Could Nancy Pelosi’s decision to return as Minority Leader of the Democratic caucus end up squeezing Steny Hoyer out of the leadership entirely?

The GOP electoral wave that was predicted for the entire country landed in the North Star State, just as it had everywhere else. As did over a dozen other states, we lost control of our legislature to the GOP, and one of our best US congressmembers, Jim Oberstar. But we didn’t lose our state constitutional officers, our key judges, and — most importantly — the governor’s race. For the latter, we have the Tea Party to thank.

How do you keep on moving forward when all around you the world seems to be falling apart? What do yo do when you need to take care of yourself? These are the very things we need to be sharing with one another now.

Beaker’s Ballad from Muppet Studios.

Like Atrios, I’m unfortunately old enough to remember the last time a Democratic presidency ran aground on (among other things) the shoals of a Republican victory in the midterm elections. So I’m just as unsurprised to see, almost immediately after Tuesday’s debacle, the GOP and its media allies warming up the overseas “puke funnel” by [...]

Just how far gone do you have to be to make George W. Bush look like some kind of wise elder statesman?

There are a lot more Republican governors now. And they’re going to be very aggressive on the health care law, from trying to de-fund state participation in Medicaid to simply not building the state insurance exchanges that are central to the law. Many will also seek to join lawsuits arguing against the constitutionality of the individual mandate.

In addition, many state insurance commissioners are appointed, and new Governors may appoint regulators who do not see regulation as their primary responsibility.

But a big problem for supporters of the health care law, aside from the state meddling, is that the provisions they’ve implemented thus far just aren’t having the impact they expected.

Watch out for defaulted credit card scams. Until Courts start protecting their credibility by holding lying lawyers and clients in contempt, this won’t get better.

Bank of America has rejected a request to buy back $47 billion dollars in soured mortgage loans originated by Countrywide, who they bought in 2008. This will likely trigger legal action by the consortium of investors who called for the repurchases, including institutional giants Pimco and BlackRock, and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. BofA, in a letter, denied that the loans were made or handled improperly.

Cross your fingers: things aren’t looking too bad for Arizona’s medical marijuana ballot initiative. Initially down by more than 7,000 votes on Election Night, Prop 203 is now down by less than 4,500 votes as hundreds of thousands of ballots are counted.