The Hill: “Senate Democrats facing tough reelections say President Obama has not done enough to fix the botched rollout of his healthcare law and are vowing to repair it themselves. The Senate Democratic leadership is not on board with lawmaker plans to begin rewriting ObamaCare and have urged for more time to assess the changes made by Obama and his team, lawmakers say.”
Watching his 2016 flank… The Hill: “Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) slammed the impending budget deal Tuesday between Budget Committee chairmen Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.). While Rubio hasn’t yet seen the details of the deal, he said he had developed his position already based on early reports. ‘What we really need is a government with less debt and an economy that is creating more stable middle class jobs. And my sense, from what I’ve read, is that this budget is going to fail to accomplish those goals,’ he said in a radio interview with Fox News’s Sean Hannity.”
Politico: “Republican primary challengers are lining up to take on sitting senators next year in eight of the 12 races involving sitting GOP senators, gunning for party leaders like Mitch McConnell in Kentucky, veterans like Thad Cochran in Mississippi and Pat Roberts in Kansas and deal-makers like Lindsey Graham in South Carolina. Texas Sen. John Cornyn became the latest target.”
MASSACHUSETTS: “Democrat Katherine M. Clark cruised to victory Tuesday, capturing the US House seat long held by Edward J. Markey, in a lightly contested special election,” the Boston Globe writes. EMILY’s List touted that Clark will be the 60th Democratic woman in the House.
The Globe: “Turnout was a dismal 13 percent, which appeared to set a record for voter apathy in the state’s recent US House races. The previous low-water mark was the October 2001 special election that Stephen F. Lynch won with a 17 percent turnout.” More: “Clark, a state senator from Melrose, won 40,172 votes, or 66 percent, easily defeating Frank J. Addivinola Jr., a Republican who had 19,319 votes, or 32 percent.”
MICHIGAN: “Nearly half the states are banning abortion coverage in the new health insurance exchanges almost four years after battles over the issue nearly derailed passage of the Affordable Care Act,” Politico writes. “Michigan could become the 24th state to ban most abortions in exchange plans this week, after an unusual citizens’ petition drive that allows state lawmakers to resurrect a bill the governor had vetoed and vote it into law without his signature.”
NORTH CAROLINA: Mel Watt was confirmed for the housing post he was up for and originally rejected by filibuster. And that means a special election to fill his congressional seat in NC-12. It is a safe Democratic. Timing could look like this, per Roll Call, primary in February with a runoff May 6 and general election June 15.