Daily Democratic Wire 1-17-2010

George Wenschhof

President Barack Obama is off to Massachusetts today - He will appear at a campaign rally at Northeastern University for Martha Coakley. The special election to fill the late Ted Kennedy seat will be held Tuesday and the stakes are high. If Republican Scott Brown wins, health care reform and the Obama agenda will be derailed. The Boston Globe has more here.

Today, is the First Lady's birthday - number 46. Last night, the President took Michelle to a surprise birthday dinner at Restaurant Nora in Dupont Circle. You can read more here.

----

Democratic Leaders already developing plans to pass health care if Massachusetts seat is lost Tuesday - one is to sped up the process and force the vote prior to when Brown would be seated in the Senate. Another is to use reconciliation to pass which only needs 51 Democratic vote and then there is republican Olympia Snowe from Maine who could be persuaded to be the 60th vote. Politico.com has more here.

----

Distribution of Aid to Haiti is troublesome - with the infrastructure of this impoverished nation in ruins, the delivery of aid to the masses becomes a huge challenge. The NY Times has more here.

----

Still no sanctions on Iran - promised sanctions on Iran by world leaders if they did not comply with proposals on how to deal with their ongoing nuclear program did not come forward as China, U.S., Britain, France, Germany and Russia met recently. Reuters.com has more here.

----

To receive "Daily Updates" from Air-it-out with George Wenschhof, click on "Subscribe to this feed" below.