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Reid announces push for public option — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced this afternoon that he plans to push ahead with a public health insurance option that includes an opt-out provision for states - even though he's currently short several votes for passage, according to people close to the situation.
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Durbin: Progressives Forced Our Hand On Public Option — WHAT'S YOUR REACTION? — Democratic leaders were forced to include a national public health insurance option as part of health care reform by progressive Democratic senators who refused to support anything less, Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said on Monday.
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Pelosi: Health care ‘public option’ needs new name — SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) - A government-sponsored “public option” for health care lives, though it may be more attractive to skeptics if it goes by a different moniker, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Monday. — In an appearance …


Senate on Verge of Health Bill — Measure With Stiffer Penalties on Employers and Public Plan Could Come This Week — WASHINGTON — Top Senate Democrats are close to finalizing their health bill and could unveil a measure as soon as early this week that would include stiffer penalties …

SENATE REFORM BILL EARNS PLAUDITS.... Now that a Senate health care bill …

Congress tiring of reading the White House's tea leaves on the public option
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MyDD


CNN Drops to Last Place Among Cable News Networks — CNN, which invented the cable news network more than two decades ago, will hit a new competitive low with its prime-time programs in October, finishing fourth - and last - among the cable news networks with the audience that all the networks rely on for their advertising.
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NOW President on President Obama's All-Male Athletic Outings: 'It's Troubling' — We asked Terry O'Neill, the new president of the National Organization for Women, what she thought of those Democratic women and others quietly complaining about a “boy's club” atmosphere at the White House …
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Obama, smack those playground bullies — Joy talks politics with Joe Wurzelbacher, widely known as “Joe the Plumber” on tonight's “Joy Behar” 9 p.m. ET on HLN. — New York (CNN) — In the schoolyard of American politics, President Obama is the big, smart kid with all of the test answers who's …
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NewsBusters.org

CFG Poll: Hoffman Leading in NY-23 — Hoffman Surges Into Lead in NY-23 — New CFG Poll shows Hoffman 31.3%, Owens 27.0%, Scozzafava 19.7% — Washington - A poll released today by the Club for Growth shows Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman surging into the lead in the special election …
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REDSTATE EXCLUSIVE: Tim Pawlenty Endorses Doug Hoffman — With polling now showing NY-23 has come down to a two man race between Hoffman and Owens, the Democrat, momentum is clearly in Hoffman's favor. — Gov. Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota is now adding to the momentum becoming the first sitting Republican Governor to endorse Hoffman.


RNC keeps racist pics on Facebook for nearly a week — Perhaps no one noticed. Perhaps no one cared. But hours after a liberal news forum brought attention to a series of days old controversial photos on the Republican National Committee's Facebook page, the photos were finally taken down.

McDonnell has double-digit lead in Va. governor's race, Post poll says — Republican Robert F. McDonnell carries a double-digit lead over Democrat R. Creigh Deeds into the final week of the campaign for Virginia governor, according to a new Washington Post poll.

More on the Minneapolis “overflight” — According to numerous accounts in the last hour — AP here, Reuters here, WSJ here — the current story from the Northwest flight crew that forgot to land in Minneapolis is that they were so absorbed in using laptops in the cockpit that they neglected …
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Conservatives Maintain Edge as Top Ideological Group — Compared with 2008, more Americans “conservative” in general, and on issues — PRINCETON, NJ — Conservatives continue to outnumber moderates and liberals in the American populace in 2009, confirming a finding that Gallup first noted in June.

New Jersey Poll Preview — Some folks thought it was a little odd when Chris Christie went on the air with negative ads against independent candidate Chris Daggett a few weeks ago but it seems to have been a good idea. — Two weeks ago Daggett's fav/unfav was 30/24. Now it's 31/36.
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AP IMPACT: Statisticians reject global cooling — WASHINGTON — Have you heard that the world is now cooling instead of warming? You may have seen some news reports on the Internet or heard about it from a provocative new book. — Only one problem: It's not true, according to an analysis …

The conservative public option — Was out of the office for a few hours at C-SPAN world headquarters, but early reports were accurate and Sen. Reid will include a national public option that states could choose to offer to their residents — or not! — in his bill.


Anchors sink on ‘Jeopardy’ — CNN should consider banning its anchors from appearing on “Celebrity Jeopardy” after the humiliating defeats of — Soledad O'Brien. Wolf was blitzed last month, coming in last with minus-$4,600, behind comic — Andy Richter, a past winner who racked up $68,000 for charity.


PRESIDENT OBAMA TIES GEORGE W. BUSH ON GOLF — President Barack Obama has only been in office for just over nine months, but he's already hit the links as much as President Bush did in over two years. — CBS' Mark Knoller — an unofficial documentarian and statistician of all things White House-related …
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