East Carolina kicker Ben Hartman hit the goal post in last night's Liberty Bowl. He missed three field goals in a span of just a few minutes. Arkansas kicker Alex Tejada, whose kicking is often criticized, won the game in OT, redeeming himself. Arkansas quarterback Ryan Mallett was voted MVP, but he's clearly not ready for the NFL. Arkansas did not convert a third down all night, and the offense never got into a rhythm. Arkansas won 20-17.

The Hill: Thirteen attorneys general, all Republicans, have written Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi requesting that they drop the Nebraska deal on Medicaid. Arkansas attorney general Dustin McDaniel is not part of the effort.

AP Report: Texas Tech University has fired football coach Mike Leach.
This disagreement raises some interesting issues. The issue that strikes me as most important is who is in control of a team. You have the same issue in a classroom. I always felt that either the students will run the classroom, or I will run it, and I knew who was going to win that fight. If the administration can't support the coach/teacher, then the situation becomes untenable.

GPS devices have led several recent travelers into serious trouble. I've had my own misadventures with these devices and have given up on them. They work all right, but they don't make the best decisions on how to get from here to there.

AP Report: The Bill Clinton Foundation has revealed its roster of donors for last year. It's quite a wide ranging list. The AP says "eclectic." See this announcement. Here is the list itself.

Even Democrats are calling for Janet Napolitano's resignation. It won't be long.

John Fund says that Sen. Ben Nelson is reaping the whirlwind for the controversial deal he cut in exchange for his vote on health care.

A new Rasmussen Reports poll shows that if he were running for re-election today, Mr. Nelson would lose to Nebraska's GOP Governor David Heineman by a stunning 61% to 30%. Only three years ago, Mr. Nelson won his current term with a solid 64% of the vote.
Clearly, the senator's fall in public esteem is a direct reaction to his having voted for the health care bill as part of a deal in which Nebraska was exempted from the costs of new federal Medicaid mandates. The ObamaCare bill was already unpopular enough in Nebraska but became even more so when state residents discovered they would be saddled with it anyway, plus exposed to national ridicule over Mr. Nelson's sweetheart deal. Now 53% strongly oppose the bill, while another 11% somewhat oppose it. Only 17% favor the deal that Mr. Nelson struck in order to vote for the bill.
But the poll also shows a path to redemption. Asked how they would vote in the 2012 election if Senator Nelson changed his vote and prevented the health care bill from becoming law, Nebraska voters give Governor Heineman a lead of only 47% to 37%.
"The revote results are nothing short of amazing," says Democratic pollster Pat Caddell, who notes that simply reversing his health-care vote immediately reduces Mr. Nelson's deficit by two-thirds. "The poll suggests the anger of Nebraska voters is deep and unusually intense, and not likely to dissipate quickly."

NYT on New York state government: "The entire Legislature is up for re-election in 2010. And unless there is a sudden turnaround — and, so far, we see few signs of it — New Yorkers have no choice but to vote out all the lawmakers and start over."

Sounds like a wonderful opportunity.

Michael Barone says goodbye to the decade of fear: September 11, 2001, Iraq invasion in 2003, Katrina in 2005, North Korean nuclear bomb in 2006, housing bubble burst in 2007, worst financial crisis since the 1930s in 2007, stock values plunged, Obama elected in 2008, and the Senate passed its health care bill on Christmas Eve 2009.

Those are just the high (or low) points. It was a decade of one bad thing after another.

Happy New Year! My the new year bring health and happiness.