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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 …
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Commentary, The Strata-Sphere, Pajamas Media, Taylor Marsh, Outside The Beltway, Blue Mass. Group, Power Line, Hot Air, The Confluence, Townhall.com, RedState, Ruby Slippers, PoliBlog, Boston Globe, Fox News, MyDD, Scared Monkeys, The Lonely Conservative, The Note, Politics Daily, NO QUARTER, Washington Wire, Sister Toldjah, The Daily Caller, Gateway Pundit, Ben Smith's Blog, The Natural Truth, The Jawa Report, Michelle Malkin, Left Coast Rebel, National Review Online, race42008.com, The Corner on National …, Riehl World View and TPMDC
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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.
Discussion:
Washington Post, JammieWearingFool, Power Line, Gateway Pundit, The Strata-Sphere, Weasel Zippers and Hit & Run

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 …

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.

Coakley: “You can have religious freedom but you probably shouldn't work in the emergency room” — Last evening, while on Broadside with Jim Braude, I told Jim that Scott Brown was trying to prevent Nuns like the Sisters of Charity that taught me from performing medical procedures contrary to their religious beliefs.

White House nears deal on health care — Gripped by a building sense that its window of opportunity could be closing, the White House on Thursday broke the last major logjam blocking enactment of far-reaching health-care legislation, cutting a deal with organized labor on how to tax high-cost insurance policies.
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Boston Globe, Commentary, Beat the Press, The Politico, Swampland, Capital Gains and Games blogs, The Page and Associated Press


Suffolk U. poll: Brown up by 4
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Boston Herald, The Other McCain, AmSpecBlog, CNN, Hot Air, The Daily Caller and The Political Carnival

3rd-Party Candidate Named Kennedy Could Tip Senate Race in Massachusetts
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The Note, Boston Globe, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, The Caucus, The Fix and Political Punch

Officials quickly stamp out talk of Boise State football team's appearance — The White House on Thursday quickly took away the possibility of Boise State University's football team joining the national champions Alabama at an honorary Rose Garden ceremony.
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Accord Reached on Insurance Tax for Costly Plans
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Los Angeles Times, The Politico, NOW! Blog, Ezra Klein, The New Republic, Political Punch and Wonk Room


Limbaugh stands by his Haiti remarks, tells critical caller she's a ‘bigot’ with ‘tampons in her ears.’ — Yesterday, hate radio host Rush Limbaugh controversially said that President Obama was going to try to use the devastating Haitian earthquake to boost his credibility with the …
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What Karl Rove got wrong on the U.S. deficit — For its Topic A feature last Sunday, The Post invited a panel of political operatives to offer their advice to the Democratic Party on strategy for 2010 [Sunday Opinion, Jan. 10]. Improbably, one of the operatives asked was Karl Rove …
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The Hill, Think Progress, Politics Daily, The Politico, The Swamp, The Page, Ezra Klein, The Political Carnival and Washington Times


‘Very angry’ Dem sounds alarm — Democrats moved closer to a final deal on health care reform Thursday — and for some vulnerable members, the end can't come soon enough. — In an emotional talk with other Democrats on the Ways and Means Committee this week, North Dakota Rep. Earl Pomeroy …

Former Tennessee congressman Harold Ford Jr. — Harold Ford Jr. has gone viral. — “You can judge from the editorials in the city, and just the response in the city and in the state that people don't want party bosses telling anyone that you can't run,” Ford said in a phone interview between meetings …
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Ben Smith's Blog
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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.
Discussion:
The Natural Truth, Michelle Malkin, Riehl World View, NO QUARTER, The Lonely Conservative, Betsy's Page and RedState

Bankers Without a Clue — The official Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission — the group that aims to hold a modern version of the Pecora hearings of the 1930s, whose investigations set the stage for New Deal bank regulation — began taking testimony on Wednesday.


Powell: ‘Very impressed’ with Obama administration — Washington (CNN) - Former Secretary of State Colin Powell praised the Obama administration's initial response to the devastating earthquake in Haiti Thurday, and said that the international community needs to be prepared to provide aid for years to come.

White House budget director blames old computers for ineffective government — A big reason why the government is inefficient and ineffective is because Washington has outdated technology, with federal workers having better computers at home than in the office.


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 …

One year out: President Obama's fall — 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.

What the Mainstream Media Will Not Tell You About Haiti: Part of the Suffering of Haiti is “Made in the USA” — Part of the suffering of Haiti is indeed “Made in the USA.” While the earthquake would harm any country, actions by the United States have absolutely magnified the harm from the earthquake in Haiti.
Discussion:
Dennis the Peasant