• "In a move with potentially major implications for the 2010 and 2012 elections and the future of campaign finance rules, the Federal Election Commission on Thursday voted not to challenge an appeals court panel's ruling that could free outside groups to spend huge sums of cash unburdened by contribution limits," Politico reports. "The vote, a 3 - 3 partisan split that had the effect of rejecting a recommendation by commission staff to appeal the ruling to the full court of appeals, spotlighted the commission's increasing partisan divide, and also put pressure on President Barack Obama to override the commission's decision."

• "The White House's top ethics cop on Thursday defended the Obama administration's lobbying restrictions that have much of K Street up in arms," The Hill reports. "Norm Eisen, counsel to the president on ethics and government reform, told attendees of the American Bar Association's (ABA) fall conference that" Obama "was trying to fundamentally change how Washington works, which gives an outsized influence to lobbyists."

• "The White House and environmental groups are turning up the heat on the Chamber of Commerce, and some of its member companies are feeling the burn," Politico reports. "The Chamber is pushing back, sending top officials out to make its case on TV and in print interviews and blaming Democrats and liberal interest groups for trying to coerce it into changing its position."