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Cornyn: ‘We Will Not Spend Money in a Contested Primary’ — ABC News' Rick Klein reports: — With Republicans grappling with the fallout of an intra-party battle that may have cost them a House seat, the head of the Senate Republican campaign effort is making a pledge that may ease …
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IL-Sen: Kirk Seeks Palin Endorsement — Illinois Rep. Mark Kirk penned a memo to Republican poobah Fred Malek hoping to secure an endorsement from former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin for his Senate candidacy, according to a copy of the memo obtained by the Fix. — After noting that Palin …
Discussion:
The Politico, Pundits Blog, Scorecard's Blog, The Swamp, Hot Air, Conservatives4Palin.com, race42008.com and TPMDC


Steele Throws Elbow to Palin, Pawlenty on NY-23 — RNC Chair Michael Steele was in a feisty mood this morning, but the Democrats weren't his only target. How intentional was that message to the Palin wing of the GOP? — My colleague, ABC News' David Chalian has more...
Discussion:
The Note, Watertown Daily Times, Nice Deb, Michigan Politics & Elections, The Greenroom and Guardian

Letter to Reid on healthcare from former Surgeon General Koop shuts Senate — A letter about healthcare reform to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) from former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop triggered a security scare that briefly shut down much of the Senate on Wednesday.
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Democrats feeling angst over 2010
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Daily Kos, The Plum Line, Wonk Room, Hot Air, Washington Monthly, IntoxiNation, The Foundry, Flopping Aces and AMERICAblog Gay


Yesterday's Overwhelming Historic Republican Victory Makes Democratic Health Care Reform Just A Bit Easier — Most of the commentary about last night's elections has centered around Republican pickups in the New Jersey and Virginia statehouses. But what's gone largely unnoticed …
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AP Sources: AARP to endorse House health care bill — WASHINGTON — Officials are telling The Associated Press that AARP_the seniors' lobby_will endorse the health care overhaul bill that House Democrats are preparing to take to the floor. — Officials with knowledge of the group's decision told …
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Prejean Sex Tape Triggers Settlement — Carrie Prejean demanded more than a million dollars during her settlement negotiations with Miss California USA Pageant officials — that is, until the lawyer for the Pageant showed Carrie an XXX home video of her handiwork.


Panel goes AWOL in GOP earmark war — On Nov. 19, 2008, House GOP leaders John Boehner and Eric Cantor created a select committee on earmark reform to bring “meaningful change to the process by which Washington spends taxpayers' hard-earned money.” — Nearly a year later …
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Bachmann aide no longer taking care of business — The aide who helped turn Rep. Michele Bachmann into a controversial mainstay of cable news has informed colleagues that she's quitting - just as the firebrand Republican congresswoman prepares for her biggest media moment yet.


How Gay Marriage Lost In Maine — Mainers, and national observers, have woken up this morning asking how the Yes on 1 coalition won this fight. Through most of the lead up to this vote, observers (including myself) felt that it would be extremely close, potentially to a recount, and that the No on 1 folks had the early advantage.
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The Daily Dish
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Maine Voters Repeal Law Allowing Gay Marriage
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FiveThirtyEight, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, beliefnet, Blogs and Stories, Associated Press, The Opinionator, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Pam's House Blend, Hot Air, theblogprof, The Confluence, The Foundry, The Daily Dish, Crooks and Liars, ABCNEWS, Gawker, Towleroad News #gay, New York Magazine, The Baseline Scenario, Washington Monthly, pressherald.mainetoday.com and Wake up America

Obama Watched HBO Special About Himself Instead of Election Results — UPDATE: Fox News misreported Gibbs' press gaggle comments. He did not claim President watched HBO special on election night. — During the 10AM ET hour of America's Newsroom on Fox News Channel …
Discussion:
The Caucus, Left Coast Rebel, Christian Science Monitor, Raw Story, protein wisdom, The Jawa Report, JammieWearingFool and TPMDC


ELEMENTARY EPIDEMIC: 11 Uncovered Videos Show School Children Performing Praises to Obama — Big Hollywood has already posted a couple disturbing videos of young school children singing/speaking praises to President Obama, but when eleven more dropped in our email box it came as quite a shock.
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Breitbart.tv, JOSHUAPUNDIT, YID With LID, Fausta's Blog, Left Coast Rebel, Townhall.com and Nice Deb


Pancho — Barone studiously avoids mention of the increase in the “D” House delegation despite the best efforts of Palin, Bachmann, Limbaugh, Malkin, etc., in NY Congressional District 23. — Michael Bloomberg nearly lost his mayoral seat in NYC despite outspending his Democratic opponent 5-1.

Obama Uses Malia's Test Scores as a Teaching Example — MADISON, Wisconsin - President Obama marked the first anniversary of his election on Wednesday by calling on states to toughen their education standards - and wound up calling on parents to toughen theirs, too, as he confessed …

Where in the World Was Keith Olbermann? — MSNBC boasted that on election night they would present a “special live edition of Countdown” at 10:00 pm. But with bad news for the Democrats in Virginia and New Jersey, a funny thing happened on the way to the bonus Hour of Spin. Keith wasn't there!

STIMULUS WATCH: Salary raise counted as saved job — WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama's economic recovery program saved 935 jobs at the Southwest Georgia Community Action Council, an impressive success story for the stimulus plan. Trouble is, only 508 people work there.
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Hot Air, Congress Blog, GOP Leader Blog, theblogprof, Wall Street Journal, ProPublica, Pundits Blog, Townhall.com and Marathon Pundit

Why I'm running for Senate — Our most pressing problems today are too few jobs for Americans and too much spending in Washington. — CANDIDATE FOR U.S. SENATE FROM CALIFORNIA — Recommend — Admittedly, I have not always been engaged in the electoral process, and I should have been.
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The Hill, The Atlantic Politics Channel, TPMDC, The Hill, Mashable!, Eye on 2010, The Fix, MyDD, JammieWearingFool, Politics Nation, The Caucus, Truthdig, L.A. NOW, Gawker and The Page


V: Tea Party TV — I didn't watch much television as a kid. But when the miniseries “V” came out in 1983, when I was eleven years old, it was event television for the entire family. The sci-fi series used an alien invasion of Earth under friendly guise as a metaphor for fascism.


Conservatives Rework Rhetoric After NY-23 Loss — Tea Partiers Say GOP Loss Enough for Conservative Victory — Saranac Lake, N.Y. - Jim Kelly walked into the lounge of the Hotel Saranac, his red tie undone and flapping against his shirt. He sighed. He plopped into a chair.

Axelrod: NY-23 Is A Reminder For Blue Dogs — Senior White House adviser David Axelrod just made an appearance on MSNBC, and, as host Andrea Mitchell asked him about the elections last night (which, by the way, are being cast by some as an “awful day” for President Obama) and their implications …
Discussion:
The Politico


Obama's brother speaks out for first time — GUANGZHOU, China — The mixed-race son of a brilliant but troubled Kenyan academic and a white American woman writes an emotionally wrenching book about his search for identity and self. — This is not the familiar story of President Obama.
Discussion:
The Swamp

Who Are You Calling a Narcissist, Rush? — I had a four-hour dinner once with Rush Limbaugh at the “21” Club in Manhattan, back in the days when I was still writing profiles as a “reporterette,” to use a Limbaugh coinage. — He was charming, in a shy, awkward, lonely-guy way. Not a man of the people.

Secret copyright treaty leaks. It's bad. Very bad. — The internet chapter of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, a secret copyright treaty whose text Obama's administration refused to disclose due to “national security” concerns, has leaked. It's bad. It says:

Paul leads Grayson in Senate race poll — Bowling Green eye surgeon Rand Paul has a slight lead over Secretary of State Trey Grayson in their race to win next May's Republican primary election for the U.S. Senate, according to a new poll. — Meanwhile, Lt. Gov. Daniel Mongiardo holds …


Cuomo Files Intel Antitrust Suit — In 2005, Michael S. Dell's namesake company was getting pounded. His competitors were selling personal computers and servers built on cheap, popular and powerful chips from Advanced Micro Devices, while Mr. Dell had stuck loyally with slower chips from Intel.

Battered Presidents Syndrome — It's like Battered Wives Syndrome, except President Obama is the bride with the black eye and Ayatollah Khameini is the abusive husband. And Obama keeps coming back for more. Yesterday the Supreme Leader publicly ridiculed Obama's repeated diplomatic overtures …