Top Items:
Philip Klein / AmSpecBlog:
Barney Frank Deals Potential Death Blow to Obamacare — Rep. Barney Frank is not a wobbly moderate in a marginal district, but a liberal Democrat who has been supportive of the health care push. And that's why this statement below, which essentially rules out all of the options being discussed …
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Art Beast / The Daily Beast:
He's Done Everything Wrong — Home - Cheat sheet - Buzz board - Big Fat Story - Blogs & stories - Videos - Galleries - Crossword — Blogs and Stories — Obama punted on the economy and reversed the fortunes of the Democrats in 365 days. — He's misjudged the character of the country in his whole approach.
Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:
Let's Play the Blame Game! — When a Democrat loses a federal race in Massachusetts, the default assumption ought to be that several factors are to blame. — Clearly the national environment has gotten worse for the Democrats since Barack Obama's inauguration one year ago.
Manu Raju / The Politico:
Claire McCaskill: No forced Senate health care bill — Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) has joined Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.) in warning leaders not to try to push a revised health care reform bill through the Senate before newly elected Republican Scott Brown arrives.
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Gateway Pundit
Jonathan Cohn / The New Republic:
Dear Nervous & Frustrated House Democrat... Dear Nervous and Frustrated House Democrat, — It's up to you. — A few days ago, after a year of debate, you were on the verge of achieving a goal that's eluded progressives for nearly a century: Creating a national health insurance program.
Roy Edroso / Runnin' Scared:
Scott Brown Wins Mass. Race, Giving GOP 41-59 Majority in the Senate — The election of Republican Scott Brown to replace the deceased Ted Kennedy in the Senate from Massachusetts yesterday destroys the Democrats' 60-vote supermajority, widely presumed to be needed for passage of a health care bill …
The Politico:
Fallout: Dems rethinking health bill — Republican Scott Brown's upset win in Massachusetts Tuesday threatened to derail any hopes of passing a health reform bill this year, as the White House and Democratic leaders faced growing resistance from rank-and-file members to pressing ahead with a bill following the Bay State backlash.
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Lanny J. Davis / Wall Street Journal:
Blame the Left for Massachusetts — Democrats should be willing to seek common-ground reforms. — Liberal Democrats might attempt to spin the shocking victory of Republican Scott Brown in Massachusetts by claiming that the loss was a result of a poor campaign by Martha Coakley. Would that it were so.
The Note:
Bayh Warns “Catastrophe” If Dems Ignore Massachusetts Senate Race Lessons — ABC News' Jonathan Karl reports: — Even before the votes are counted, Senator Evan Bayh is warning fellow Democrats that ignoring the lessons of the Massachusetts Senate race will “lead to even further catastrophe” for their party.
Reid Wilson / Hotline On Call:
Frank: Health Care Compromise “Dead” — Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) said any hope for a compromise between House and Senate health care reform legislation is dead following his state's election of a GOP senator last night. — “I think the measure that would have passed, that is …
Rasmussen Reports:
First Look At Massachusetts Election Night Poll Data — Rasmussen Reports has conducted an Election Night survey of 1,000 voters in the Massachusetts special election for U.S. Senate. Data will be released on this page throughout the evening. — Polls closed in Massachusetts …
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Left Coast Rebel, Boston Globe, Newsbroke, The Fix, James Pethokoukis, NewsBusters.org, Swing State Project and MyDD
Christina Bellantoni / TPMDC:
Health Care Comes To Screeching Halt - Sen. Webb: No HCR Votes Until Brown Seated
Health Care Comes To Screeching Halt - Sen. Webb: No HCR Votes Until Brown Seated
The Huffington Post:
White House Warns Against Dropping Health Care As Party Grows Skittish
White House Warns Against Dropping Health Care As Party Grows Skittish
Discussion:
Paul Krugman, New York Times, The Politico, Associated Press, No More Mister Nice Blog and Talking Points Memo
Associated Press:
GOP's Brown wins Mass. Senate seat in epic upset
GOP's Brown wins Mass. Senate seat in epic upset
Discussion:
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Michael Cooper / New York Times:
G.O.P. Senate Victory Stuns Democrats
G.O.P. Senate Victory Stuns Democrats
Discussion:
Boston Globe, The Swamp, The Monkey Cage, Prescriptions, TQIA, The Politico, theblogprof, Ezra Klein, The New Republic, The Moderate Voice, Gothamist, The Huffington Post, Streetsblog Capitol Hill, Connecting.the.Dots, The Caucus, Washington Post, Daily Kos and The Washington Independent
Steven Pearlstein / Washington Post:
GOP win doesn't mean health reform is dead
GOP win doesn't mean health reform is dead
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Tim Blair
Brian Beutler / TPMDC:
Determined or Delusional? House Leadership Sounds Optimistic on HCR
Determined or Delusional? House Leadership Sounds Optimistic on HCR
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, Think Progress, Townhall.com, American Spectator, The Huffington Post, New York Magazine and Daily Kos
Julie Pace / Associated Press:
TSA Nominee Withdraws Amid ‘Political Agenda’ — Obama administration's TSA nominee withdraws amid ‘political agenda’ — The Obama administration's choice to lead the Transportation Security Administration withdrew his name Wednesday. — In a statement, Erroll Southers said he was pulling …
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Richard Pérez-Peña / New York Times:
The Times to Charge for Frequent Access to Its Web Site — The New York Times announced Wednesday that it intended to charge frequent readers for access to its Web site, a step being debated across the industry that nearly every major newspaper has so far feared to take.
Discussion:
Romenesko, Media Decoder, Felix Salmon, TechCrunch, The Atlantic Business Channel, Silicon Alley Insider, Newsbroke and Gothamist
Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:
The Senate's Underpants Gnome Problem — If you think about legislation in a second-order sense, then I think it's clear that a “bill to increase the number of people who have jobs” would be a very good bill to pass, both substantively and politically. And Brian Beutler reports …
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Billy Byler / The Augusta Chronicle:
Basketball league for white Americans targets Augusta — A new professional basketball league boasting rosters made up exclusively of white Americans has its eyes set on Augusta, but the team isn't receiving a warm welcome. — The All-American Basketball Alliance announced …
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Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:
Union Big: Labor Won't Support House Passing Senate Bill — House to pass Senate health bill as is? Forget it, a top labor leader says. — AFL-CIO legislative director Bill Samuel tells me in an interview that labor won't support any efforts by the House to pass the Senate health bill …
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Reid Wilson / Hotline On Call:
Pence To Meet With NRSC — In the wake of winning MA, GOPers are looking to put 1 more state in play if they can convince House GOP Conference chair Mike Pence to run against Sen. Evan Bayh (D-IN). — Pence and his aides will meet with top staffers at the NRSC tomorrow …
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Peter Daou / The Huffington Post:
Liberal Bloggers to Obama and Dems: We Told You So — It took more than half a decade, countless American and Iraqi deaths in a war based on lies, a sinking economy and the drowning of an American city to finally kill Bush-Cheney-Rove's dream of a conservative realignment.
Maureen Dowd / New York Times:
The Trials of Gavin Newsom — Gavin Newsom still looks glossy, like someone who'd play J.F.K. in a Lifetime original movie. — But the 42-year-old mayor of San Francisco sees his once glowing political future in less glamorous terms. — “I mean, oh, God,” he said, sipping green tea in his elegant office.
Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:
Just Shut Up! — Message of the day to all Dems, Coakley, Rahm, Celinda Lake, national Dem committees, Axelrod, whoever, whatever: Shut the *$%& Up! I don't know how else to say it. I'm watching MSNBC and hearing all the key players dumping on each other. As I've said, the Coakley campaign seems to have been run just terribly.
Jon Walker / Firedoglake:
After Massachusetts, a Warning: If Dems Run on GOP Obstructionism, They Will Lose — Caution: falling poll numbers (photo: Quasimondo) — Let me put this as simply as possible. Democrats control everything in Washington right now. They control the White House. They have a huge margins in the House and in the Senate.