Top Items:
Mike Allen / The Politico:
Obama plans combative turn — President Barack Obama plans a combative response if, as White House aides fear, Democrats lose Tuesday's special Senate election in Massachusetts, close advisers say. — “This is not a moment that causes the president or anybody who works for him to express any doubt …
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Johnny Dollar / Olbermann Watch:
Joe Scarborough Slams ‘Reckless’ Olbermann for Unhinged Personal Attacks on Scott Brown! — Here is what the infamous, deplorable Keith Olbermann spewed tonight (via The Right Scoop): — Moments later, in a rare example of criticism from his own colleagues, his diatribe was blasted by MSNBC's Joe Scarborough:
New York Times:
Democrats May Seek to Push Health Bill Through House — WASHINGTON — The White House and Democratic Congressional leaders, scrambling for a backup plan to rescue their health care legislation if Republicans win the special election in Massachusetts on Tuesday, have begun laying the groundwork …
Discussion:
The Hill, AmSpecBlog, FiveThirtyEight, Prescriptions, New Deal 2.0, Wonk Room, The Politico, Wall Street Journal, Clusterstock, Betsy's Page, CNN, AMERICAblog News and ABCNEWS
Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:
538 Model Posits Brown as 3:1 Favorite — The FiveThirtyEight Senate Forecasting Model, which correctly predicted the outcome of all 35 Senate races in 2008, now regards Republican Scott Brown as a 74 percent favorite to win the Senate seat in Massachusetts on the basis of new polling from ARG …
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice, Washington Monthly, The Reaction, Ben Smith's Blog, New York Times, Pollster.com All Content, Washington Post, The Caucus, Hit & Run, Pam's House Blend, Betsy's Page, Hotline On Call, Rasmussen Reports, Commentary, Taylor Marsh, Boston Globe, Open Left, Towleroad News #gay, Politics Daily, Guardian, The Atlantic Business Channel, Left Coast Rebel, Fausta's Blog, The Corner on National … and Clusterstock
The Politico:
Finger-pointing begins for Dems — CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — As voters head to the polls in Massachusetts, nervous Democrats have already begun to blame one another for putting at risk the Senate seat Ted Kennedy held for more than 40 years. — Many angry Democrats blame their candidate …
Discussion:
Taylor Marsh, Wall Street Journal, Hot Air, Boston Herald, American Conservative …, Roll Call and The Lonely Conservative
Mark Blumenthal / Pollster.com All Content:
Massachusetts Wrap-Up — Over the last few days, thousands of words have been written and many charts posted on Pollster and elsewhere, all trying to make sense of the sometimes divergent Massachusetts Senate polls. If you haven't yet, make sure you read Charles Franklin's tour de force review posted …
Discussion:
The Corner on National …, Hot Air, Change of Subject, Open Left, Wall Street Journal and The Hill
David Catanese / The Politico:
New poll: Brown up 9 — A new InsiderAdvantage poll conducted …
New poll: Brown up 9 — A new InsiderAdvantage poll conducted …
Discussion:
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Eugene Robinson / Washington Post:
Tough lessons from Obama's first year
Tough lessons from Obama's first year
Discussion:
The Note, Commentary, Tennessee Guerilla Women, USA Today, Prairie Weather and Towleroad News #gay
Ezra Klein:
After the Massachusetts special election — I don't know who will win today's special election in Massachusetts. But I do know what should happen — and what can happen — after the votes are counted and the winner is seated: Democrats should pass health-care reform.
Discussion:
TalkLeft
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Marc Ambinder / The Atlantic Politics Channel:
MA SEN: Will The House Pass The Senate Bill? — Good luck with that! Not only will a Brown victory make moderates even more skittish about health care, but it will probably fortify the ten or so Democrats who've said they will under no circumstances support the Senate bill's abortion language.
Discussion:
marbury
The Note:
Pelosi: We Will Have Health Care - One Way Or Another
Pelosi: We Will Have Health Care - One Way Or Another
Discussion:
Ezra Klein, The Politico, Ben Smith's Blog, The Lonely Conservative, The Page, Clusterstock and American Conservative …
Allahpundit / Hot Air:
Here we go: Dems to ask House to ping-pong Senate ObamaCare bill
Here we go: Dems to ask House to ping-pong Senate ObamaCare bill
Discussion:
The Daily Caller, Raw Story, NewsBusters.org, Verum Serum, Townhall.com and The Jawa Report
Washington Post:
FBI broke law for years in phone record searches — The FBI illegally collected more than 2,000 U.S. telephone call records between 2002 and 2006 by invoking terrorism emergencies that did not exist or simply persuading phone companies to provide records, according to internal bureau memos and interviews.
Discussion:
Think Progress, Politics Daily, Michael Calderone's Blog, The BLT, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Emptywheel, TalkLeft and The Page
CBS News:
Poll: Most Don't Want Sarah Palin to Run for President — Posted by Kevin Hechtkopf A new CBS News poll finds that a large majority of Americans say they do not want former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin to run for president. — Specifically, 71 percent say they do not want the former …
Discussion:
Politics Daily, AmSpecBlog, Hot Air, Raw Story, Liberal Values and Alan Colmes' Liberaland
Andrew Sullivan / The Daily Dish:
A Looming Landslide For Brown — Democrats can stop hoping at this point. — I can see no alternative scenario but a huge - staggeringly huge - victory for the FNC/RNC machine tomorrow. They crafted a strategy of total oppositionism to anything Obama proposed a year ago.
Discussion:
Outside The Beltway, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Awl, Doug Ross, The Greenroom, NewsBusters.org and Dennis the Peasant
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Kevin Drum / Mother Jones:
Obama's Discontents — Bernard Avishai on the election in Massachusetts: … The frustration on the left with Obama — and with healthcare reform specifically — was almost inevitable. During the campaign, a lot of people chose to see in him what they wanted to see …
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Bernard Avishai / TPMCafe:
Who's To Blame? — I am mostly living far from Massachusetts …
Who's To Blame? — I am mostly living far from Massachusetts …
Discussion:
TalkLeft
Wall Street Journal:
National Parties Look to Boost Voter Turnout — Close Race for Senate Galvanizes Supporters — NORTH ANDOVER, Mass.—The fight for a Massachusetts U.S. Senate seat, and with it President Barack Obama's domestic agenda, is coming down to one essential challenge: maximizing turnout of core supporters.
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Aislinn Laing / Telegraph:
US accused of ‘occupying’ Haiti as troops flood in — France accused the US of “occupying” Haiti on Monday as thousands of American troops flooded into the country to take charge of aid efforts and security. — The French minister in charge of humanitarian relief called on the UN to …
Richmond Times-Dispatch:
Hinkle: TORTURE: Where's the Conservative Skepticism? — Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab's failed attempt to blow up a jetliner over Detroit on Christmas Day has resurrected the debate over torture. A Rasmussen Poll at year's end found a solid majority of Americans favor using …
Discussion:
The Agitator
Andrew Sullivan / The Daily Dish:
From Depression To Rage — We have heard a lot from those furious that Obama has not solved all our problems overnight, how they feel that this country has somehow been taken away from them, how they feel a disconnect from the president. But maybe it's time for a different kind of rage …
Sam Roberts / New York Times:
More Men Marrying Wealthier Wives — Beagy Zielinski is a German-born 28-year-old stylist who moved to New York to study fashion in 1995 and stayed. Just before Christmas, she broke up with her blue-collar boyfriend, who repaired Navy ships. — “He was extremely insecure about my career …