Kennedy, looking ahead, urges that Senate seat be filled quickly  —  Seeks law change for interim post  —  Senator Edward M. Kennedy, in a poignant acknowledgment of his mortality at a critical time in the national health care debate, has privately asked the governor and legislative leaders …

Who's Crazy Now?  —  A series of posts at Reason illustrates that the liberal rage at right-wing loonies is starting to sound, well, a little loonie:  —  From Jesse Walker: “The social construction of the brownshirt menace, chapter DXXIII: … Here's the video:

Tom Ridge on National Security After 9/11  —  Tom Ridge, the first head of the 9/11-inspired Department of Homeland Security, wasn't keen on writing a tell-all.  But in The Test of Our Times: America Under Siege...and How We Can Be Safe Again, out September 1, Ridge says he wants to shake “public complacency” over security.

Obama Ally: Dem Majority Is History If Health Reform Fails  —  ABC News' Teddy Davis reports:  —  A top Obama ally predicted Wednesday in an interview with ABC News that Democrats will lose their congressional majority in next year's midterm elections if they fail to put a health-care reform bill on President Obama's desk.

clunkers pile up  —  ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - Some New Mexico auto dealers have backed out of the cash-for-clunkers program and more may do so as the federal government takes its time providing cash reimbursements.  —  Dealers across the state are owed more than $3.6 million …

The GOP Has Become a Party of Nihilists  —  In one of those awful collisions between public policy and real life, I was in the midst of an awkward conversation about end-of-life issues with my father when Sarah Palin raised the remarkable idea that the Obama Administration's attempt to include …

Charlie Cook: Dem situation has ‘slipped completely out of control’  —  Charlie Cook, one of the best political handicappers in the business, sent out a special update to Cook Political Report subscribers Thursday that should send shivers down Democratic spines.

Glenn Beck Off This Week: Vacation or Something More?  —  First on TVNewser: Tipsters inside Fox News tell us Glenn Beck's vacation this week from his Fox News show was not planned.  We hear Beck was told to take this week off to let some of the heat surrounding him die down.

Elizabeth Edwards: I expect a paternity test on Hunter's child  —  (CNN) — Elizabeth Edwards, wife of former Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards, told CNN she believes a DNA test will be conducted to confirm the paternity of the child of Rielle Hunter, with whom her husband conducted an affair.

An Odd Silence on Gay Marriage  —  Why won't leading opponents of same-sex marriage go on the record with their predictions?  —  Opponents of same-sex marriage reject it on religious and moral grounds but also on practical ones.  If we let homosexuals marry, they believe …

New Poll: 77 Percent Support “Choice” Of Public Option  —  Read More: Poll Public Option, Public Option Poll.  Nbc Poll, Public Plan, Survey Usa, Survey Usa Poll, Politics News  —  More than three out of every four Americans feel it is important to have a “choice” between …

The Limits of Incrementalism  —  A disheartened Ezra Klein looks at a WSJ/NBC poll showing that people have lots of false beliefs about the president's health care agenda and offers the following chart:  —  My first thought is “reform opponents are lying like crazy and it's working.”

Coleman headed to Harvard  —  (CNN) — Former Minnesota Sen. Norm Coleman has a new gig — at successor Al Franken's alma mater.  —  Harvard University's Institute of Politics announced Thursday that the former Republican senator will be part of its latest class of teaching fellows.