THE TALKS THAT MAY SAVE HEALTH CARE REFORM.... Over the last few days, it's become increasingly evident that congressional Democrats aren't sure how, when, or whether to move forward on health care reform.  There is an obvious course that would deliver an extraordinary victory …

24 States' Laws Open to Attack After Campaign Finance Ruling  —  In Wisconsin, conservative and pro-business groups said Friday that they were considering a lawsuit to block a proposed law that would ban corporate spending during political campaigns.  —  In Kentucky and Colorado …

Right-Wing Flame War!  —  Charles Johnson has been writing a blog for almost as long as the word “blog” has existed.  A bearish, gentle-voiced, ponytailed man who for three decades enjoyed a successful career as a jazz guitarist accompanying the likes of Al Jarreau and Stanley Clarke …

J.D. Hayworth says he'll run against John McCain  —  Former Arizona Congressman J.D. Hayworth says he is planning to run against John McCain for his U.S. Senate seat.  —  Hayworth, a Republican, told The Associated Press late Friday he stepped down as host of his radio program on KFYI-AM, a conservative radio talk show in Phoenix.

Obama's Train Wreck of a Town Hall in Ohio — By: Jim Geraghty  —  Earlier this week, during a radio interview, I had said that Obama's appearance for Martha Coakley on Sunday was the least effective stump appearances I had seen from a president.  A lot of factors contributed to that …

White House nightmare persists  —  At the end of Barack Obama's worst week since taking power a year ago, the US president's fortunes look set only to deteriorate over the coming days.  Following the shock defeat of the Democratic candidate in Massachusetts on Tuesday, a move that deprived …

More Bitter Ironies  —  Two great reads from two great Boston newspapers, in the post-Brown election era.  —  Gray ladies* first.  Boston Globe: “Liberal bastions lament the blue fades.” … That's a pretty bitter irony.  Sounds like those people need to get out more.

Bayh Claims 'There's A Fighting Chance' Obama Will Call For A Spending Freeze  —  In an interview yesterday with Bloomberg's Al Hunt, Sen. Evan Bayh (D-IN) — who met with members of the administration's economic team this week — said that he believes there's a “fighting chance” …

See No Evil  —  The Pentagon's Fort Hood investigation is a pathetic whitewash.  —  Last week, the Pentagon released the results of its investigation into the November 5 Fort Hood shooting (Protecting the Force: Lessons from Fort Hood).  There is a large, publicly available body …

Paul Krugman For The Fed  —  The case for Ben Bernanke's reappointment was weak to start with, weakened with his hearings, and is now held together by string and some phone calls from the White House.  Bernanke is an airline pilot who pulled off a miraculous landing, but didn't do his preflight checks …

Et Tu, Fox News Channel?  —  It's a horrible, unspeakable tragedy that gets you right in the core of your humanity.  The poorest country in the Western Hemisphere is flattened by a huge earthquake.  Hundreds of thousands killed, thousands of children orphaned, more than 1.5 million now homeless.

China Rebuffs Clinton on Internet Warning  —  WASHINGTON — Tensions between China and the United States over Internet policy deepened Friday, with the Chinese government accusing Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton of jeopardizing relations between the two countries with her criticism of Chinese censorship.