Debate.

Republi-cain.

One.

MassIdiocy.

Scott Brown Stuns Martha Coakley in Massachusetts Senate Upset

Scott Brown, a once little-known Republican state senator, has pulled off one of the biggest political upsets in recent memory, winning the special election to replace the late Ted Kennedy in the U.S. Senate over Attorney General Martha Coakley by a margin of 52 percent to 47 percent.The victory is both a stunning defeat for President Barack Obama, who won Massachusetts in the 2008 campaign by a 26-point margin, and a devastating complication for Capitol Hill Democrats, who will lose their crucial 60-vote majority in the Senate when Brown is sworn in, likely in the next two weeks.Coakley conceded the race just before 10 p.m. on Tuesday and described herself as "heartbroken" at the result in a speech to supporters in Boston. "Anybody who has been out on the campaign trail, especially in this race, has seen the anger of folks who are frustrated and concerned," she said. "They are angry about health care issues, about our two wars, our inability to take care of those who return from fighting," she said. "I had hoped to go to Washington to address these issues." Coakley and Brown began election day voting in their hometowns -- he in Wrentham, about 32 miles southwest of Boston, and she in Medford, a suburb north of the capital. Brown spent the rest of the day calling into radio shows and phoning supporters and friends to ask for their votes. Coakley shook hands with early morning Boston commuters and visited diners around the Boston area later in the afternoon.Tuesday's results were the culmination of an unexpected surge by Brown, who trailed Coakley by 31 percentage points just eight weeks ago. Questions about how Brown made up the ground to win in Democratic-leaning Massachusetts will be the subject of Wednesday morning quarterbacking for months, but there's no question that voters had a choice between two very different candidates on Tuesday. In Brown, Bay Staters had a small-government Republican who hews mostly to his national party's platform. He opposes gun control, tax increases, gay marriage, and partial-birth abortion and supports waterboarding to interrogate suspected terrorists. Perhaps most important, he has promised to be the "41st vote" against the Democrats' health care reform now in Congress.Brown worked the lines at sporting events, street corners and town fairs, introducing himself and asking for voters' support. He also drove his now-famous pickup truck, the symbol of his everyman appeal, from event to event, adding more miles to the 200,000 it already has.In contrast, Coakley is a traditional liberal Democrat, with a prosecutor's edge. She supports the Democratic health care bill, abortion rights, gay marriage, and climate change legislation with a "cap-and-trade" mechanism. She opposes Obama's planned troop increase in Afghanistan.But beyond her base-pleasing positions, Democrats complained that Coakley lacked a compelling narrative and an energized campaign to appeal to independent voters, who make up half of the state's electorate and have been an important part of Brown's strategy. As a career prosecutor, she has no voting record, no street-level charisma, and had never developed a broad stump speech or inspirational message. Coakley waited until Jan. 6 to run her first television ad -- two days after a Rasmussen poll showed that her lead had shrunk more than 20 points in six weeks. Amid worrisome headlines and slipping polls, Washington Democrats sent a triage team to amp up her campaign and slap a theme on it, but it was too late to make a difference.Even before the polls closed Tuesday, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs let it be known that President Obama was "not pleased" with the turn of events that left Coakley trailing Brown on Election Day. "He was surprised and frustrated," Gibbs said.He acknowledged a sentiment of "upset and anger" in the country over the economy, but argued that the president had done his part to help win the race in Massachusetts. In addition to stumping for Coakley on Sunday in Boston, the president's political organization lent its muscle to the campaign in the days leading up to the vote, and the president himself sent out an Election Day e-mail, asking supporters to vote for Coakley.As the reality settled in for Democrats that their plans could be in jeopardy, White House aides and Capitol Hill leaders insisted Tuesday that a Brown win would not change their intention to move an agenda forward.After jittery members of the House Democratic caucus huddled in Washington to talk about health care, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi assured reporters, "We're right on course." Regardless of what happens in Massachusetts, she said, "We will have a health care reform bill, and it will be soon." Pelosi's comments came after Steny Hoyer, the majority leader, told reporters that "moving ahead on health care is essential," and that passing a bill before Brown is sworn in would be feasible.So when will Brown be sworn in? Secretary of State Galvin said Tuesday that if the result is clear -- and outside of the recount margin of 0.5 percent -- he will declare a winner Tuesday night, but cannot by law certify the winner until all military and absentee ballots are accounted for, which usually takes 10 days. Beyond certifying the race, Galvin said the choice of when to seat Brown would be up to the Senate.A spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Tuesday, "When there is a certified winner in Massachusetts and the Senate has received appropriate papers, and the vice president is available, the successor to Senators Kennedy and Kirk will be sworn in." Kirk is a reference to Paul Kirk, who was appointed to Kennedy's seat after his death in August after promising not to seek election, ostensibly to allow for another Democrat to be elected to the seat that Democrats held since 1953.As Coakley finished her remarks Tuesday night, she said that the President had called her just before she conceded. "We can't win them all, and he knows that better than anybody, as he told me," she said. "But sometimes it's more important to travel hopefully than it is to arrive."

AmericanIdiocy.

Majority Say Obama Hasn't Accomplished Much in First Year

Fifty-two percent of Americans say President Obama has accomplished nothing or not very much after almost a year in office, according to a Washington Post/ABC News poll conducted Jan. 12-15. Forty-seven percent believe he has accomplished a great deal or a good amount.
A majority of Americans still have a favorable view of Obama, but that percentage has eroded over the past year. Fifty-eight percent see him favorably, compared to 72 percent in April and 79 percent in January. Sixty-three percent regard him as a strong leader, down from 77 percent in April; 57 percent say he understands their problems, down from 73 percent in April and 55 percent believe he shares their values, down from 60 percent, also April.
That said, Obama still outpaces congressional Democrats or Republicans when it comes to who Americans trust to make decisions for the future of the country. Forty-seven percent have a great deal or good amount of confidence in Obama, 32 percent in the Democrats and 24 percent in the Republicans. But overall, majorities express just some or no confidence in all three: 53 percent in Obama's case, 68 percent when it comes to the Democrats and 75 percent for the Republicans.
Two-thirds of those polled still assign a great deal or good amount of blames to the Bush administration for the country's economic problems. Thirty=six percent say it's the Obama administration's fault

Mass.

Obama Puts Prestige on Line for Senate Candidate Coakley

BOSTON (Jan. 17) - President Barack Obama was making a last-ditch attempt Sunday to save a Democratic-held Senate seat in Massachusetts - and an important 60th vote for his health care plan - as the top Senate Republican called the shockingly close race a verdict against the bill no matter who wins."This is, in effect, a referendum on the national health care bill," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said. "It is perfectly clear if it's unpopular in Massachusetts, it's unpopular everywhere. The American people don't want us to pass this bill."The legislation has dominated the tighter-than-expected race between Democrat Martha Coakley and Republican Scott Brown. She supports the bill. He doesn't and has said he would vote against it, robbing Democrats of the 60-vote majority Obama has been relying on to pass much of his agenda and thwart Republican filibusters.With so much on the line, Obama was heading to Boston to campaign with Coakley at Northeastern University in the midst of final negotiations over the sweeping health care plan and the aftermath of the earthquake in Haiti. His visit underscored the perilous situation facing Democrats in Massachusetts.Despite the state's long Democratic tradition, Coakley and Brown are in a dead heat heading into Tuesday's special election to replace the late Edward M. Kennedy. Coakley, the state's attorney general, had led Brown, a state senator, by double-digits in polls after the early December primaries.But the race narrowed considerably over the past week as Brown's populist message resonated with an angry and resentful electorate in an antiestablishment environment. He's energized Republicans as well as attracted disillusioned Democrats and independents worried about taxes, spending, government expansion and health care under Obama. In a race this tight, turnout will be the key.With the personal visit, Obama is seeking to fire up rank-and-file Democrats who outnumber Republicans in this state but who are dispirited just one year after he took office. Turnout is notoriously low in special elections, and Democrats need their loyalists - particularly blue-collar and minority voters who might not be motivated - to show up at the polls.Judging by Obama's track record in elections since taking office, however, the strength of his political muscle is in question. He campaigned hard for New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine and in Virginia for Creigh Deeds, the Democratic nominee to replace Democratic Gov. Tim Kaine. But both Democrats lost, and Republicans regained power in both states.Ahead of Obama's visit, Boston Mayor Thomas Menino told a largely black congregation that a Coakley loss will be a victory for people who want Obama to fail."A lot of people don't want Barack Obama to succeed, and that's who we're fighting against. They don't want him to be a president that leads this country. They want him to be a president who fails," said Menino as he appeared with Coakley at a morning prayer service in Boston's Dorchester neighborhood for victims of the Haiti earthquake.Coakley denied that Obama's visit indicated her candidacy was in trouble."I don't think he has to come, I think he wanted to come. He was excited to come," Coakley told reporters Saturday. "Who wouldn't want the president of the United States campaigning for her in a historic race?" She said it was "pretty cool."Brown didn't seem concerned about Obama's visit, saying Saturday: "I hope he has a safe trip and enjoys himself and has a good trip looking around a great state." He planned to campaign in Worcester, a blue-collar city in central Massachusetts, when Obama was in the state.In the closing hours of the campaign, Democrats pressed to make the case that Brown is not who he claims to be. They cast him as a far-right conservative funded by "tea party" supporters and they highlighted a TV interview from 2008 in which Brown seems to suggests that Obama may have been born out of wedlock.

Ebert.

Mullholland.

LAFCA Names 'Mullholland Drive' Best Film of the Decade

In a surprising twist, LAFCA -- or Los Angeles Film Critics Society -- has named David Lynch's Mulholland Drive as the best film of the decade, followed in order by: There Will Be Blood, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Brokeback Mountain, No Country for Old Men (tied with Zodiac), Yi Yi, 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, Spirited Away, United 93, Y Tu Mama Tambien, and Sideways.

Tonight.

Conan O'Brien Reportedly Leaving NBC Next Week

Conan O'Brien's last night as host of 'The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien' will likely be next Friday, January 22, a source close to O'Brien tells PEOPLE. "Conan does not currently plan on doing any more new shows after next week," says the source. To add to rumbles, NBC released its post-Winter Olympics schedule -- which did not include the 'Tonight Show.' Though his departure is looking increasingly likely, NBC is insisting a departure date is not yet set. But if Jan. 22 is indeed O'Brien's final broadcast, the show will have ended two weeks before NBC's scheduled preemption for its 2010 Winter Olympics coverage. Meanwhile, TMZ is reporting that Jay Leno has made a new deal with NBC, which gives him 'The Tonight Show' from 11:35 - 12:35.On Tuesday, the host released a statement saying that he would not go along with NBC's plan for him to host a relocated Tonight Show at 12:05 a.m., following The Jay Leno Show at 11:35 p.m. "I cannot participate in what I honestly believe is [The Tonight Show's] destruction," said O'Brien. In his statement, O'Brien expresses deep respect for the 'Tonight Show' legacy, which includes such icons as Johnny Carson and Jack Paar, and flatly states he cannot participate in what he believes is the franchise's systematic dismantling. "My staff and I have worked unbelievably hard and we are very proud of our contribution to the legacy of The Tonight Show. But I cannot participate in what I honestly believe is its destruction."