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6:40 PM ET, January 15, 2010

memeorandum

 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.
RELATED:
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.
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.
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.
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.
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:
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.
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 …
Steve Kornacki:
Coakley Internal: Brown +3  —  I've been told reliably that Martha Coakley's internal poll for Thursday night showed her trailing Scott Brown by three points — 47 to 44 percent.  —  As I wrote yesterday, her internal poll on Wednesday night had her barely ahead, 46 to 44 percent.
Discussion: Hot Air
Dorothy Rabinowitz / Wall Street Journal:
Martha Coakley's Convictions  —  The role played by the U.S. Senate candidate in a notorious sex case raises questions about her judgment.  —  The story of the Amiraults of Massachusetts, and of the prosecution that had turned the lives of this thriving American family to dust, was well known to the world by the year 2001.
Jessica Van Sack / Boston Herald:
Poll shocker: Scott Brown surges ahead in Senate race
Associated Press:
Lawmaker: If GOP wins seat, health care dead
Discussion: The Hill
RealClearPolitics Video Log:
MA-Sen: DSCC Runs Ad With Scott Brown And World Trade Center
Discussion: Townhall.com and Swampland
Reid Wilson / Hotline On Call:
Why Obama Must, And Shouldn't, Go To MA
Discussion: Hot Air and Ben Smith's Blog
Aaron Blake / The Hill:
Obama to Massachusetts on Sunday
Boston Globe:
Giuliani leads feisty Brown rally in North End
Discussion: Riehl World View
Charlie Cook / National Journal Online:
Colossal Miscalculation On Health Care  —  OBAMA AND HILL DEMOCRATS SHOULD HAVE FOCUSED MUCH MORE ON THE ECONOMY.  —  Honorable and intelligent people can disagree over the substance and details of what President Obama and congressional Democrats are trying to do on health care reform and climate change.
RELATED:
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.
RELATED:
Julian E. Barnes / Los Angeles Times:
Handling of Ft. Hood shooting suspect could bring discipline
Discussion: Politics Daily and Hotline On Call
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.
RELATED:
Glenn Greenwald / Salon:
Obama confidant's spine-chilling proposal  —  Cass Sunstein has long been one of Barack Obama's closest confidants.  Often mentioned as a likely Obama nominee to the Supreme Court, Sunstein is currently Obama's head of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs where, among other things …
Discussion: AmSpecBlog, Paul Krugman and Hit & Run
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.
Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:
Coakley's conscience clause  —  Martha Coakley is taking fire this morning for her explanation to a radio interviewer of her attack on her opponent's support for a religous exemption that would, she said, allow medical staffers to deny emergency contraception to a rape victim.
RELATED:
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 …
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.”
Susan Crabtree / The Hill:
Ethics committee probing Visclosky, Tiahrt for ties to PMA lobbying firm  —  The House ethics committee is examining Reps. Peter Visclosky's (D-Ind.) and Todd Tiahrt's (R-Kansas) ties to PMA Group, a now-defunct lobbying firm that was raided by the FBI last year.
Discussion: The Politico
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 …
 
 
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 More Items: 
ArkansasTimes:
Vic Snyder not seeking re-election
Discussion: Firedoglake, DownWithTyranny! and TPMDC
Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:
Plan B?  —  If Scott Brown wins on Tuesday, you can bet he'll arrive …
Discussion: TPMDC
Megan Mulligan / The Daily Caller:
Confessions of an Anchorman
Discussion: Hot Air
Domenico Montanaro / msnbc.com:
TEA PARTYING FOR PROFIT?
Discussion: In The Pink
Kim Hart / The Hill:
Rep. Smith: Google makes ‘180-degree turn’ on bill backing Internet freedom
Discussion: The Politico
Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:
Goldfarb to Orion  —  The Weekly Standard blogger and former …
 Earlier Items: 
Jordan Fabian / The Hill:
Pelosi: Claims about GOP midterm momentum are ‘hype and hyperbole’
Mark Silva / The Swamp:
Bill Clinton: Haiti's rebirth, an opportunity
Discussion: The Hill
Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:
Historical Sex Scandals
The Politico:
‘Very angry’ Dem sounds alarm
Discussion: Hot Air and The Caucus
 

 
From Mediagazer:

Lachlan Cartwright / The Ankler:
Sources: MSNBC renewed Rachel Maddow's contract early this fall, but with a pay cut; MSNBC bosses' plan to shake up daytime and weekend programming

Caitlin Huston / The Hollywood Reporter:
Internal memo: Hearst Magazines president announces layoffs as part of a decision to “reallocate resources” to “continue our focus on digital innovation”

Jon Brodkin / Ars Technica:
FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel announced she will leave the agency on January 20; she was the first woman to be confirmed to lead the agency

 
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