After the first week of the conference committee for Wall Street reform, I would call the verdict middling. Reformers have won some victories – all hedge funds and private equity firms will have to register with the SEC, credit rating agencies will be on the hook for standard liability for negligence, the Fed audit is [...]

New York has become something of a battleground for the health care bill. Several Democratic House members throughout the state are either undecided or no on the bill, and with their late primary, all are eligible for challenges. The Working Families Party has a peculiar importance in New York politics, relative to other states. They [...]

The right has been running with this report from the Syracuse Post-Standard showing that Doug Hoffman has been gaining in the recanvassing process in his race against Rep. Bill Owens in NY-23. Democratic Rep. Bill Owens was quickly sworn into office on Friday, a day before the rare weekend vote in the House of Representatives. [...]

A few more clarifications on the health care bill as we near tomorrow’s vote. Bill Owens, just sworn in as a new Congressman, announced his support for the legislation. “This legislation will reform the insurance industry and provide increased access to affordable healthcare without taxing healthcare benefits, cutting Medicare benefits or raising taxes on the [...]

Who would have thought this possible a couple weeks ago: Republican Dede Scozzafava is now making robocalls on behalf of Democrat Bill Owens in the contested NY-23 race in upstate New York. Here’s the transcript: “Hi, this is Dede Scozzafava calling on behalf of Bill Owens. And I wanted to let you know that I [...]

That strange election in upstate New York concludes its final pre-election rallies today, with some notable developments: • Dede Scozzafava, the Republican who quit the race over the weekend and then endorsed Democrat Bill Owens, showed up at an Owens campaign event on Sunday, telling him about her concern on local issues and entreating him [...]

The Watertown Daily News has the statement from Dede Scozzafava: Since announcing the suspension of my campaign, I have thought long and hard about what is best for the people of this District, and how to answer your questions. This is not a decision that I have made lightly. You know me, and throughout my [...]

Due to travel and some logistical nightmares, I was basically away from the Internets yesterday, but obviously the major political story was Republican candidate Dede Scozzafava suspending her campaign in NY-23. The GOP establishment quickly endorsed Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman, and the teabaggers roared with anticipation of a victory. But the major local paper [...]

Reading over Eric Kleefeld’s report of the candidate debate in NY-23, I learned something new about Democrat Bill Owens: it turns out he supports the public option included in the House health care bill unveiled today. Owens was generally supportive of the health care bill, though there were things he would modify, such as raising [...]

The race to replace Army Secretary John McHugh has completely gotten away from the Republican Party. A schism between the GOP candidate Dede Scozzafava and Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman has exploded into view, with high-profile Presidential hopefuls taking sides in an effort to advance their conservative credentials. Sarah Palin’s endorsement of Hoffman is only [...]