The conference committee for the payroll tax cut is on a road to nowhere, and it’s clear that the House and Senate leadership will have to step in if the payroll tax cut, unemployment insurance and the doctor’s fix will get extended beyond the end of the month.

This is the key point from Nancy Pelosi, that Democratic votes will be needed to pass anything, which gives her a voice in the process. A meeting last night in the House GOP caucus showed clearly that there is a major rift between the rank and file and the House leadership on the issue. Lots of Republicans just don’t want to do the tax cut at all. That gives Pelosi an opportunity.

Earl Blumenauer is Lanny Davis in a bow tie. He’s an unprincipled hack who hides behind schtick, wagging his finger in exhortations to “civility” while shamelessly betraying every promise he makes.

The Democratic leadership in the House had to resort to an unusual and underhanded tactic to pass war funding Thursday night.

Fifty-eight congressional candidates and 20 activist organizations are opposing any more funding for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and inviting more candidates, incumbents, and organizations to join them.  The 58 candidates, from 25 different states, include 19 Democrats, 18 Greens, 17 Libertarians, 2 Independents, 1 Republican, and 1 Socialist.

Senator Tom Coburn, a Republican from Oklahoma, is committed to opposing a supplemental spending bill that includes $33.5 billion to escalate war in Afghanistan, unless the funds to pay for it are found.

Like many, you may have been scratching your head when Bush asked for $102 billion in the upcoming supplemental bill for war funding, and the Democrats in Congress said “how about $170?” It was like the 2006 election never happened.

The Democratic leadership wants the war off the table as an issue in the fall.