NEW YORK (Reuters) - Mayor Michael Bloomberg's narrower-than-expected reelection campaign cost the billionaire some $102 million, or about $183 per vote, The New York Times reported on Friday evening, making him the top-spending self-financed politician in U.S. history.

Data on the mayoral election released on Friday found Bloomberg's run for a third term in office, which required special legislation overturning a city law that held the mayor to a maximum of two terms, was the most expensive campaign in municipal history, the Times said.

WASHINGTON — Democratic senators pressed ahead Saturday toward a crucial first vote on President Barack Obama's health care overhaul, a test of party unity in the face of solid Republican opposition.

"There's much we need to do to make sure we have a health care system that works for all people, not just a few," said Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., as debate got under way in a rare weekend session.

Was this season of Dancing with the Stars not boring enough already? You had to go out and vote off the most attractive remaining contestant, Joanna Krupa?!?

Is anyone actually excited for a threeway finale that features Mya (the clear favorite) against Donny Osmond (the ultimate panderer) and Kelly Osbourne (the... reality star)?

To Krupa's credit, she handled her elimination last night a lot better than our staff has. She said: "It's been such an amazing experience and I've grown as a person. Thank you to the judges. Thank you for giving me the opportunity. I had a great partner."

The U.S. House of Representatives is engaged in a lengthy debate on amore than $1 trillion plan by majority Democrats to overhaul the U.S.Health care system. President Barack Obama visited Capitol Hillto try to ensure support for the measure within his own party, whileRepublicans and Democrats engaged in often boisterous exchanges on theHouse floor.

The president's meeting with Democrats came as theHouse of Representatives was in the early stages of its health caredebate marked by often unruly exchanges on the floor.

The health bill that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is bringing to a vote (H.R. 3962) is 1,990 pages. Here are some of the details you need to know.

What the government will require you to do:

• Sec. 202 (p. 91-92) of the bill requires you to enroll in a "qualified plan." If you get your insurance at work, your employer will have a "grace period" to switch you to a "qualified plan," meaning a plan designed by the Secretary of Health and Human Services. If you buy your own insurance, there's no grace period. You'll have to enroll in a qualified plan as soon as any term in your contract changes, such as the co-pay, deductible or benefit.

Nov. 5 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. House may vote as soon astoday on a $45 billion plan to expand a tax credit for first-time homebuyers, extend jobless benefits and provide tax refundsto money-losing companies.

The measure won Senate approval yesterday on a 98-0 vote,and House passage would send it to President Barack Obama forhis signature into law. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, aMaryland Democrat, said the chamber may act on it today.

(Corrects to show Pawlenty is still Minnesota governor in14th paragraph.)

Nov. 3 (Bloomberg) -- Governor’s races today in Virginiaand New Jersey have been anticipated as barometers of nextyear’s midterm congressional elections. A U.S. House race inupstate New York may prove more meaningful.

The New Jersey campaign has been a referendum on theDemocratic incumbent, Governor Jon Corzine, 62, and his recordon property taxes, roads and other local issues. In Virginia,where Republican Bob McDonnell, 55, leads Democrat Creigh Deeds,51, the race has turned on traditional concerns of taxes andtransportation.

European leaders led by Angela Merkel of Germany and Nicolas Sarkozy of France will act swiftly to make the EU's reform charter a reality after Ireland's Yes vote, despite the lone resistance of Vaclav Klaus, president of the Czech Republic.

The strong endorsement of the Lisbon treaty by the Irish after eight years of divisive attempts to rewrite the EU's rule book, has sparked the jockeying for position over the plum jobs that it creates, with Tony Blair now a clear favourite to become the first permanent EU president.

The U.S. House of Representatives has approved a federally funded, 13-week extension of unemployment benefits on Tuesday for states, such as New Jersey and Pennsylvania, where unemployment hovers above 8.5 percent.

The measure, which passed on a 331-83 vote, has moved to the Senate for consideration.

New Jersey’s unemployment rate rose from 9.3 percent last month to 9.7 percent and Pennsylvania’s rose from 8.5 percent to 8.6 percent.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - With unemployment lines growing even as the recession eases its grip, the U.S. House of Representatives voted on Tuesday to extend jobless benefits for those who risk exhausting them.

By a vote of 331 to 83, the House passed a measure that would extend jobless benefits in hard-hit states through the end of the year.

The U.S. Senate has yet to consider a version of the bill, but Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said the body would take up the legislation "very, very quickly."

WASHINGTON (AP) — The jobless in those states hardest hit by the recession would get some short-term federal relief under House legislation extending unemployment benefits, already at record levels, for 13 weeks.

The bill, if enacted into law, would offer a reprieve to more than 300,000 jobless workers who are slated to run out of unemployment compensation at the end of September and the more than 1 million expected to exhaust their benefits by the end of the year. A vote was expected Tuesday evening.

As we mentioned earlier, Tom DeLay, the former majority leader of the House, made his much-awaited debut on “Dancing with the Stars,” Monday night, performing the cha cha to the tune of “Wild Thing.”

Cheryl Burke, Mr. DeLay’s dance instructor, seems to know how to play to her new partner’s strengths.

“I’ll teach you how to dance,” she told him during the show, “and you get the votes.”

Members of the influential Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church voted overwhelmingly Sunday to keep W. Tullian Tchividjian, grandson of the evangelist Billy Graham, as their spiritual leader.

Tchividjian was named senior pastor of the Fort Lauderdale mega-church six months ago. He has come under scrutiny ever since he vowed to the set the church on a different path from that charted by his predecessor, D. James Kennedy, who built Coral Ridge into a religious and political powerhouse on a bedrock of Christian conservatism.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The House voted Thursday to deny all federal funds for ACORN in a GOP-led strike against the scandal-tainted community organizing group that comes just three days after the Senate took similar action.

"ACORN has violated serious federal laws, and today the House voted to ensure that taxpayer dollars would no longer be used to fund this corrupt organization," said second-ranked House Republican Eric Cantor of Virginia.

WASHINGTON -- The House voted along party lines Tuesday to "disapprove" the actions of Rep. Joe Wilson, who shouted "You lie!" during President Barack Obama's address to Congress last week.

Republicans dismissed the move as petty, noting the president had already accepted an apology from Mr. Wilson, a South Carolina Republican.

But Democrats said Mr. Wilson should have apologized on the House floor, which he has refused to do.

WASHINGTON — The House of Representatives appears headed for a vote to formally rebuke Rep. Joe Wilson this week for heckling President Obama after the South Carolina Republican refused Sunday to apologize on the House floor.

"The House likely will take up a resolution," Brendan Daly, a spokesman for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., told USA TODAY. "He violated the decorum of the House; it has to be resolved in the House."

In a move to make selection of the Oscar for Best Picture more egalitarian, the Academy Awards are making an historic change to the voting process.

Instead of selecting one nominee on the final ballot, Academy members will be asked to rank all 10 of the Best Picture nominees, Variety.com reports.

The change was made to offset inherent risks now that the number of nominees has been upped from 5 to 10, a decision that was announced in June.

LIBREVILLE, Gabon (AP) - Gabonese voted in a national election on Sunday to replace the late President Omar Bongo, who ruled for more than four decades and ran as the only candidate in many elections.

The election in West African country appeared to be peaceful, but a major opposition candidate - one of 18 competing on the ballot - withdrew from the contest, saying he feared postelection violence.

Election results are not expected until Wednesday, and the leading contender in Sunday's race is the dead ruler's son - Ali Bongo Ondimba, the nominee of Gabon's ruling party.