Daily Democratic Wire 1-6-2010

George Wenschhof

Yesterday, after meeting with security advisers, President Barack Obama said the Christmas Day Attempted airline bombing was a result of intelligence failures - while the gathering of information has been excellent, the integration of information from different agencies was lacking. CNN.com has more here.



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Yesterday, Democratic leadership meeting with President Obama decided to bypass conference committee in final stages of health care reform bill - the main thing this does is eliminate several procedural votes Republicans were sure to use to slow down passage. In addition, the President said he wanted a tax included on Cadillac insurance plans and an independent medicare commission included in the final bill. Also stressed was he wanted the bill on his desk for signature prior to his delivery of the "State of the Union" scheduled for the end of the month or early February. Politico.com has more here.

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The Three Amigos - Democratic Senators Chris Dodd (Conn.), Byron Dorgan (N.D.) and Governor Bill Ritter (Col.) all announce they will not be running for reelection - declaring this early was a wise move so other Democratic candidates have time to mount serious campaigns.

Dodd will make his announcement today. He was expected to face a stiff challenge due to his acceptance of favorable home loans from countrywide mortgage and his role on the Senate Banking Committee in approval billions to A.I.G. - he also underwent successful prostate cancer surgery earlier this year.

In perhaps a coordinated move, State Attorney General Richard Blomenthal (D) will announce today he is running for the seat. TheHill.com has more here.

The most surprising of the three announcements by Democrats not to run was from Senator Dorgan. He would have been running for his fourth term and did not face any serious opposition. This seat now becomes a likely pick up for Republicans. Politico.com has more here.

Colorado Governor Bill Ritter will also make his announcement this morning - this is another surprise. Although Ritter won easily in 2006, he was trailing in early polls. You can read more here.

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In another interesting development, former Tennessee congressman Harold Ford is considering challenging Kristen Gillibrand for her NY Senate seat - you may recall, Gillibrand is who replaced Hillary Clinton after she was appointed Secretary of State. Gillibrand has come under fire from moderates but Harold Ford, who is chair of the centrist minded Democratic Leadership Council (DLC), is hardly considered liberal. Republican Rep. Peter King is also considering a run against Gillibrand. The NY Times has more here.

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