If you’re against the health care bill now languishing/on life support in Congress, or the economic stimulus bill passed by Democrats, by all means send us your response to the following. And if it’s reasonably cogent, you’re due some equal time… But this here Craigslist post, reproduced on Economists Do It With Models, is a [...]

“Those who knew Brown’s position [on reform] were as likely to say it made them less likely (39%) to support him as to say it made them more likely to support him (41%).” A post on the Angry Bear economic blog argues that the vote for Republican Scott Brown in Massachussetts, which deprived Senate Democrats [...]

Duellling blogs covering state politics in Massachussetts, Red Mass Group and Blue Mass Group, tell the story of yesterday’s election: First, from Red Mass Group, a site “founded to revitalize the right-wing community in Massachusetts.” The People’s Victory A month ago they mocked you. Three weeks ago you were a mild inconvenience. Two weeks ago [...]

Among Democrats, the weeping, gnashing of teeth, and finger-pointing is in full bloom today. For Republicans, it’s all gloating, triumphalism, and “Told you so’s.” Comments from readers of the New York Times Room for Debate blog, Ezra Klein’s blog on Washington Post, and the political polliing and analysis blog FiveThirtyEight: If Democrats cannot pass health [...]

Yesterday on the blog FiveThirtyEight, Tom Schaller wondered if the Democratic candidate in the Massachussetts election would be more aptly named “Martha Choakley.” As you probably know by now, she lost 53% – 46% in a heavily Democratic state.

The Boston Globe is running an interactive feature through which Bay Staters can report what the turnout looks like at their particular polling stations.

“For 10 years, I’ve been watching a trend to manipulate elections through premature ‘call’ of the race by a media outlet.” That from a post by Bev Harris of Black Box Voting, a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to protecting fair elections in the U.S. The group, which was featured in the HBO documentary “Hacking Democracy,” [...]

Because health care is so critical to anyone’s financial planning, we’ve been covering both the debate and the legislative twists and turns since this blog launched. From the town hall tantrums to the tortured negotiations in the House and Senate to the eruptions of potentially deal-breaking issues like abortion — commentators and reporters have devoted [...]

Two views of the Senate health care bill from the left. First, Darcy Burner of the American Progressive Caucus Policy Foundation on the blog Open Left, who writes a post called “Joe Lieberman’s Healthcare Bill Is Worse Than Nothing. Kill It.” The post was written after Joe Lieberman forced the Democrats to drop an option [...]

For good or for ill, the Senate got ‘er done. With all the hubub over the removed public option, the failed Medicare buy-in gambit, and differing approaches between the House and Senate on abortion restrictions, a very important part of the bill has been lost in the shuffle:

The tanning tax.

After the nip and tuck lobby complained about a tax on cosmetic surgeries that Harry Reid had inserted into the bill (the “Bo-tax”), he took it out and replaced it with a 10% tax on tanning salons.

If the tanning industry wants to kill the tax in the House-Senate conference, they’ll probably need more of a campaign than this online call-to-action from the Indoor Tanning Association, which has a circa-1997 look-and-feel to it.

It may feel strange to be talking about tanning on Christmas Eve, but reaction on the Web is coming fast and furious.