If you're like me, the first thing you do in the morning is check the news to see if anything happened or is happening, and to get caught up for the day. There is something nice about being able to carry on conversations about current events in the course of your day, and if you're into politics, there are a few sites that stand out as great sources for that daily dose of political chatter.

In my opinion, the best morning political news update is The Note from ABC News. It is put together by Rick Klein with Mike Elmore and others who assist in compiling a collection of the top articles of the day. What makes it different than other "list" sites is their commentary. They are very clever, and for a true political junkie, the inside reference abound! I always enjoy getting their perspective on both the immediate events of the previous and current days, as well as an overview of the current political condition. With the 2008 election in full force for over a year, it has been a great source of informaiton to follow the candidates as we have moved through the nomination process, and I anticipate it will continue to be a great source for the general election.

To read The Note:

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/TheNote/story?id=3105288&page=1

You can also subscribe, and receive several versions of The Note in your inbox daily.

If you're looking for a no-frills political update website, you'll want to check out Real Clear Politics. Their site aims to bring together a collection of links to "opinion, news, analysis, videos, and polls", and does an excellent job in that quest! There isn't any commentary on the site itself, just links to the top news and opinion articles of the day, with sections for video and polls. If you prefer to do your own commentary, this is definitely the site for you!

Check it out here:

http://realclearpolitics.com/

There are probably thousands of websites dedicated to political news.  Depending on your point of view, you can find sites that are entirely sympathetic to your views, or you could choose to branch out and see what the other side thinks.  

For updates that are mostly non-political, other than the two listed above, you can check out the following:

MSNBC "First Read":

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/

Political News Daily:

http://www.politicalnewsdaily.com/

CNN: The Political Ticker:

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/