Democrats

I guess the question regarding Hillary is whether she'll generate the kind of enthusiasm that will get people to the polls to vote for her. "Ready for Hillary" just isn't good enough. "Fired Up for Hillary" is what's needed.

"Pension Reform", "Pension Reform" -- that's what they're always saying. We hear it in the media; we hear it from the GOP. Hell, we even hear it from a few centrists Dems. The problem is that "Pension Reform" is nothing but a semantic cover-up. What the people using it really mean, is "Pension Cut", "Pension Cut" -- since that's what they'll really proposing. It's just that none of them are honest enough to admit it.

Entering data from call sheets at one of the Quinn offices in Chicago.

The 9th Congressional District Dems held a kick-off rally in Evanston today. Great chance to see a whole bunch of old friends -- including Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky who's speaking to the audience way in the back of this photo.

From Tammy Duckworth's announcement that she's running for Congress in the newly minted IL-08:

It's time to tell John Boehner, Karl Rove and the tea party crowd that you can't balance the budget on the backs of seniors. You can't serve multi-national corporations first and American families last. And you won't build a better future for America by tearing down our economy brick by brick and shipping it overseas.

This was my favorite part of Obama's speech on fiscal policy:

They want to give people like me a $200,000 tax cut that's paid for by asking 33 seniors each to pay $6,000 more in health costs. That’s not right. And it’s not going to happen as long as I’m President. (Applause.)

From TPM:

ABC News is reporting that sources close to Nancy Pelosi say that far from resigning from Congress, she's leaning toward staying in Congress and running the position of Minority Leader.

UPDATE: Nancy Pelosi:

Blast from the past:

"We will go through the gate. If the gate is closed, we will go over the fence. If the fence is too high, we will pole vault in. If that doesn’t work, we will parachute in. But we are going to get health care reform passed." (1/28/2010)

(As quoted in the NYTimes.)

There's a lot of grumbling about liberals always having to make all the concessions, most recently on health care reform, while the Blue Dogs don't have to make any and still the focus continues to be on them and their needs and not on us and ours. It's not fair.

But let's face it, the group that most wants something -- in this case, us -- is naturally in a weaker position than the group for whom this isn't as much a priority. The Blue Dogs are happy enough to walk away from this. We aren't. That's a huge difference.