THE ROAD TO 2010

Democrats Warn Leadership On The Direction Of Their Agenda. "I think voters sent a clear message that the administration and Congress need to focus on the economy," said Rep. Dan Boren (D., Okla.). "We need to focus on creating jobs right now, and you don't do that by raising taxes on small business." … "I do consider Virginia a bellwether state," said Rep. Gene Taylor of Mississippi, a conservative Democrat. "I would encourage the leadership to get back to the center." The Wall Street Journal

Results Have Rank And File Democrats Questioning Spending, Deficit, and Health Care. “I should be nervous,” said Rep. Parker Griffith, a freshman Democrat from Huntsville, Ala. Griffith said the Democratic rank and file is “very, very sensitive” to the fact that issues being pushed by party leaders “have the potential to cost some of our front-line members their seats.” … “People who had weak knees before are going to have weaker knees now,” said Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-N.J.) … “We got walloped,” said Sen. Mark Warner, the junior Democrat from Virginia. … Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.), a big swing vote for Democratic leaders, said Tuesday’s elections should tell Democrats that their “agenda needs to be patterned towards” the economy. “People need to be saying slow it down and don’t add more to the deficit,” Nelson said. “And what have many of us been talking about? We don’t want to see anything added to the deficit unless there’s cost containment.” Politico

As Independents Flee Blue Dog Predicts Public Fissures Will Emerge Between Democrats On The Hill And The White House. "There are going to be a lot more tensions between the White House and Congress," predicted Rep. Jim Cooper (D-Tenn.), a member of the Blue Dog Coalition of fiscally conservative Democrats. "They've been under the surface so far -- and they're going to come out in the open."… But "lesser mortals need to be worried about their independent voters," Cooper said, "because they have shifted strongly against Democrats in recent months. Independent voters tend to look at the issue, not the party, and they don't like a lot of what Congress has done." The Los Angeles Times

HEALTH CARE ROUND UP

CBO Scores Republican Alternative At $61 Billion Compared To 1 Trillion Dollar Dem Plan. After months of criticizing Democratic healthcare proposals from the sidelines, House Republicans this week stepped up efforts to promote their own plan and challenge critics' efforts to portray the GOP as the "party of no." Unlike the Democrats' strategy of trying to provide near-universal coverage and force other major changes to the insurance system, the Republican approach is an incremental one that would do far less to reduce the ranks of the uninsured. It would instead give priority to controlling healthcare costs. The different goals and effects of the GOP bill are reflected in a preliminary analysis released Wednesday evening by the Congressional Budget Office, which put the bill's 10-year price tag at $61 billion. That is far less than the $1 trillion estimate for the Democratic bill that House leaders plan to bring to the floor as soon as this weekend. The Los Angeles Times

Dems Health Care Bill Increases Taxes By $730 Billion. But one thing is certain: Each member casting a vote for it will have to defend the bill's roughly $730 billion in tax increases. … The biggest revenue-raiser is a 5.4 percent surtax on adjusted gross income above $500,000 for individuals and $1 million for couples filing jointly. That raises $460.5 billion. Then there are $168 billion in penalties on individuals who don't buy health insurance and on employers that don't provide coverage. Other taxes are levied, including on sales of medical devices and limits on tax-advantaged contributions to flexible spending accounts. Congress Daily

Dem Gov. Pushes Back On Cost Of House Health Care Bill. When the nation's 28 Democratic governors were asked to send a letter to congressional leaders last month expressing their support for health care reform, seven refused to sign the letter and even some who did complained that the pending reform plans could hit them with budget-busting expenses. The big concern among the holdouts is that the health care overhaul will leave them on the hook to pay for expansions in Medicaid programs for the poor while Washington reaps the political credit. Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen, one of those who declined to sign the letter, has been perhaps the party's sharpest critic in the funding debate, calling the potential expansion of Medicaid in health care reform "the mother of all unfunded mandates." "We can't print money. We can't borrow money. A lot of staffers in Congress really don't understand this idea of a balanced budget," Mr. Bredesen, a former HMO executive, told reporters in September. The Washington Times

ECONOMY: With Small Business Already Struggling, Democrats Look To Add To The Pain By Pushing Their Health Care Overhaul That Will Further Delay Recovery.

Dem Health Care Bill Hurts Small Business, Further Delaying Recovery. The House bill is the very definition of a job killer, funding another entitlement program with a payroll tax equal to 8% of wages on businesses that don't offer insurance even as it inflicts a huge 5.4-percentage-point marginal rate tax hike on those earning over $500,000. The Democrats' own Joint Tax Committee says that one-third of the $460.5 billion this is estimated to raise over 10 years will come from small businesses that create most new jobs. The Wall Street Journal

More Inconsistent Jobs “Created” Numbers. In June, the federal government spent $1,047 in stimulus money to buy a rider mower from the Toro Company to cut the grass at the Fayetteville National Cemetery in Arkansas. Now, a report on the government’s stimulus Web site improbably claims that that single lawn mower sale helped save or create 50 jobs. … In one, a Kentucky shoe store reported that it had created nine jobs with an $890 order for work boots. In another, a $7,960 contract for a “Basketball System Replacement” in Ohio claimed three jobs. It was not clear what positions they played. The New York Times

The Numbers Don’t Add Up …. More Jobs Saved Than On The Payroll In Illinois. Gov. Patrick Quinn on Wednesday dispatched officials from a new accountability office to investigate errors in a state database detailing stimulus-funded school jobs promoted by the Obama administration, a day after the Tribune raised questions about the job numbers' accuracy. … Matt Vanover, a spokesman for board of education, said the flawed database actually had been washed of some glaring errors before being included in the official tabulation, which claimed 14,330 school jobs in Illinois had either been saved or created thanks to $1.25 billion in federal funds. But the Tribune found that the database claimed far more jobs had been saved in some local school districts than actually existed on district payrolls. The Chicago Tribune

FOREIGN AFFAIRS: Administration Stumbles With Its Middle East Efforts. President Obama came into office insisting that his administration would press hard and fast to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. But after nine months, analysts and diplomats say, the administration's efforts have faltered in part because of its own missteps. The Washington Post

IN OTHER NEWS

• Broder: Trouble Ahead For Democrats
• Politico: Election Puts 10 Dems On High Alert
• Hill: GOP Organizes 12-Hour Online Town Hall For Thursday
• Gillespie: Lessons From Virginia For The GOP
• Rove: Tuesday's Suburban Vote Swing
• LAT: Obama Must Stand Firm On Honduras Crisis
• WT: HHS Admits Overstating Flu-Vaccine Availability

THE SCHEDULE

• The House will meet at 10:00 a.m. for legislative business. Last votes are expected at 6:00 p.m. Mr. Cantor will hold a Pen and Pad at 2:00 p.m. today with Senator Kyl, and will take part in an online town hall at 4:00 p.m. this afternoon.

• The Senate will convene at 9:30 a.m. and begin a period of morning business. Thereafter, resume consideration of H.R.2847, the Commerce-Justice-Science Appropriations bill.