memeorandum: Unhealthy America — The moment of truth for health care is at hand … (Nicholas D. Kristof/New York Times)

1:45 PM ET, November 5, 2009

Top Items:

WEAK KNEES KEEP SHAKING.... In Tuesday's congressional races, voters sent two more House Democrats to Congress, expanding an already-large Democratic majority on the Hill. In 2008, the electorate made a House Democratic majority bigger, and in 2009, Dems went five for five in special elections, making that majority bigger still.

Discussion: McClatchy Washington Bureau, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, No More Mister Nice Blog, Bob Cesca's Awesome Blog!, The Reaction, Jules Crittenden, Prairie Weather and Eschaton

The Politico:

‘We got walloped’ — Two big questions loom in the wake of the 2009 elections. The first is whether Barack Obama learned anything new about American voters. The second is whether American voters will soon learn something new about Obama. — For a president who likes always …

Discussion: James Pethokoukis, The Hill, Wake up America, Commentary, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Taylor Marsh and The Note

Larry J. Sabato / Sabato's Crystal Ball:

Sabato's Fun Facts—Election '09 — The following “fun facts” are presented as instant analysis of the November 3 election for the Crystal Ball's readers, straight from the mouth of U.Va. Center for Politics Director Larry J. Sabato, with the editorial assistance of Isaac Wood:

Discussion: FiveThirtyEight, Blue Virginia, Liberal Values and Facing South

Adam Nagourney / New York Times:

Energized G.O.P. Looks to Avoid Party Feud — WASHINGTON — Republicans emerged from Tuesday's elections energized by victories in Virginia and New Jersey, but their leaders immediately began maneuvering to avoid a prolonged battle with conservative activists over what the party stands for and how to regain power.

Discussion: Washington Post, Washington Monthly, The Caucus, Blogs and Stories, msnbc.com, American Power, MoJo Blog Posts, The Note and The Page

Washington Post:
Democrats debate Obama agenda's impact on Democratic Party

Discussion: FiveThirtyEight, Suburban Guerrilla, Swampland, Associated Press, msnbc.com and The Politico

Karl Rove / Wall Street Journal:
Tuesday's Suburban Vote Swing

Discussion: The Daily Dish, The Greenroom, Sister Toldjah and YID With LID

Michael Barone / Wall Street Journal:
Tuesday's Biggest Loser: the Union Agenda

Discussion: GayPatriot, Commentary and Marathon Pundit

David S. Broder / Washington Post:
Election defeats may spell midterm disaster for Democrats

Discussion: Boston Globe, Bloomberg, Firedoglake, Commentary, Capitol Briefing, Bark Bark Woof Woof and PostPartisan

Gail Collins / New York Times:
Hark! The Voters Speak!

Discussion: Blue Virginia and JammieWearingFool

Andrew Malcolm / Top of the Ticket:
So much Obama damage control that David Axelrod even talks to Fox News

Discussion: NewsBusters.org, Political Punch, Real Clear Politics and Los Angeles Times

Ruy Teixeira / New York Times:
Relax, Democrats — TO hear Republicans tell it …

Discussion: Democratic Strategist

CNN:
Gibbs dismisses losses as ‘local elections’

Discussion: Jules Crittenden and Wall Street Journal

Daniel Libit / The Politico:

Bachmann calls for ‘scare’ tactics — In a conference call Wednesday night with bloggers and activists for the advocacy group Americans for Prosperity, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) called on protesters to “scare” members of Congress into killing the proposed health care reform bill.

Discussion: Gateway Pundit, Think Progress, The Swamp, The Note, Crooks and Liars, Hullabaloo, Wake up America, TPMDC, New York Magazine, Raw Story, AMERICAblog News, George's Bottom Line and Hot Dish Politics

Michelle Malkin:

Battling Pelosicare; Update: Thousands descend on D.C., “You work for us!” — Scroll for updates... Protest signs at the Capitol — House Republicans are holding a 12-hour live online telecast today starting at 1pm Eastern to expose the perils and pitfalls of Pelosicare — and to spotlight the GOP alternative.

Discussion: The Foundry, The Politico, Left Coast Rebel, YID With LID, Washington Wire, Republican Leader John Boehner, Wizbang and Nice Deb

Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:

NOTE THE DATE.... Today, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) hopes to lead a small army of right-wing activists around Capitol Hill, in the hopes of derailing health care reform. But let's not lose sight of the context here — Bachmann has already referred to anti-reform activists as “insurgents” and “freedom fighters.”

Discussion: Capitol Briefing, Firedoglake, Prescriptions, The Politico, Raw Story and Minneapolis Star Tribune

Patricia Murphy / Politics Daily:

Michele Bachmann's Capitol House Call: ‘Get Your Hands Off My Health Care!’ — Rep. Michele Bachmann's message for conservatives traveling to Washington to attend her Capitol Hill House Call event Thursday is simple: “Go into the Capitol and find members of Congress,” she told activists Wednesday night.

Discussion: Prescriptions, Top of the Ticket and Indecision Forever

Jim Hoft / Gateway Pundit: Michele Bachmann Rallies Troops Before Massive DC Protest (Audio-Video)

Evan McMorris-Santoro / TPMDC:
Michele Bachmann, Tea Partiers Prepare For Last Stand On Health Care

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Lance Mannion, The Impolitic, The Plum Line, First Draft and skippy the bush kangaroo

Lori Montgomery / Washington Post:
House leaders prepare for rare Saturday vote on health-care bill

Discussion: ABCNEWS, The Hill, Wall Street Journal, Think Progress, New York Times, Capitol Briefing, Top Stories from CQ, The Hill, QandO, The Politico, Bloomberg, USA Today, Ruby Slippers, TalkLeft and American Power

Ezra Klein:

Congressional Budget Office Thrashes Republican Health-Care Plan — Republicans are learning an unpleasant lesson this morning: The only thing worse than having no health-care reform plan is releasing a bad one, getting thrashed by CBO and making the House Democrats look good in comparison.

Discussion: Firedoglake, Matthew Yglesias, The Hill, Blog entry and MoJo Blog Posts

Susan Ferrechio / Washington Examiner:

CBO: Republican health plan would reduce premiums, cut deficit — The Congressional Budget Office Wednesday night released its cost analysis of the Republican health care plan and found that it would reduce health care premiums and cut the deficit by $68 billion over ten years.

Discussion: The Daily Dish, Los Angeles Times, Maggie's Farm and Commentary

Douglas Elmendorf / Director's Blog:
A Preliminary Analysis of a Substitute Amendment to H.R. 3962 …

Discussion: The New Republic, Hot Air, Wake up America, Angry Bear and The Washington Independent

Jeffrey M. Jones / Gallup:

Huckabee, Romney, Palin See Most Republican Support for '12 — Huckabee, Romney viewed as most qualified of possible Republican presidential candidates — PRINCETON, NJ — Looking ahead to the 2012 presidential election, 71% of Republicans say they would seriously consider voting for Mike Huckabee.

Discussion: Matthew Yglesias, Politics Daily, The Hill, Hot Dish Politics, The Page and Real Clear Politics

Ezra Klein:
Remember ol' Dixie

Discussion: MoJo Blog Posts and Democracy in America

Alexander Mooney / CNN:

Crist says he never backed stimulus measure — (CNN) - Florida Gov. Charlie Crist tells CNN he never endorsed President Obama's $787 billion stimulus measure, in what appears to be the latest effort by the Florida Republican to distance himself from the president as he seeks his party's Senate nomination.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, The Note, Think Progress, Glenn Thrush's Blog and The Atlantic Politics Channel

Chris Cillizza / The Fix:
Morning Fix: Courting Sarah Palin

Discussion: msnbc.com, Washington Monthly, Ben Smith's Blog, The Capitol Fax Blog, National Review Online and Conservatives4Palin.com

Bureau of Labor Statistics:

Productivity and Costs, Third Quarter 2009, Preliminary — Transmission of material in this release is embargoed until USDL-09-1330 8:30 a.m. (EST) Thursday, November 5, 2009 — • www.bls.gov/lpc Media contact: (202) 691-5902 Nonfarm business sector labor productivity increased …

Discussion: Matthew Yglesias, Associated Press, The Greenroom, Blog entry, DailyFinance and The Glittering Eye

Sam Dolnick / City Room:

Kerik Pleads Guilty in Corruption Case — Bernard B. Kerik, a former New York police commissioner, pleaded guilty to eight felonies in a Federal District Court in White Plains on Thursday morning. Mr. Kerik, who will be sentenced in February, faces 27 to 33 months in prison.

Discussion: New York Times, TPMMuckraker, Raw Story, Taegan Goddard's …, Talking Points Memo and Runnin' Scared

Nicholas D. Kristof / New York Times:

Unhealthy America — The moment of truth for health care is at hand, and the distortion that perhaps gets the most traction is this: … That self-aggrandizing delusion may be the single greatest myth in the health care debate. In fact, America's health care system is worse than Slov—er, oops, more on that later.

Discussion: FP Passport, DailyHowler.com and The Mahablog

Mike Allen / The Politico:

Sen. Snowe: Tuesday's results ‘certainly gives pause on how you approach’ health reform - Yanks are world champs — BIRTHDAYS: Autumn Hanna VandeHei, the hottest and smartest wife-mother-friend (boot tip: Jimmy) ... Sloan Rappaport big 4-0 birthday (hat tip: Margaret and Freddie) …

Discussion: TPMDC, The Plum Line, Washington Post and Swampland

Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:

NYC Population By Borough — I forget what I was trying to prove when I started working on this chart yesterday morning, but late yesterday afternoon I realized there was a 90 percent finished visual display of data on my computer so I figured I might as well finish it:

Discussion: Megan McArdle

Faiz Shakir / Think Progress:

Right-wing protesters at GOP rally display prominent sign tying health care to the Holocaust. — ThinkProgress' Lee Fang snapped this photograph of a prominent sign being displayed at today's GOP anti-health care rally. It's unclear whether this sign is one of the many being handed …

Discussion: Matthew Yglesias

New York Times:

The Vote for Mayor, Block by Block — Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg won re-election Tuesday, but voters were less enthusiastic about him than the last time he ran in 2005. The mayor did well in high-income white areas of Manhattan and Queens, and also in election districts dominated by immigrants, like Flushing and Brighton Beach.

Discussion: The Awl and New York Magazine

The Note:

Protesters Arrested at Lieberman's Office — ABC's Z. Byron Wolf reports: — It is protest day, for the Left and the Right, on Capitol Hill. — First out of the gate - 8 Protesters backing a universal health care system briefly occupied Sen. Joe Lieberman's office this morning.

Discussion: New Haven Independent, TPM LiveWire, Gawker, Nice Deb, Talking Points Memo, MoJo Blog Posts, Wonkette and The Powers That Be

Paul Thompson / Daily Mail:

Michelle Obama to star with Nigella Lawson as she becomes first presidential wife to appear on a reality show — Michelle Obama is to be the first presidential wife to appear on a reality TV series. — The First Lady will make a guest appearance on ‘Iron Chef America’ which features British cook Nigella Lawson as a judge.

Discussion: Gateway Pundit, JammieWearingFool and Weasel Zippers

thenational.ae:

The decision — General Stanley McChrystal, who was chosen earlier this year as the top commander in Afghanistan. It will take 12 to 18 months, he has suggested, just to determine whether it is possible to reverse the Taliban's momentum. Paula Bronstein / Getty Images

Discussion: Matthew Yglesias, The Washington Note, ATTACKERMAN and The Awl

Nicholas Ballasy / CNSNews:

Constitution Tells Congress ‘to Provide for the Health’ of the Country, Says Sen. Burris — (CNSNews.com) - when asked by CNSNews.com what specific part of the Constitution authorizes Congress to mandate that individuals must purchase health insurance, Sen. Roland Burris (D-Ill.) …