Top Items:
Byron York / Washington Examiner:
Massachusetts: ‘Bottom has fallen out’ of Coakley's polls; Dems prepare to explain defeat, protect Obama — Here in Massachusetts, as well as in Washington, a growing sense of gloom is setting in among Democrats about the fortunes of Democratic Senate candidate Martha Coakley.
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Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:
A Trade Center image in DSCC spot — A new ad from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee uses an unlikely symbol of Wall Street greed: the World Trade Center. — The image in the attack on Scott Brown for his alleged closeness to Wall Street pictures the Trade Center and the destroyed Marriott Hotel on its western side.
Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:
Scott Brown Voted Against Giving Help To 9/11 Recovery Workers — One month after the September 11th attacks, Scott Brown was one of only three Massachusetts State Representatives to vote against a bill to provide financial assistance to Red Cross workers who had volunteered with 9/11 recovery efforts, we've learned.
Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:
OK, It's a Toss-Up — Earlier today I tweeted about how there wasn't enough evidence to describe the Massachusetts special election as a “toss-up”, as some other forecasters have done, based on the information available to us at that time. — Well, now there's some new evidence.
Discussion:
Boston Herald, Calitics, Open Left, Newsweek Blogs, Democrats.com, ProfessorBainbridge.com and The Mahablog
Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
WHO VOTES AGAINST HELP FOR 9/11 RECOVERY WORKERS?.... It's a little late in the game to introduce a game-changing issue into the Senate special election in Massachusetts — the election is Tuesday, after all — but this revelation nevertheless tells voters something pretty important about Republican Scott Brown.
Jonathan Chait / The New Republic:
What To Do If Coakley Loses — As the likelihood grows that Republicans could win the special election in Massachusetts, it's worth thinking again about alternatives for health care reform in case that happens. I see three, in descending order of preference:
Josh Kraushaar / Scorecard's Blog:
Obama heading to Massachusetts for Coakley — President Barack Obama will be heading to Massachusetts to campaign for Martha Coakley this Sunday, according to two senior sources informed of the president's decision, a last-minute effort to give the Democrat a needed boost in the Senate race.
Jonathan Martin / Ben Smith's Blog:
Obama to campaign for Coakley — BOSTON — President Barack Obama will campaign for Massachusetts Senate candidate Martha Coakley on Sunday, POLITICO has learned, a sign that Democrats believe the seat remains winnable enough that it's worth risking the president's prestige.
Discussion:
Washington Times, The Daily Dish, The Strata-Sphere, Hotline On Call, The Note, Washington Post and Dennis the Peasant
Jessica Van Sack / Boston Herald:
Poll shocker: Scott Brown surges ahead in Senate race — + Recent Articles + Recent Blog Entries + Email + Bio — Riding a wave of opposition to Democratic health-care reform, GOP upstart Scott Brown is leading in the U.S. Senate race, raising the odds of a historic upset that would reverberate …
Discussion:
Ezra Klein, The Politico, Boston Globe, Gateway Pundit, wbur.org, Washington Post, sisu, PERRspectives, PostPartisan, Red Mass Group, Commentary, The Hugh Hewitt Show, Fox News, NewsBusters.org, Political Byline, Crooks and Liars, Outside The Beltway, Taylor Marsh, Another Black Conservative, RedState, The Note, The Strata-Sphere, AMERICAblog News, The Confluence and Pajamas Media
Bshor / Boris Shor, PhD:
Scott Brown is a more liberal Republican than Dede Scozzafava — A special Senate election is being held next Tuesday in Massachusetts to finish Edward Kennedy's term. The candidates are Martha Coakley (D), and State Senator Scott P. Brown (R). — The election is particularly noteworthy for a number of reasons.
Mickey Kaus / Kausfiles:
How Health Care Reform Could Crash — Poll watcher Sean Trende (if that really is his name) thinks Massachusetts GOP challenger Scott Brown may have peaked too soon. Hmm. Doesn't necessarily look like it. .... Mark Blumenthal has some guidance for reading and reconciling all the Mass. polls …
Roger L Simon / Pajamas Media:
Massachusetts shocker: Brown Up 15% in Pajamas Media/CrossTarget Poll — A new poll taken Thursday evening for Pajamas Media by CrossTarget - an Alexandria VA survey research firm - shows Scott Brown, a Republican, leading Martha Coakley, a Democrat, by 15.4% in Tuesday's special election for the open Massachusetts US Senate seat.
Kerry Picket / Washington Times:Martha Coakley: Devout Catholics 'Probably shouldn't work in the emergency room'
Charles Krauthammer / Real Clear Politics:
The Fall of Obama — WASHINGTON — What went wrong? A year ago, he was king of the world. Now President Obama's approval rating, according to CBS, has dropped to 46 percent — and his disapproval rating is the highest ever recorded by Gallup at the beginning of an (elected) president's second year.
Discussion:
The New Republic, The Greenroom, The Atlantic Business Channel, Political Punch and Commentary
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Ben Armbruster / Think Progress:
Beck: Obama is ‘dividing the nation’ by reacting ‘so rapidly to Haiti.’ — Right wing radio talker Rush Limbaugh has received considerable criticism for politicizing the earthquake in Haiti this week with a series of inflammatory remarks attacking President Obama.
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David Brooks / New York Times:
The Underlying Tragedy — On Oct. 17, 1989, a major earthquake with a magnitude of 7.0 struck the Bay Area in Northern California. Sixty-three people were killed. This week, a major earthquake, also measuring a magnitude of 7.0, struck near Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
Discussion:
Atlantic Correspondents, BBC, Achenblog, Clive Crook, FP Passport, Matthew Yglesias, The Awl, The Foundry, The Anchoress, TPMCafe, The Moderate Voice, EconLog and Cafe Hayek
New York Times:
Pentagon Report on Fort Hood Shooting Details Failures — WASHINGTON — The military's defenses against threats from inside its own ranks are outdated and ineffective, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said on Monday as he described the findings of an Army review of the Nov. 5 shooting spree at Fort Hood, Texas.
Discussion:
No Sheeples Here, Outside The Beltway, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Online NewsHour and Main Justice
Roxana Tiron / The Hill:
Skelton opposes repeal of 'Don't ask, don't tell' — The leading House Democrat on military policy said Friday that he opposes repealing the law that bans openly gay people from serving in the military. — Seventeen years ago, Rep. Ike Skelton (D-Mo.) played a major role in crafting …
Discussion:
Advocate, Think Progress, AMERICAblog Gay, New York Times and The Washington Independent
Kathryn Jean Lopez / The Corner on National …:
Testing the Waters: Santorum Makes It Official — By: Kathryn Jean Lopez — In a letter that went in the mail yesterday to his PAC, the America's Foundation, Rick Santorum talks about his concerns about Barack Obama's first year of “Change we can't afford.”
Ezra Klein:
Cynicism on the excise tax — “Unions get a special two-year exclusion from the [excise] tax,” comments Megan McArdle. “Presumably, the unions plan to go back and get their exclusion extended every few years.” Tyler Cowen agrees with her, commenting that this will “increase the rate of unionization …
Domenico Montanaro / msnbc.com:
TEA PARTYING FOR PROFIT? — From NBC's Domenico Montanaro — Tea Party faithful are paying a high price for admission — more than double the cost of other similar national political conventions — to hear former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin speak at next month's Tea Party Nation Convention in Nashville, Tenn.
Discussion:
In The Pink
Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:
Historical Sex Scandals — It's interesting how even as our popular culture has become raunchier, our official political culture has in a lot of ways become more prudish. Consider the case of Grover Cleveland: … This campaign also featured Blaine's supporters accusing the Democrats …
Damian Paletta / Wall Street Journal:
Consumer Protection Agency in Doubt — Dodd Weighs Dropping Idea of Creating Independent Body in Bid to Get Financial Regulatory Revamp Passed This Year — Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd is considering scrapping the idea of creating a Consumer Financial Protection Agency …
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