first-in-the-nation state, these Republicans say, noting that a generation of White House hopefuls has paid their own way to boost their party and presidential ambitions.

Some physicians may be hesitant to participate in social media outlets, like Facebook and Twitter.

Well, get over it.

Great post by pediatrician Bryan Vartabedian who addresses this topic. Indeed, physicians have lost control of the online message, especially with, according to recent data, 60+ percent of patients visiting the web first when looking for health information.

Instead, anti-vaccine proponents and homeopaths have embraced the Internet, and now exert tremendous influence on patients. We doctors have no one to blame but ourselves for being so slow to get online.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's Pakistan charm offensive rolled into a wall of suspicion at one of the country's top universities on Thursday as students drilled her on whether America was truly ready to be a steadfast partner in a time of crisis.

Clinton, on the second day of a three-day visit aimed at turning around a U.S.-Pakistan relationship under serious strain, was presented with stark evidence of the "trust deficit" that yawns between the two countries, now bound together in the struggle against religious extremism.

"What guarantee can the Americans give Pakistanis that we can now trust you … and that you guys are not going to be betraying us like you did in the past," one student asked at a "townhall-style" meeting Clinton held at the Government College University in Lahore.

Los Angeles County's homeless population has dropped 38% since 2007, according to a survey conducted this year by the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority.

The count, which was conducted over three days in January, pegs the region's homeless population at 42,694, down from 68,808 in 2007.

Obama campaign manager David Plouffe writes in his forthcoming book about the 2008 race that the future president was “clearly thinking more seriously” about picking Hillary Clinton as his running mate than Plouffe or advisor David Axelrod realized.

Plouffe’s book suggests, however, that former President Bill Clinton sunk Hillary’s chances.

“I still think Hillary has a lot of what I am looking for in a VP,” Obama is quoted as telling Plouffe and Axelrod during a meeting on the VP selection process. “Smarts, discipline, steadfastness.”

Obama then adds, however: “I think Bill may be too big a complication. If I picked her, my concern is that there would be more than two of us in the relationship.”

Thanks to The Bill Factor, Hillary, who was on the final list of six possible running mates, did not make the final list of three.