–As if Blanche Lincoln’s re-election effort wasn’t hard enough already, it just got worse for the Senator. Arkansas Lt. Gov. Bill Halter, a fellow Democrat, just threw his hat into the ring for a primary challenge.
–Jim DeMint continues to seek a role as conservative king-maker in Republican Senate primaries, setting up an …
There’s a legend in Hawaii about a surfer named Eddie Aikau. In the 70’s Eddie was the top lifeguard in Waimea Bay on Oahu, winning dozens of surf competitions. He was always the guy willing to risk his life, no matter how rough the water, to make a save. Eddie volunteered for the 1978 Polynesian Voyaging Society’s 30-day, …
–Paterson’s friends are leaning on him to abandon his campaign, while the never subtle Post and Daily News trumpet “Time To Go.”
–As Michael mentioned, Charlie Rangel is being officially admonished by the House for an ethics violation stemming from a failure to disclose financial details of some Caribbean trips. The Times has the …
Common ground? Not so much. Here’s my story for TIME.com.
I didn’t think it was possible for Senator Jim Bunning, a Kentucky Republican, to get more unpopular with his colleagues: he was forced, feet dragging, to announce he wouldn’t run for reelection after fellow Kentuckian and minority leader Mitch McConnell wouldn’t even endorse him. But tonight, he is pariah to a whole new level. …
Here’s the lunch break pool report. Judging from Obama’s comments, it would seem he’s been reading Kate’s Swampland post.:
–Robert Gibbs insists today’s health care summit won’t be “kabuki theater.” Biden goes off message and says it might.
–Mike Allen has an excerpt of Pelosi’s opening remarks.
–Mark Blumenthal reminds us that not too many people actually watch these things.
–It looks like Michael Bennet’s public option letter may have panned …
The White House health care summit is set to begin at 10 a.m. EST today at Blair House. Kate Pickert and I will be watching throughout the six hours, and will be posting developments as we see them. Please join us here in Swampland throughout the day, and let us know what you think of the proceedings.
In the meantime, here are a few …
Can you feel the excitement in the air? Cable news can. There was a flurry of health care-related news today, most of it summit specific.
For starters, this morning, the White House specifically invited Olympia Snowe to the event. (She is the only Senate Republican to have cast a vote in favor of health reform in 2009 – for the Senate …
As Karen and Michael noted we all did stories for the Broken Government project with our sister company CNN. Mine was on term limits (thank you deconstructiva for reminding me to post). Love ’em or hate ’em, they aren’t likely to happen any time soon as, thanks to a 1995 Supreme Court ruling, it’ll take a constitutional amendment to enact them.
–A CNN poll finds 67 percent of Americans say congressional Republicans aren’t doing enough to foster bipartisanship, and they are about split on whether Obama is reaching out in good faith. It seems highly improbable tomorrow’s kabuki health reform summit moves the needle.
—Greg Sargent argues that in the end, voters are more …
The Senate just passed Harry Reid’s jobs bill 70-28. Reid plans on repeating this strategy over and over and over again till Election Day. Okay, maybe not Election Day – but definitely until Easter recess.
There’s little bipartisan agreement on what President Barack Obama’s health care summit on Thursday will truly be, though low expectations are popping up across the political spectrum.
“What’s disturbing is the continued media reports that [Democrats] already have their plan to move forward … no matter what the result is of …
