Monday Clips

Anything Happening?

My brain is still spinning; at the epochal moment of health care I was eyeball-deep in a side project. Loads and loads of people were writing health care but I was on Iowa legislature patrol.

My early take on this is, after a final outburst from the right (here's the Iowans), things will quite down. A big part of the "unpopularity" of the bill, and Congress, is the process stuff. Non-political Real People are turned off by reconciliation this and filibuster that and deem and pass never mind, but the President signing something looks like an accomplishment.

That said, here's some items of interest:

Why did the Dems who voted no vote no? Nate Silver says the single biggest predictor was Obama's vote share in the district. I like those odds; the President remains personally popular and is still the Democrat's strongest asset.

You've probably read conservative David Frum's "Waterloo" piece, which has nothing to do with Black Hawk County. The premise is that the GOP made a strategic mistake in betting the ranch on oppositional defiance. Now it seems they're painted into a corner:

No illusions please: This bill will not be repealed. Even if Republicans scored a 1994 style landslide in November, how many votes could we muster to re-open the “doughnut hole” and charge seniors more for prescription drugs? How many votes to re-allow insurers to rescind policies when they discover a pre-existing condition? How many votes to banish 25 year olds from their parents’ insurance coverage? And even if the votes were there – would President Obama sign such a repeal?

As for the Iowa Legislature stuff, Craig Robinson conveniently lists GOP targets.