memeorandum: How the hammer fell on his own party (Houston Chronicle)

3:35 PM ET, November 13, 2006

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The Honeymoon Is Over — After five days of giddiness, Democrats express dismay that their new House leader has thrown herself into the fight to become her Number 2, creating a potentially lose-lose situation where she could either be defeated in her first public contest since the election, or brand herself as a dove.

Discussion: Don Surber, Scared Monkeys, Wake up America, A Chequer-Board of Nights … and The Strata-Sphere

USA Today:

Democrats: Identify pork sponsors — WASHINGTON — Democrats aim to open the next Congress in January with a new rule that identifies lawmakers who use legislative "earmarks" to help special interests — a change Republicans promised but didn't implement. — House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi …

Discussion: The Influence Peddler, TIME, The Caucus, Democrats.com, QandO and The Democratic Daily

Los Angeles Times:

Speaker-to-be is no stranger to earmarking — Rep. Nancy Pelosi has promised to change the controversial practice, a process she's celebrated using for her district. — WASHINGTON — When the House passed a massive spending bill last November, Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi made sure her constituents knew what they were getting.

Discussion: Washington Post, Gateway Pundit, WILLisms.com, The Corner, Riehl World View and PoliPundit.com

Dick Polman / Dick Polman's American Debate:
The Rove response to the '06 debacle: intentional spin, or clinical state of denial?

Discussion: The Democratic Daily

Los Angeles Times:
Liberal groups expect postelection results

Discussion: Time, The Corner, Iowa Voice and Blogs for Bush

Reuters:

California man arrested for mail threats to celebs —Text+WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A California man suspected of mailing threatening letters containing a suspicious white powder to celebrities and U.S. politicians has been arrested and could face federal charges on Monday, the FBI said.

Discussion: Sadly, No!, Shakespeare's Sister, Seeing the Forest, Booman Tribune and KnoxViews

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AlterNet.org:
White powder terrorist of Jon Stewart, Letterman, Pelosi...

Discussion: Orcinus, Olbermann Watch, Wonkette and digg

Naftali Bendavid / Chicago Tribune:

The House that Rahm Built — Rahm Emanuel, Chicago's profane, ruthless, savvy operative, remade the Democrats in his image—and helped the party overcome 12 years of humiliation — Rahm Emanuel was seething. — He was hurtling down an asphalt road in upstate New York on the 47th trip …

Discussion: MyDD, CNN, Booman Tribune, Redstate, Riehl World View, NewsBusters.org and Donklephant

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Mark Schmitt / TAPPED:
THE "WRONG" CANDIDATES. Michael Tomasky yesterday delivered …

Discussion: Matthew Yglesias

Robert Novak / Chicago Sun Times:

Rout brings no reform to House GOP — The depleted House Republican caucus, a minority in the next Congress, convenes at 8 a.m. Friday in the Capitol on the brink of committing an act of supreme irrationality. The House members blame their leadership for tasting the bitter dregs of defeat.

Discussion: Hotline On Call and The Carpetbagger Report

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Robert D. Novak / Townhall.com:
Stupid party decides

Discussion: Captain's Quarters, Riehl World View, The Mahablog, QandO, Hyscience and Reason Magazine

Timothy Egan / New York Times:

Fresh Off the Farm in Montana, a Senator-to-Be — "He's a small farmer from the homestead,'' a friend says of Jon Tester. " That's absolutely who he is. When he joins the United States Senate in January, big Jon Tester — who is just under 300 pounds in his boots …

Discussion: TalkLeft and Bark Bark Woof Woof

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Blaine Harden / Washington Post:
A True Blue Libertarian

Discussion: Election Law, Liberal Values and Reason Magazine

Bill Gertz / Washington Times:

China sub secretly stalked U.S. fleet — A Chinese submarine stalked a U.S. aircraft carrier battle group in the Pacific last month and surfaced within firing range of its torpedoes and missiles before being detected, The Washington Times has learned. — The surprise encounter highlights …

Discussion: Hot Air, Confederate Yankee, QandO, Iowa Voice, Security Watchtower, Michelle Malkin, protein wisdom, Hyscience and The Peking Duck

USA Today:

Bush's post-election approval hovers near lowest of presidency — WASHINGTON — President Bush's job approval ratings have slumped in the latest USA TODAY/Gallup poll, with the president's rating hovering near the lowest of his tenure. — In the poll, taken Thursday through Sunday …

Houston Chronicle:

How the hammer fell on his own party — The iron hand of Tom DeLay built a GOP empire — and may have contributed its undoing — WASHINGTON - The legacy of the once powerful Republican Tom DeLay of Sugar Land cast a long shadow over last week's elections, in which voters shrank the ranks …

Discussion: TPMmuckraker and Off the Kuff

NY Daily News:

The rise of the Mommy Party — Pelosi's at the helm, Hillary's in the wings and - for now - Bush is in the doghouse — With Democrats seizing control of the House and Senate, a debate has started over how significant their victory was. Does it potentially mark a generational power shift?

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog, The Mahablog, Taylor Marsh, GINA COBB and Daily Pundit

Robert Pear / New York Times:

Administration Opposes Democrats' Plan for Negotiating Medicare Drug Prices — The Bush administration said on Sunday that it would strenuously oppose one of the Democrats' top priorities for the new Congress: legislation authorizing the government to negotiate with drug companies to secure lower drug prices for Medicare beneficiaries.

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Seeing the Forest and The Next Hurrah

San Francisco Chronicle:

Olbermann taps a well of discontent as the anti-O'Reilly — Keith Olbermann just needed to find his voice. He'd been a droll sportscaster, a serious news anchor and a bickering critic of Fox News host Bill O'Reilly. But none of those personas really clicked. — Then he found one.

Discussion: NewsBusters.org, Crooks and Liars and Olbermann Watch

Dan Balz / Washington Post:

Midterm Election Leaves Political Landscape Blurry — As Both Parties Face Unresolved Questions and Internal Disputes, the 2008 Campaign Looks to Be a Crucial One — Rarely has an election result been delivered with such force and clarity, and still left so many unanswered questions in its wake, as that of the 2006 midterm campaign.

Discussion: The Caucus

Kevin Drum / Political Animal:

MORE ELECTION WONKERY....So what happened in the midterm elections? Was it a great ideological reshuffling, like 1994? Was it a bunch of conservative Dems picking off liberal Republicans? Or what? — I'm not sure what the answer is, but the graph on the right provides some clues.