—Karen notes that Anthem’s 39% rate hike in California – in part due to an altered risk pool in the struggling economy – makes a convincing argument for certain elements of health reform. The Obama administration agrees, and HHS Secretary Sebelius makes just that case on the White House blog. I would not be surprised to see this example pop up regularly in Democrats’ pleas to pass a bill.
–With tensions over Senate process already high, NLRB nominee Craig Becker failed to clear a procedural vote in the upper chamber Tuesday, going down 52-33. Obama is definitely weighing recess appointments.
–Obama tells BusinessWeek he doesn’t “begrudge” wealth, but JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs CEOs respective $17 million and $9 million bonuses are “extraordinary.” This is somewhat softer language than he has used in the past, and as the president himself points out, he knows both Dimon and Blankfein personally. Meanwhile, former Bush treasury secretary and Wall Street exec Henry Paulson also says compensation has gotten out of hand.
–Governor Paterson, lashing out against the media and adamant that he is not going anywhere, delivers a good line: “The only way I’m not going to be governor next year is at the ballot box, and the only way I’m leaving before that is in a box.”
–Nate Silver crunches the numbers on a potential Sarah Palin primary in 2012.
–Following up on John Brennan’s Tuesday op-ed, Sen. Kit Bond apparently read it and now wants him to resign.
–And Mid-Atlantic snow has shut down everything.
What did I miss?