Top Items:
Dennis Romero / LA Daily:
CORRECTED: Mickey Kaus Takes Out Papers For U.S. Senate Run — Pioneering political blogger Mickey Kaus took out papers [filed] to run for U.S. Senate in California, he told LA Weekly. The Venice resident said he'll run this year against Barbara Boxer for her seat.
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Harold Ford Jr / New York Times:
Why I'm Not Running for the Senate — WHEN it was reported two months ago that I was thinking seriously about running for the United States Senate from New York, Democratic Party insiders started their own campaign to bully me out of the race — just as they had done with Representatives Carolyn Maloney, Steve Israel and others.
Discussion:
CNN, Vanity Fair, The Atlantic Online, Top of the Ticket, Michael Calderone's Blog, Indecision Forever, USA Today, Associated Press, OpenSecrets.org, Commentary, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Daily Politics, Ben Smith's Blog, National Review Online, Real Clear Politics and The Corner on National …
Michael Barbaro / City Room:
Ford Decides Not to Run — Under intense pressure from Democratic Party officials, Harold E. Ford Jr., the former Tennessee congressman, has decided not to challenge Sen. Kirsten E. Gillibrand in the primary this fall, according to two people told of his plans.
Ben Smith / The Politico:
Ford bolts; Zuckerman rises — Harold Ford gave many reasons for his decision not to launch a primary challenge against Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, but he didn't mention a decisive one: The emergence of a richer, stronger center-right challenger whom many of Ford's potential supporters …
Discussion:
The Daily Caller, Mediaite, The Caucus, Top of the Ticket, CNN and The Washington Independent
Jason Horowitz / Washington Post:
Hotheaded Emanuel may be White House voice of reason — Rahm Emanuel is officially a Washington caricature. He's the town's resident leviathan, a bullying, bruising White House chief of staff who is a prime target for the failings of the Obama administration.
Discussion:
Ezra Klein, Firedoglake, Matthew Yglesias, AMERICAblog News, msnbc.com, Ben Smith's Blog, No More Mister Nice Blog, Commentary, The Fix, Row 2, Seat 4, Prairie Weather, PostPartisan, DISSENTING JUSTICE, Emptywheel, Althouse, The Washington Independent, The Page, Gawker, Neptunus Lex, Guardian and The Politico
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New York Times:
Obama to Highlight Cost in New Health Bill Push — WASHINGTON — President Obama this week will begin a climactic push to rally restive Congressional Democrats to pass major health care legislation by hammering the argument that the costs of failure will be higher insurance premiums and lost coverage for individuals and businesses.
Discussion:
JustOneMinute, Michelle Malkin, The Hill, Connecting.the.Dots, Washington Post, Dennis the Peasant and Agence France Presse
Erica Werner / Associated Press:
Obama looks to undecided Dems for health backing
Obama looks to undecided Dems for health backing
Discussion:
CBS News, Washington Monthly, Washington Times, New York Magazine, The Politico, Right Pundits, The Page and The Note
The Huffington Post:
GOP Sen. Kyl: Unemployment Benefits Make People Not Want To Get A Job — WHAT'S YOUR REACTION? — A debate on the Senate floor Monday over unemployment compensation crystallized, at least for a moment, the divide between the two parties in Washington. — Sen. Jon Kyl of Arizona …
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, Swampland, PoliBlog, Don Surber, Economist's View, DISSENTING JUSTICE, Raw Story and Hullabaloo
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McClatchy Washington Bureau:
Who really gets hurt when GOP's Bunning blocks this bill? — WASHINGTON — The Department of Transportation furloughed nearly 2,000 employees without pay Monday as the government began to feel the impact of Republican Sen. Jim Bunning's one-man blockage of legislation that would keep a host of federal programs operating.
Manu Raju / The Politico:
Bunning's fiscal hardball jams GOP — Fresh off last week's high-profile White House summit, Republicans were eager to continue the health care debate they think they've been winning for months. — Then came Jim Bunning. — The Kentucky GOP senator's unilateral decision to block …
Orrin Hatch / Washington Post:
Reconciliation on health care would be an assault to the democratic process — America's Founders gave us a system of governance designed to limit government power and maximize liberty. The legislative branch is different from the executive, and the Senate is different from the House.
Discussion:
The Plum Line, Washington Monthly, TPMDC, Wonk Room, Capital Gains and Games blogs and WSJ.com
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Ed O'Keefe / Washington Post:
Postal Service expected to announce ‘significant changes’ — The U.S. Postal Service will release projections Tuesday that confirm for the first time the suspicion that mail volume will never return to pre-recession levels. In response, the agency is pushing anew for a dramatic reshaping …
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Sasha Issenberg / Boston Globe:
D.C. journalist provided 'writer's advice' — A prominent Washington journalist and former Globe reporter is among the many advisers and political experts who helped Mitt Romney write “No Apology,” according to the book's acknowledgments. — “Nina Easton, the noted journalist and commentator …
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Kate Zernike / New York Times:
Coffee Party, With a Taste for Civic Participation, Is Added to the Political Menu — Fed up with government gridlock, but put off by the flavor of the Tea Party, people in cities across the country are offering an alternative: the Coffee Party. — Growing through a Facebook page …
Scott Shifrel / NY Daily News:
B'klyn ACORN cleared over giving illegal advice on how to hide money from prostitution — Brooklyn prosecutors on Monday cleared ACORN of criminal wrongdoing after a four-month probe that began when undercover conservative activists filmed workers giving what appeared to be illegal advice on how to hide money.
Discussion:
pandagon.net, Liberal Values, At-Largely, The BRAD BLOG, Ben Smith's Blog, The Lonely Conservative and JammieWearingFool
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Scott Collins / Los Angeles Times:
Roger Ebert takes to Twitter to give tea party followers a thumb's down — The film reviewer is aiming barbs at Sarah Palin and other conservatives. — Who's the biggest scourge of the tea party movement these days? It might be film critic Roger Ebert, who lately has been tossing brickbats …
Daily Mail:
Barack Obama should drink less alcohol and try harder to kick his smoking habit, doctors say — Barack Obama should not only try harder to kick his smoking habit, his team of doctors warned, but they also recommended ‘moderation of alcohol intake’. — It would seem the pressure of the U.S. presidency …
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New York Times:
Paterson Said to Direct Aides to Influence Abuse Case — ALBANY — Gov. David A. Paterson personally directed two state officials to contact the woman who had accused his close aide of assaulting her, according to two people with direct knowledge of the governor's actions.
Bernie Quigley / Pundits Blog:
The Vichy Republicans: Striving for mediocrity ... The New York Times's venomous and possibly deranged Frank Rich, who associated Sarah Palin with terrorism in his Sunday column this week, borrows from his previous archrival George Will in the claim that the White She Devil is a critter from hell and anyway, she will never be elected.
Discussion:
CNN
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Teddy Davis / ABCNEWS:
Texas Titans Battle for GOP Nod in Governor's Race
Texas Titans Battle for GOP Nod in Governor's Race
Discussion:
CNN, The Note, Austin American-Statesman, Dallas Morning News, New York Times and PoliBlog
William Wan / Washington Post:
Same-sex marriage leads Catholic Charities to adjust benefits — Employees at Catholic Charities were told Monday that the social services organization is changing its health coverage to avoid offering benefits to same-sex partners of its workers — the latest fallout from a bitter debate …