The president delivers his first State of the Union address this week. We're asking listeners, guests and readers to give us their own impressions: Describe the State of the Union in six words or less.
This week in Washington has been all about the F word you can say on the air: 'Filibuster.'
The election of Republican Scott Brown as Massachusetts' new junior senator on Tuesday night sent shock waves through Washington. Politicians of on both sides of the aisle flocked to microphones to give their takes on the future of health care reform now that the Democrats no longer have the Senate 60 votes needed to avoid a filibuster. But how did we come to expect a 59-vote majority as a bad thing? We look at the history of the supermajority.
Republican Scott Brown's victory in Tuesday's Massachusetts Senate race proved the power of independent voters, and the degree to which they are shifting away from the Democratic party, only a year after they helped propel Barack Obama into the presidency. We speak with Jay Campbell, a vice president at Hart Research, and with Ross Baker, professor of political science at Rutgers University.
Republican Scott Brown has won the late Ted Kennedy’s former Senate seat after a heated battle in Massachusetts. Brown handily defeated Democratic candidate Martha Coakley. The win for Brown is a major defeat for Democrats, who can no longer muster 60 votes to overcome frequent Republican filibusters in the Senate.
The Democratic Party found out this week that two of its stars will be setting: Senators Christopher Dodd from Connecticut and Byron Dorgan of North Dakota – who’ve served a combined 46 years in the Senate. Both announced they will not seek reelection in 2010.
Colorado Governor Bill Ritter followed their lead and also announced yesterday he’s ending his bid to keep his seat. These retirements come on top of a string of party defections and seem to weaken the Democrats... With us this morning to look at the political landscape and history, as well as what’s at stake for both Democrats and Republicans, is Jeff Zeleny from The New York Times. We're also joined by Ron Kaufman, former White House political director; Republican National Committeeman for Massachusetts, and a close friend and advisor to Mitt Romney. Kaufman talks about what Republicans' strategy should be for the 2010 midterm elections.
Trudy Lieberman, contributing editor to the Columbia Journalism Review, and Carrie Budoff Brown, health reporter for Politico, join us to talk about the next steps for the Democrats' top legislative priority: reconciliation with the House bill and keeping their fractious caucus together.
Moderate Republican Dede Scozzafava dropped out of the race for the Congressional seat in New York's 23rd District after Republican pundits and voters flocked to the more conservative candidate, Doug Hoffman. Scozzafava eventually endorsed the Democrat's candidate in the race, Bill Owens, who won the election last night. The odd saga raised questions about what kind of future moderates have within the GOP.
We talk to former Rep. Chris Shays (R-Conn.), who was once the face of a now-nearly-extinct group: moderate Republicans in the Northeast. He was in office from 1987 until his defeat in 2009, and is now on the board of directors of the CIT Group and co-chair of the Commission on Wartime Contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan. (Click through for a full interview transcript.)
President Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize win caused an outcry among some Republicans, who say he does not deserve the honor. Will loud objections hurt the president — or the GOP? Julie Mason, White House correspondent for The Washington Examiner, looks for an answer.
As the head of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) is in charge of making sure his party maintains its 60-seat majority, in spite of a daunting agenda that includes health care reform and coming back from the economic brink. But in his new book, "Growing American Roots: Why Our Nation Will Thrive as Our Largest Minority Flourishes," Menendez argues that Democrats should tap into something of a secret weapon — a growing population of Latino voters who are eager for change.
(click through for full transcript.)
Todd Zwillich, our Washington correspondent, talks about the affordability of the health care reform bill about to leave the Senate Finance Committee and also cracks the Sideshow File to discuss bad manners in Congress. Republicans are demanding an apology from Democrats in general and Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.) specifically. On Tuesday, Grayson said on the House floor that Republicans' plan for health care reform consists of two points: "Don't get sick," and if you do, "Die quickly." He apologized, but it wasn't the kind of apology House Republicans had asked for.
For 47 years, Senator Edward Kennedy was a passionate advocate of liberal causes. Today, he leaves an enormous void, which Massachusetts Democrats will have to fill. For a look at who is topping a list of potential successors and why the appointment may be more complicated than it appears, we're joined by Frank Phillips. He is the Statehouse bureau chief for the Boston Globe and has covered the Massachusetts Statehouse for nearly 40 years.
Many people received thanks for the safe return of two American journalists imprisoned in North Korea, including Bill Clinton, President Obama, and ... John Podesta? The former Chief of Staff under President Clinton and the mastermind behind President Obama’s White House transition is rarely in the headlines these days, but he is hard at work behind the scenes. Between his work bridging the two most recent Democratic presidencies, and starting an influential liberal think tank (the Center for American Progress), he might just be the powerful "unofficial official" in Washington. Josh Gerstein, the White House correspondent for Politico gives us his take on John Podesta.
Michael Crowley, a senior editor of The New Republic, joins The Takeaway with a look at the recent adventures of Bill and Hillary Clinton. The couple are dominating the headlines this week with Bill Clinton's coup in North Korea and Hillary Clinton's lengthy trip to Africa. Has the president decided to bring the Clintons' back into the fold for their expertise? Or is he following the cautionary phrase, "keep your friends close and your enemies closer"?
President Obama campaigned in New Jersey yesterday, but not for himself. He was out supporting New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine, who faces a tough re-election bid. Come November, Corzine will be the only incumbent Democratic governor in the nation to face voters and the results could be a barometer of the nation's approval of the president. WNYC reporter Bob Hennelly was there in New Jersey.
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