Take the lead...but not too far - Jennifer Rubin looks at the Virginia race for governor and asks "Is McDonnell pulling away?" The Republican candidate should settle into a small single-digit lead because any higher and Democrats are apt to "pull a Torricelli" just like Obama tried with New York governor David Paterson.

Celebrities vs. non-celebrities on health care reform - Via Hot Air. Both sides make compelling points: the non-celebrities cite sources and the CBO while the MoveOn side has Olivia Wilde.

Fun with definitions

Here's a word for today's news: saturnine - "slow to act or change; of a gloomy or surly disposition"

And here's the context: "Penske pulls out of Saturn deal" and "GM to close Saturn."

Clunk.

We're broke again

Boston Globe: "State may see $200m shortfall". But wait, it gets worse:

The state’s budget problems are compounded by the fact that Patrick and top lawmakers have relied in large part on one-time revenues to plug the previous budget gaps, using federal stimulus money that will dry up next year and a state reserve fund that is dwindling. Additionally, economists have warned that the state is in a multiyear cycle that will continue to strain budgets until at least 2014.

"Oh, Lordy," said Michael J. Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, when told of the estimates. "Numbers like this for September suggest [the state’s revenue estimates] could be $500 million or more too high for the year."

Revenue dropped despite a controversial decision by Patrick and the Legislature to increase taxes by more than $1 billion, including boosting the state sales tax from 5 percent to 6.25 percent. Retailers warned that the state would not raise nearly as much as estimated, predicting that customers would go to New Hampshire or the Internet to avoid additional taxes.

Going to the Granite State to escape taxes? You mean like this guy?

Message received - Rasmussen Polls: "Support for health care plan hits new low." And could it be that some in the media have a new opinion on the emperor's clothes? To Copenhagen!

Boston Globe's meaningless health care poll

I honestly don't understand the relevance of this poll in the Globe indicating "State's health system popular." For the vast majority of people in the Bay State, the Massachusetts health insurance mandate had no effect since most people already had health care through employers. It's like polling everybody in America how they feel about in-ground pools. Love 'em!

President Obama tells us, again and again, that the reason health care reform is necessary is because of spiraling costs. These costs have not been contained in Massachusetts:

Double-digit increases in premiums have become almost routine in Massachusetts, with the state’s major insurers saying they will raise rates about 10 percent next year. This trend began well before the overhaul passed, however, and when asked whether the law was having an impact on the cost of their own care, only about one-quarter of those surveyed said the law was “hurting’’ their own costs.

In fact, Beacon Hill politicians were so keen to pass the insurance mandate, they didn't even think about the cost; that was for later:

Blendon said the survey’s findings on cost control suggest that perhaps leaders in Washington should consider following the Massachusetts formula: Aim for universal coverage first, and then tackle costs.

"The fact that Massachusetts is still going along with a still relatively popular law, by doing it in pieces, may be the best piece of advice Massachusetts can give the nation," he said."This was politically doable here because all of the difficult choices of slowing costs weren’t on the table."

Wow, that's leadership: candy first and cavities later. So far the cost of government health care in Massachusetts have only risen but, we swear, we're going to tackle the cost issue soon.

Amazing Race update – What? It's on tonight?

Honest to heaven, I didn't know the 15th season of the Emmy-winning (every time) Amazing Race started tonight until I got the Sunday paper. Why does CBS do this?

Well, here's the super-quick update: twelve teams started out in Los Angeles but – right at the starting line – they had to complete a task before moving on. One team failed and then there were eleven. Didn't even get to leave the city: somebody has a rendezvous with Fail Blog.

Teams went to Tokyo to appear on a Japanese game show. Essentially, they had to eat a "wasabi bomb" which is very hot and spicy. Teams left in sequence to go to a Shinto shrine. The next day, they flew to Vietnam where they had to put mud around a tree and then herd up some ducks. The forgettable team finished last, and I forgot them already.

Some interesting teams this season:
One guy who has Asperger syndrome and his buddy.
A really good-looking Christian couple who have not given in to their impulses yet.
Two female professional poker players.
Harlem Globetrotters "Flight Time" and "Big Easy."
Montana father/son farmers Gary & Matt who won the first leg thanks to their duck-herding skills.

Extra - Pat has a longer update with "We're racing again!"

Garry Trudeau's selective outrage - Today's Doonesbury cartoon criticizes the overheated rhetoric that compares President Obama with Hitler. It's ignorant and outrageous, I'll agree. But Trudeau had eight years to raise the same objection and, somehow, this idea never came to ink.

Didn't see that coming - Government intervention raises the cost of credit. Scrivener: "Price controls produce the same results as always." I'm sure the results will be completely different with the health insurance companies, though.

Because we're broke - Maggie's Farm: "Why the skepticism about government health care?"

Secret assurances

As Senate Finance chair Max Baucus searches the national couch for spare change to pay for health care reform, one idea that has gained attention is taxing "Cadillac" health care plans. But now that the unions are balking, it looks like that plan will be set aside:

But labor’s main complaint is Mr. Baucus’s proposal to tax insurance companies for their most generous policies, as a way to raise revenue and to discourage wasteful health care spending. Labor says insurers would pass on their tax costs in higher premiums, not just for corporate executives but also for unionized workers with rich health benefits.

Under Mr. Baucus’s plan, the tax would apply to family policies worth more than $21,000 a year. The typical employer-provided family plan costs roughly $13,000, but packages for some unionized workers can run much higher. Democrats are discussing raising the threshold, and the White House has privately assured labor that union benefits will not be affected.

To be fair, some union jobs are dangerous (think: coal miner) and thus the insurance policies are more costly. But if I'm not mistaken, my armchair legal knowledge tells me that taxing one group of people (non-union workers) and not another under the same criteria constitutes a bill of attainder which is unconstitutional. So there will be no Cadillac taxing and Obama will have to make up new ways to scrounge the trillion dollars he needs for health care reform.

VAT tax, anyone?

Flashback – WashPost in May 2009: "Once considered unthinkable, U.S. sales tax gets a fresh look." I'll bet.

Kinda funny - National Journal: "If air travel worked like health care."

Now in Newark - WiFi was free in Texas but now I only have a 20 minute complimentary window in Newark, since they're on the ripoff Boingo network. But I like their $9.95 "unlimited" access. Who sits around an airport more than two hours?

Empty Garden state - Speaking of odd-year elections, Chris Christie is looking strong against incumbent governor Jon Corzine in New Jersey. It seems possible that Corzine is unpopular because it has one of the highest tax burdens in the country and the Tax Foundation rated NJ the worst state in the country for businesses.

Why the rush? - Democrats on the Senate finance committee won't post the health care reform legislation online or allow for 72 hours to review, calling them "delaying tactics" and provoking bickering after marathon sessions. What's the big hurry to rewire one-sixth of the U.S. economy? Off-year elections are a'comin.

Because a Senate seat appointed by a Democrat can't wait - Well, the Massachusetts legislature reversed their "Mitt Romney" rule and allowed unpopular governor Deval Patrick to name Kennedy aide Paul Kirk to serve in the U.S. Senate. He won't run for re-election and his sole job will be to vote "aye" on the health care reform bill. I didn't get to see Patrick's statement to the press but it would have been nice if he had admitted the original legislation from Beacon Hill was wrong because it denied Massachusetts full representation in the Senate, regardless of political party.

Killing time in San Antonio airport - A long day of traveling ahead, but at least I have free WiFi!

Presentation completed - Time for a nice steak dinner.

So it's come to this - Via the Corner, the FDIC is looking to borrow money from large banks instead of the Treasury to insure funds in shaky banks, in part to sidestep the popular outrage that would follow another taxpayer-paid bailout.

Can we deal with this problem first? - As Obama tries to create a whole new entitlement for America, he's yet to deal with the old one. From Hot Air: "CBO predicts Social Security cash deficits in 2010-2011."

Extra - Ace: "What a perfect time to expand goverment spending to levels hitherto undreamed by man."