The White House has signaled with its deficit reduction and job creation plans that it is not interested in continuing negotiations with the GOP aimed at a grand bargain. This looks more like the 2012 campaign plan.

Both the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal report that President Obama’s proposal for deficit reduction, due out Monday, will not include any changes to Social Security. The reports are less certain about increasing the Medicare eligibility age, giving a definite “maybe” about that measure.

I realize the headline is a bit obvious, but I think this is the reason the Democrats lost Anthony Weiner’s seat last night.

People are straining for rationales to this one, but I think it’s pretty simple – the election took place in an environment with a very unpopular Democratic President. That popularity may be in the midst of bouncing back after the jobs address, but that was too late to save Weprin.

Incredibly, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is launching a half-million dollar ad buy into New York City with one weekend to go until a special House election in NY-09, the seat once held by Anthony Weiner. That half a million dollars would have come in very handy next year, when Democrats make a push to take back the House, no? Instead, it’s being chewed up in the expensive New York City media market to protect a bad candidate whose district will probably get chopped up in redistricting anyway.