Just so there’s absolutely no ambiguity, let me get something out of the way: Democrats and progressives and anyone who doesn’t want crazy people running the country should get off their asses tomorrow and vote early and often for Coakley. “Punishing” the Democratic Party by helping elect a Bush/Cheney Republican is the equivalent of cutting [...]

By a variety of measures, U.S. military policies in the Afghanistan war are failing.

With a poll of likely voters showing Driehaus 17 points down to his Republican opponent, there appears to be a more important takeaway: the Democrats have 10 months before the 2010 election to stand up to the banks, insurance and pharmaceutical companies and show that they really can be the party of reform. If he wants to save his seat, Driehaus should get in front of that parade and insist that the mandate and penalties come out of the bill — something 70% of the people in his district think is “unfair.” Because that is something that progressive Democrats and libertarian Republicans agree on.

I’m surprised this keeps coming up, but Jonathan Cohn takes another stab at the theory that the health care bill does not rest on the fate of Martha Coakley in Massachusetts. In doing so, he rules out two of the three options for passage. He says that Olympia Snowe does not appear to be gettable [...]

Defenders of MIT economist Jonathan Gruber are still falsely claiming I accused him of tainting his analysis for pay, suggesting that I’m ignoring Gruber’s qualification for the HHS contract, while able commentators demand apologies for these claims. I don’t want apologies; what I want is independent analysis.

The Taliban made an audacious attack early Monday on Afghanistan’s capital city, upending recent assurances of military progress.

• 6 things to watch in MA tomorrow.
• Nate crunches the numbers.
• Really? This is his fault, too?
• Obama’s key mistakes.
• The Gray Lady behind a firewall.
• What Digby said.

Some things should be non-partisan — like a modicum of humanity in the face of great tragedy.

Mack Dryden — Ode To Forgetfulness.

Horseshoes, handgrenades — and Bloomberg campaigns? Does “close” count there, too? There’s no more lucrative campaign business to be in than Michael Bloomberg’s. The wee Mayor bestowed his every-four-year bonuses on campaign staffers after barely winning re-election in a squeaker that was expected to be a blowout: New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who spent [...]