–Despite the high profile retirements and a Majority Leader on the ropes in Nevada, the chances of the GOP flipping the Senate in November remain slim, albeit not impossible. Adam Nagourney looks at the map in today’s Times, concluding that Republicans would have to run the table in all competitive races to have a shot.
–Everybody wants to be an outsider: Vice President Biden told CBS News Washington is “broken.” Colorado Senator Michael Bennet landed this somewhat-less-than-devastating counterpunch on his primary opponent in last night’s debate: “I completely agree with everything Andrew said about the dysfunction in Washington and the Senate being broke.”
–It’s been one year since the signing of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, and, as I mentioned yesterday, the White House is firing on all cylinders to sell people on the success of the stimulus. Biden is on TV and in the papers making his case, Obama is expected to deliver remarks this morning, and political arm Organizing for America is sending around a chart that basically sums up their argument. Some Republicans will say it failed altogether, Reihan Salam argues there were cheaper alternatives, but I would note two things amid the media maelstrom: Two thirds of the $787 billion dollar package have yet to be deployed, which would suggest pronouncements of failure or success are premature. And regardless of policy, the fact that Democrats have so much convincing left to do one year later suggests a political failure by a party that made the stimulus its signature legislation in 2009.
–The captured Taliban military chief Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar is reportedly providing “useful information.” Former envoy James Dobbins says it “could be a turning point” in the war, and Senator John Kerry says it signals a new level of cooperation from Pakistan.
–And finally, the fabled Paterson bombshell is a tough but fairly uncontroversial profile of a close aide. And he’s still running.
What did I miss?