Axelrod Won't Rule Out Second Stimulus

Axelrod says Alvin Greene not a 'credible candidate'

(NEWSER) - Never shy, Jim Clyburn continued his campaign against South Carolina's surprise Senate candidate, Alvin Greene, telling State of the Union that "I saw in the Democratic primary elephant dung all over the place." David Axelrod chimed in, reports Politico, telling Meet the Press that "How he won the primary is a big mystery," and "I don't think until he can explain that he can be a strong, credible candidate." Elsewhere on the Sunday dial: More»

President's miscalculations include scale, momentum

(NEWSER) - Scott Brown’s Senate victory in Massachusetts is the final nail in the coffin of the Obama administration’s first-year political strategy, John F. Harris and Carol E. Lee write for Politico . The miscalculations cover “three major counts":

• Believing 2008 was a game-changer: The Obama team thought the "election represented something seismic." But "the assumption that Obama would be swimming mostly with the current rather than often against it on issues such as health care, financial regulation and global warming was naive in retrospect."

But administration reluctant to push climate legislation this year

(NEWSER) - Environmental groups are struggling to convince Democrats that the fight for cap-and-trade legislation won’t be as damaging as the one over health care, and to keep them from punting on the issue, Politico reports. Climate supporters say they have a grass-roots network in place that health care reformers didn’t, including a “climate war room” funded by more than 60 labor, faith, agriculture, and environmental groups. But White House advisers say they’re reluctant to try another tough vote this year. More»

Democrats will spend recess targeting insurance companies

(NEWSER) - With the House already on break and the Senate readying for the August recess, the health care debate has moved to the court of public opinion, the New York Times reports. Both sides are launching campaign tours and waves of TV ads, with Democrats attacking the insurance industry and Republicans calling Democratic proposals expensive and ineffective. The post-August public mood is expected to reshape the debate in Washington. More»

(NEWSER) - President Obama “is currently just flinging stuff against the wall, in trillion-dollar chunks, to see what sticks,” and his plans for health care are no different, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal writes on Politico. Thanks to failed bailouts and a “trillion-dollar stimulus that has not stimulated,” America is up to its neck in deficits, and the Democrats’ health plans will drive up costs and decrease quality. "This here is a fine pot of gumbo," scolds Jindal, a GOP hopeful for 2012. More»