2010 Arkansas Senate race

Rasmussen: Blanche Lincoln is running behind four possible GOP challengers.

The two-term senator, who was reelected with 54% of the vote in 2004, appears more vulnerable because of her visible and pivotal role in the Senate debate over health care. Lincoln was the last Democrat to vote for allowing the debate to formally begin, and she has taken pains to point out that a vote to begin debate is not a vote for the bill.
Looking at the data, it’s easy to understand Lincoln’s concern. Against all four Republicans, she leads by wide margins among those who favor the health care plan proposed by President Obama and congressional Democrats. The senator even leads by a wide margin among those who Somewhat Oppose the legislation. But among those who Strongly Oppose the health care plan, Lincoln trails every potential Republican challenger by more than 50 percentage points.
The really bad news for Lincoln is that 56% of Arkansas voters Strongly Oppose the congressional health care plan. Just 18% Strongly Favor it.

NYT: Democratic governors are worried that Obamacare will hit their state's budgets hard. It will certainly saddle them will millions of dollars in additional Medicaid costs.

David Gratzer, a psychiatrist, says that Medicare cuts won't happen. Congress has threatened to cut Medicare before. "Medicare cuts are like Santa Claus and his flying reindeers -- often talked about, never actually seen."

The Hill: "Democrats had known there was an “intensity gap” between angry conservatives in the Republican Party and the unexcited Democratic base, and in a midterm election, base turnout often determines who wins the night. Yet no one suspected it was this bad."

AP: Obama is going to send more troops to Afghanistan and spend more money. But guess what? Nobody's happy.

Bill Kristol:  Obama is a war president now.

Dan Calabrese, a Christian evangelical, on Huckabee: His political career is finished.

He will never be president. He will never be elected to anything. He can keep hosting his show on Fox News – and he’d better – because it’s the closest to politics he’s ever going to come.
This is a good thing. Huckabee is a good man but not a person who knows how to responsibily handle the authority of public office.

The Haunting

The AP has more on the shooting of Maurice Clemmons and the Huckabee fallout. This story has become the talk of the internet. On Fox News last night, according to the report, Mike Huckabee asserted that Clemmons was released because prosecutors failed to file Clemmons' paperwork on time. Now, that is lame. No doubt Huckabee has been hurt. No way around that.

From the AP report:

Pulaski County Prosecutor Larry Jegley, whose office opposed Clemmons' parole in 2000 and 2004, said Huckabee's comments were "red herrings." "My word to Mr. Huckabee is man up and own what you did," Jegley said.

See Huckabee video on commuting Clemmons' sentence here.

Maurice Clemmons has been shot and killed.

Senate bill consequences

Philip Klein:

In another blow to Democrats' health care claims, the Congressional Budget Office released an analysis on Monday projecting that the Senate health care bill would raise premiums by more than $2,000 on family policies compared to what the cost otherwise would be if Congress were simply to do nothing.
The report, prepared at the request of Sen. Evan Bayh, found that premiums on policies individuals purchase on their own or through the government-run exchanges would cost 10 percent to 13 percent more in 2016 than under current law. In dollar terms, in 2016 an individual policy would cost $5,800 and a family policy would cost $15,200 if the Senate bill were enacted, according to the CBO, compared with $5,500 and $13,100 under the status quo.

Dick Morris: State taxes will go up dramatically under Obamacare because states must expand Medicaid eligibility. Arkansas, for example, will have to increase spending by $402 million.

UPDATE: The WSJ has an article on future premiums. As usual, information is conflicting.

Thomas Sowell is always thought-prevoking.

Here is a math problem for you: Assume that the legislation establishing government control of medical care is passed and that it "brings down the cost of medical care." You pay $500 a year less for your medical care, but the new costs put on employers is passed on to consumers, so that you pay $300 a year more for groceries and $200 a year more for gasoline, while the new mandates put on insurance companies raise your premiums by $300 a year, how much money have you saved?