A Strange Call From Reid to Vote on the Public Option … Later

What began as one of the most controversial issues of the months-long health care debate continues to be so: The public option — a government-backed insurance plan designed to compete with private companies — wasn’t included as part of the Democrats’ reconciliation bill, sending some liberals More…

Oregon: (Ahem!) Don’t Forget That Unemployment Extension

Senate leaders are only too aware that, amidst the nation’s jobs crisis, the filing deadline for emergency unemployment benefits is less than two weeks away. Oregon Sens. Ron Wyden (D) and Jeff Merkley (D) offered a gentle reminder Friday, warning Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) that a More…

Senate Dems Urge Public Option by Reconciliation

For the past few weeks, House liberals have been urging Democratic leaders in the Senate to bring up the public insurance option via the budget reconciliation process, which would sidestep the filibuster and allow a simple majority-wins vote on the contentious public plan. Now some senators More…

Smith Went Down With Sinking GOP Ship

Following up on Aaron Wiener‘s post about GOP Sen. Gordon Smith’s defeat in Oregon by his Democratic challenger Jeff Merkley:

As I wrote in August, Smith, a blue-state Republican incumbent in a tight race, adopted a bizarre and risky strategy — More…