Top Items:
Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:
Internal Memo To Top Dem Donors Warns Mass Senate Race Is “Very Tight,” “Urgent” — In a sign of serious worry about the increasingly tense battle for Ted Kennedy's seat, the Democratic National Committee and the Martha Coakley campaign have blasted a private memo to top national Dem donors …
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Jim Hoft / Gateway Pundit:
Martha Coakley Is Not Just Wrong on Terror War - She's Dangerous (Must-See Video) — There are no terrorists in Afghanistan? — On Wednesday December 30 Jordanian doctor and Al-Qaeda blogger Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi killed 7 CIA officers in a suicide bomb attack at an outpost in southeastern Afghanistan.
Pete Abel / The Moderate Voice:
Brown, Coakley, and a Confession — So Massachusetts Republican Scott Brown and Democrat Martha Coakley had their final debate last night; and by all accounts — at least all the accounts I've read — it was a feisty affair. — If you follow political matters at all …
Byron York / Washington Examiner:Desperate Dems try to Palinize Massachusetts Senate race
Discussion:
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The Rothenberg / The Rothenberg Political Report:
NV Sen Moved to Lean Takeover, Dems Still have Edge in MA Sen — New polling confirms that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D) is mired near 40% in general election ballot tests against all potential opponents, even those voters know nothing about. It will be extremely difficult …
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Yahoo! News:
McCain on claims of campaign's lax vetting of Palin: 'I wouldn't know.' — Buzz up! — An interview on “The Today Show” this morning became contentious when host Matt Lauer questioned Sen. John McCain about allegations in a new book that his campaign did little background research …
John Fund / Wall Street Journal:
Harry Reid's Swansong — Will Harry Reid retire at the end of this year? — Printer — Friendly — In the end, I don't believe Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid will run for re-election. Whether or not the health care bill he muscled through the Senate becomes law, the 70-year-old will bow out of his race for a fifth term.
Peter Hamby / CNN:Ensign: Lay off Reid
Discussion:
The Politico, Washington Post, Roll Call, skippy the bush kangaroo, Gawker, Left Coast Rebel, TPMDC and Riehl World View
Bill Carter / Media Decoder:
Conan O'Brien Says He Won't Host ‘Tonight Show’ After Leno — Conan O'Brien released a statement Tuesday saying that he no longer wanted to be the host of “The Tonight Show” on NBC if it appeared at 12:05 a.m. — Mr. O'Brien's brief run as host at 11:35 p.m. is to be cut short next month …
Kevin Diaz / Hot Dish Politics:
Palin, Bachmann Tea Party sessions closed to press — It looks like the revolution will not be televised, after all. — At least not the Tea Party's revolution. — Word from Nashville on Monday was that the First National Tea Party Convention next month will be closed to the press …
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The Politico:
Tea partiers shell out big bucks for Palin — Sarah Palin's appearance early next month at the first tea party movement's convention in Nashville, Tenn., has stirred controversy in conservative circles over her reported decision to charge a substantial fee.
Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:
Divorce Rates Higher in States with Gay Marriage Bans — Over the past decade or so, divorce has gradually become more uncommon in the United States. Since 2003, however, the decline in divorce rates has been largely confined to states which have not passed a state constitutional ban on gay marriage.
The Official Google Blog:
A new approach to China — Like many other well-known organizations, we face cyber attacks of varying degrees on a regular basis. In mid-December, we detected a highly sophisticated and targeted attack on our corporate infrastructure originating from China that resulted in the theft of intellectual property from Google.
Discussion:
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CNN:
CNN Poll: Americans split on success of Obama presidency — Washington (CNN) - Americans are giving Barack Obama a split decision on his first year in office, according to a new national poll. — Forty-eight percent of people questioned in a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released Tuesday …
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, Hot Air, The Swamp, The Plum Line, Moonbattery, The Page and Commentary
Peter H. Stone / Under The Influence:
Health Insurers Funded Chamber Attack Ads — Just as dealings with the Obama administration and congressional Democrats soured last summer, six of the nation's biggest health insurers began quietly pumping big money into third-party television ads aimed at killing or significantly modifying …
Aaron Blake / The Hill:
Campbell could switch to Senate race Thursday — Former Rep. Tom Campbell (R-Calif.) appears primed to switch from California's governor's race to its Senate race, and it looks like he will make an announcement Thursday morning. — In an invitation from the Los Angeles County GOP …
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Harold Ford Jr / New York Post:
Ford: I'm gearing up for Senate race — It's true: I am strongly considering running for the United States Senate. — I do so because our best as a nation has always come when we test our ideas and ourselves, and when we trust competition to refine the steel of our convictions and the truth of our arguments.
Discussion:
JoeTrippi.com, The Fix, Gawker, Glenn Thrush's Blog, PostPartisan, New York Times, The Caucus, Open Left, Politics Daily, The Daily Beast, Ben Smith's Blog, Taylor Marsh, Hotline On Call, The Hill, ATTACKERMAN, Commentary, The Corner on National …, Top of the Ticket, The Page and Clusterstock
The Politico:
Obama to address House GOP — President Barack Obama will address House Republicans next week at their annual retreat in Baltimore, deputy White House press secretary Bill Burton said Tuesday afternoon. — It's a show of bi-partisanship after a year rife with tumult in the relationship between …
David Brooks / New York Times:
The Tel Aviv Cluster — Jews are a famously accomplished group. They make up 0.2 percent of the world population, but 54 percent of the world chess champions, 27 percent of the Nobel physics laureates and 31 percent of the medicine laureates. — Jews make up 2 percent of the U.S. population …
Wall Street Journal:
Tax on Investment Income Is Weighed — Health-Bill Negotiators Consider Extending Medicare Levy as They Face Pressure to Ease Proposed Hit on Generous Insurance Plans — WASHINGTON — House and Senate negotiators are considering applying for the first time the Medicare payroll tax …
Denver Post:
Sources: Hickenlooper intends to enter guv's race — Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper has told top Democrats he intends to run for governor, sources tell The Denver Post. — Hickenlooper has been meeting with key advisers since Democratic Gov. Bill Ritter last week unexpectedly announced he was dropping his re-election bid.
Peter Hamby / CNN:
Palin to address alcohol industry event in Las Vegas — Washington (CNN) - Las Vegas and alcohol probably aren't the first two things that come to mind at the mention of Sarah Palin, but the former vice presidential candidate is about to change that. — At least that's according to Craig Wolf …
Discussion:
The Political Carnival
Vince Lattanzio / Press Association:
Sick Passenger on “Do Not Board” List Flies Out of Philly — An investigation has been launched to find out why a man with an extremely contagious disease was allowed to fly out of Philadelphia International Airport. — The man, who's infected with Tuberculosis, boarded a US Airways bound …
Los Angeles Times:
Iranian officials blame West for bombing that killed top scientist — Massoud Ali-Mohammadi, one of the country's leading nuclear scientists, is killed outside his home on his way to work. Reformists said he had become vocal in his opposition to the government.
Discussion:
New York Times, Agence France Presse, Guardian, Swampland, niacINsight and Unqualified Offerings
Gavin Lee / BBC:
Strange reunion — Why would a former Guantanamo Bay prison guard track down two of his former captives - two British men - and agree to fly to London to meet them? — “You look different without a cap.” — “You look different without the jump suits.” — With those words, an extraordinary reunion gets under way.
The Huffington Post:
DADT Repeal: Dems Move Forward With Plans — WHAT'S YOUR REACTION? — Congressional negotiators and White House officials are moving forward with plans to add the repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell to the upcoming defense authorization bill, Democratic sources tell the Huffington Post.
CNN:
7.0 earthquake hits Haiti — (CNN) — A major earthquake struck just off the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince on Tuesday, sparking a tsunami watch for parts of the Caribbean, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. — The Associated Press reported that a hospital had collapsed.
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice
Patrick Courrielche / Big Journalism:
Peer-to-Peer Review (Part III): How ‘Climategate’ Marks the Maturing of a New Science Movement — PART III - A global warming skeptic receives the leaked files from an anonymous “Deep-Climate” insider. Release of files exposes gatekeeping and leads to the maturing of a new science movement - that of peer-to-peer review.
Neil Irwin / Washington Post:
Federal Reserve earned $45 billion in 2009 — Wall Street firms aren't the only banks that had a banner year. The Federal Reserve made record profits in 2009, as its unconventional efforts to prop up the economy created a windfall for the government. — The Fed will return about $45 billion …
Discussion:
Firedoglake, Open Left, Newsweek Blogs, Wonk Room, Ezra Klein, Felix Salmon, The BLT, Gawker, Free exchange, The Big Picture and Think Progress
Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:
CQ Study Shows Obama's Legislative Strategy is Working — Congressional Quarterly concludes that whether or not Obama's relatively low-key approach is antagonizing his core supporters, it seems to be working: … In part we're seeing that an administration staffed, from the White House on down …
Dennis Overbye / New York Times:
With Updated Hubble Telescope, Reaching Farther Back in Time — Astronaut repairmen had hardly finished tightening the last stubborn bolts on the Hubble Space Telescope last summer when astronomers set the controls on the refurbished telescope to the dim and distant past.
Discussion:
Little Green Footballs
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