JUST IN:

Reports coming in that Sen. Voinovich has dropped out of the negotiations to pass the Stimulus in the Senate...

This leaves three:

Sen. Collins (ME) (202) 224-2523
Sen. Snowe (ME) (202) 224-5344
Sen. Specter (PA) (202) 224-4254…

Hopefully they will follow Voinovich ...

UPDATE
Majority Leader Reid says they will have cloture vote on stimulus on Sunday if the Senate keeps "spinning its wheels"

Is Sen. Reid nervous? The democrats are running around like chickens with their heads cut off ...


McCain to Obama:

"Mr. President you cannotcall a bill bipartisan if it has two or three or four or even five Republicans out of 535 members of Congress..."

Country First.

"I thought the awakening would take six months. It took two and a half weeks."

Charles Krauthammer takes on the stimulus and Pres. Obama's approach to it in a great column in the Wash. Post

click headline above

What is Wrong With Michigan?

Rachel Smith, elections official from Anoka County, testified that a dozen or more ballots that were never counted in the statewide recount were discovered within the last 24 hours ... the ballots include three military ballots for Coleman, six other ballots that were in their original envelope, and several other that were rejected but the county now says should be considered ...

click the headline above to go to the full story in the TwinCities ...

Senate Renews Debate, After Burnng the Early Evening Oil

The Senate reconvened at 10 a.m.

The White House left the final touches to Harry Reid ... and he needs just a few GOP runaways to make the stimulus happen ...

All the reports are saying it looks to be a long day for the Senators ...

Romney Weighs in on "Stimulus" ; Obama Bill Stimulates Government Not Economy

Mitt Romney wrote an opinion piece for CNN Politics:

First he criticized the debt the U.S. has gotten itself into, then Obama for his lack of leadership and principle here. Romney then laid out four points, which are pretty much common sense. He calls for permanent tax cuts, and that government spending be restricted to essential projects which he defines as projects that are in the works already but are being moved up to create jobs now.

Highlights below:

I want him [Pres. Obama] to adopt the correct course and then to succeed. He still has a chance to step in and insist on spending discipline among the members of his own party.

First, there are two ways you can put money into the economy, by spending more or by taxing less. But if it's stimulus you want, taxing less works best. That's why permanent tax cuts should be the centerpiece of the economic stimulus.

Second, any new spending must be strictly limited to projects that are essential. How do we define essential? Well, a good rule is that the projects we fund in a stimulus should be legitimate government priorities that would have been carried out in the future anyway, and are simply being moved up to create those jobs now.

Third, sending out rebate checks to citizens and businesses is not a tax cut. The media bought this line so far, but they've got it wrong. Checks in the mail are refunds, not tax cuts. We tried rebate checks in 2008 and they did virtually nothing to jump-start the economy.

... if we're going to tax less and spend more to get the economy moving, then we have to make another commitment as well. As soon as this economy recovers, we have to regain control over the federal budget, and above all, over entitlement spending for programs such as Social Security and Medicare.

The invisible hand of the market always moves faster and better than the heavy and of government.

We know its's early but could Mitt Romney's Star be on the rise again for 2012?

We think with his private sector experience and if the economy stays in bad shape for 4 years it definately is ...

Obama Urges Action to Avert Economic 'Catastrophe,' Decries 'Tired Arguments'

Fox News reports:

President Obama issued Democrats a call to action on the economy Thursday night, pushing his plan for a mix of spending and tax relief while accusing some of the bill's critics of "phony arguments and petty politics."

Obama was speaking to partisan crowd of House Democrats at a retreat in Williamsburg, Va., and while praising the House for already passing his stimulus bill, he made a thinly veiled jab at Republicans for having "come to the table with the "same tired arguments and worn ideas" that helped to cause the current economic crisis.

But despite taking a sometimes humorous tone with his fellow Democrats, Obama hardly failed to underscore the potentially dire consequences of inaction. Without swift passage of his stimulus bill, Obama said, "an economy that is already in crisis will be faced with catastrophe." ...

Wouldn't the definition of petty be the President responding to alternative ideas by saying "I won"?

The only thing getting tiring here is the "do-as-I-say politics" of this administration so far ...