Times Running Out to Fix Obamacares Flaws

Rep. Boucher loses, opens uncertainty for tech, telecom legislation
For the tech and telecom industries, the loss of Rep. Rick Boucher (D-Va.) to Republican Morgan Griffith in Midterm Elections Tuesday creates legislative uncertainty. With nearly three decades in office, Boucher has become a Veteran voice on policy issues as chairman of the House Communications, Technology and Internet subcommittee. In the past year, he introduced Internet Privacy Legislation that balances business interests in data collection with requirements that companies get voluntary appr...

SF Poll Worker Arrested For Stealing Ballots
SAN Francisco -- San Francisco police Arrested a polling inspector Wednesday on suspicion of stealing up to 75 Ballots, a voting roster and other Election material in a bizarre Election Day heist. Karl Bradfield Nicholas, 50, was taken into Custody around 1 a.m., Lt. Lyn Tomioka said. He was not cooperating with authorities, and none of the ballots have been recovered. Nicholas was in charge of a polling site in the city's southern most district when he inexplicably made off Tuesday afternoon wi...

Abbreviated Pundit Round-up
A couple of quick flashbacks to remind you that, no matter what you might think, winning big is not a mandate, no matter what you may hear. So how should Democrats interpret last night's victories? Not as the broad mandate for Liberalism that many of them would hope it to be. A mandate is what you get when you're elected with the smallest Popular Vote margin in a century. Andy Serwer, CNN: "Interesting time for the president, obviously, he [Bush] seems to have a mandate from the people to go...

Senate Committees of the 112th: Commerce, Science and Transportation
The panel will draft several major transportation measures in the next Congress, including the Safety-related provisions of an overdue surface transportation reauthorization. If the current Congress fails to clear a long-delayed bill to reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration in the Lame-duck session, the committee also will write a new version of that Legislation. Several other transportation-related bills, involving the freight rail industry and auto safety, could be reintroduced in t...

The Day After in Virginia
My host in Charlottesvile, a University of Virginia Professor who once ran for Congress himself, pointed out that Tom Perriello’s loss came down to one distinct class: the country-club Republicans in Albemarle County, which surrounds the town. Two years ago, many of them voted for Perriello because they were embarrassed by the district’s Muslim- and immigrant-baiting Incumbent, Virgil Goode. Their Children had been patients of Tom’s pediatrician father, my host said; they liked...

Net Neutrality Candidates Rejected By Voters
Nearly all analysts and pundits agree that yesterday’s election results were largely about The Economy and Jobs. Our nation’s economy has faced many challenges and millions of Americans are ready to get back to work while the Private Sector is looking to Washington for signs of stability. The election results also showed that a group of members of Congress and Candidates who support creating burdensome new Internet Regulations were handily rejected at the polls. 95 Candidates voiced ...

Election polls under scrutiny after missing mark
View results The Las Vegas Review-Journal’s final polls in the two most closely watched Nevada races wound up having about as much predictive power as the Old Farmer’s Almanac in forecasting the winter Snowfall. One of its polls, published Oct. 29, showed Republican Sharron Angle beating Sen. Harry Reid 49-44. Four Days later, Reid wound up winning 50-45. Another poll, published on Halloween, had Republican Joe Heck beating Rep. Dina Titus 53-43. Heck won by less than 1 percentage...

S.F. election worker arrested over missing ballots
(11-03) 11:46 PDT San Francisco -- San Francisco police have arrested an Election worker but have not recovered 75 ballots he allegedly stole from a Polling Station, police said Wednesday. Karl Bradfield Nicholas, 50, of San Francisco left his post at 4:15 p.m. on Election Day at the Station on Knott Court with the ballots and a memory card that recorded the votes cast, said Lt. Lyn Tomioka, a San Francisco police spokeswoman. He was arrested at his home in the Ingleside at 1:12 a.m. Wednesday...

Blackburn mentioned as telecom subcommittee fit
Reps. Greg Walden (R-Ore.) and Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.) have been widely cited as top contenders to chair the House Communications subcommittee. But what other names have been floating around as analysts mull the possibilities for members who might make a good fit? One is Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.). This scenario is seen as unlikely, but analysts cited her as the kind of member Party Leaders might like to see in the role. She has strong conservative credentials, and observers said a major ...

Doyle seen as contender for top Dem on telecom subcommittee
Rep. Mike Doyle (D-Pa.) is among the names analysts mentioned on Wednesday as a contender to become the leading Democrat on the House communications subcommittee in the next session of Congress. The committee oversees telecommunications issues. Doyle's spokesman, Matt Dinkel, on the possibility: "Given the Congressman's interest in, and leadership on, telecom issues, he would certainly be interested if the opportunity presented itself." Other names repeatedly-mentioned include Reps. Anna Esho...

Analysis: Tea parties, GOP in wary courtship
RICHMOND, VA. — It was the Democrats' bid to re-establish Big Government that begat the Tea Party movement. And the movement thanked the Democrats in Virginia on Tuesday by electing Republicans to three House seats Democrats had held. "They were very helpful to me," Republican H. Morgan Griffith said the morning after he ended the 28-year congressional tenure of Democrat Rick Boucher in this year's conservative reprisal. Never mind that Griffith and two newly elected Republican House co...

Tea parties courted GOP, but `not dating steady'
RICHMOND, VA. — Tea Party officials say that the movement was solidly behind three Republicans who unseated Virginia Democratic congressmen on Tuesday. But Virginia Tea Party Federation chairman Jamie Radtke says those newly elected Republicans need to remember that they're on Probation. Mark Lloyd of the Lynchburg Tea Party said that for the most part, tea party members chose to support Republicans who had committed to take up tea party causes of smaller government and reduced spending...

Tea parties courted GOP, but `not dating steady'
RICHMOND, VA. — Tea Party officials say that the movement was solidly behind three Republicans who unseated Virginia Democratic congressmen on Tuesday. But Virginia Tea Party Federation chairman Jamie Radtke says those newly elected Republicans need to remember that they're on Probation. Mark Lloyd of the Lynchburg Tea Party said that for the most part, tea party members chose to support Republicans who had committed to take up tea party causes of smaller government and reduced spending...

Cap-and-Trade Hurts Democrats
Washington, D.C., November 3, 2010 --- House Democrats who voted for the Waxman-Markey cap-and-trade bill were big losers in the congressional Elections. Approximately thirty Democrats who voted for Waxman-Markey were defeated. This does not include Democratic losses in open seats in which the Incumbent chose not to run for-re-election. Representative Rick Boucher, a senior fourteen-term Democrat from Virginia’s coal district (the 9th), negotiated the deal that led to passage of Waxman-Mar...

Both Sides Claim Va. Nail-Biter
By Neil King Jr. It may be the closest House race in the country, and both sides are claiming victory. In suburban Washington D.C., voters in Virginia’s 11th Congressional District are almost evenly split between freshman Democrat Gerry Connolly and Republican Keith Fimian . With 99% of precincts reporting, Mr. Connolly is leading by 487 votes. Mr. Connolly has 49.2% of the vote, while Mr. Fimian, who lost narrowly to Mr. Connolly in 2008, has 49%. Mr. Connolly claimed victory in a Speech to su...

Tech/telecom races: Dingell
Races that impact tech and telecom policy Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.) was chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee until Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) replaced him for the current session of Congress. He has been heavily involved in telecom issues over the years. Early in the decade, he introduced a bill to relieve phone companies of regulatory barriers delaying Broadband buildout. More recently, he has weighed in with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) against reclassificat...

Good Morning Tech: Midterm Morning After, Tech Race Roundup
Good Morning! While you were sleeping we were up tracking results from Tuesday's Midterm Election. The GOP captured the House as expected by turning 61 seats according to the latest projections but Democrats managed to hold on to the Senate thanks to key wins in Nevada, Delaware, and California among others. For more updates follow up on Twitter. Here's what you may have missed: Brown beats Whitman for California Governor Former Governor Jerry Brown (D) will return to lead the Golden State for...

Cantor Preps 22-Page Game Plan
Politico reports: Virginia Republican Eric Cantor’s official announcement of his run for House Majority Leader came with a twist: a 22-page game plan on how to change Congress. Cantor, currently the GOP whip, began calling colleagues to shore up his support and wrote a letter promising to change Congress - saying he wants to “drain the swamp rather than learning to swim with the alligators.” The document is entitled “Delivering on Our Commitment” and promises a broad ra

Internet privacy could be priority in next Congress
WASHINGTON -- A key Republican lawmaker indicated Wednesday that Internet Privacy could be a legislative priority in the next Congress, as a growing number of data breaches draw increased attention from federal Regulators. Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, ranking member of the House Energy and Commerce committee, signaled the legislative push in a statement about his correspondence with Facebook executives on Privacy issues. "I want the Internet economy to prosper, but it can't unless the people's ri...

Analysts: Don't expect tech and telecom bills to move in the lame-duck
Analysts said Wednesday that Republican gains make it unlikely technology and telecommunications bills will move before the next Congress. Even on issues that have Bipartisan support, it is unlikely significant Legislation will pass before the end of the year. House Republicans will likely prefer to wait until they are in power to address telecommunications issues including Privacy, an overhaul to the multi-billion dollar Universal Service Fund, which subsidizes phone service, and spectrum a...

Why I'm Not Voting Today
I won't be voting in today's Elections. The reason: I made a mistake. But so did my state, and thirty-nine others. I can't vote today, because I didn't register in time. New York State's Voter Registration forms had to be postmarked or filled out in person by October 8, and I missed that deadline. Obviously, this was really stupid of me. I have lived in New York since September 2009, and have had ample time to register. Also, my job involves reading and writing about the news — I was remin...

Zuckerberg: Instead of a Facebook phone, think Facebook on every phone (Ben Patterson)
So tell us, Mark: Is Facebook making its own phone? "No," Zuckerberg said bluntly during a much-anticipated briefing about Facebook's Mobile plans. But just because Facebook isn't building a phone doesn't mean Facebook doesn't want to be on your phone—or on everyone's phone, no matter the platform. Zuckerberg's big news wasn't about any one particular product, feature or developer API (although there were announcements for all three Wednesday), but rather that Mobile would begin to play a ...

Facebook revs up mobile device plans
Facebook Social network founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg speaks at a Press Conference at Facebook headquarters on November 3, 2010. Financial Post · Wednesday, Nov. 3, 2010 Palo Alto -- Facebook will expand and simplify its Mobile platform for the 200 million people who use the world's largest Social network on their Mobile Phones, but denied rumors that it was developing its own phone. CEO Mark Zuckerberg said on Wednesday that The Social Network, which has tripled its number of Mobile use...

Dems Blame White House for Loss
Politico reports: The bodies aren’t even cold yet in the House, but the Democratic Party has already opened up a bitter debate over who’s to blame. The party’s bloodied moderates Wednesday released two years of pent-up anger at a party Leadership they viewed as blind to their needs and deaf to the messages of voters who never asked for President Barack Obama’s ambitious First-term agenda. Liberals pushed back hard: The problem, they say, was those undisciplined moderates, who won d

Twitter Bot Auto-Debates Climate Change Critics
Do you like this story? As anyone interested in the recent Midterm Elections can attest, arguing with people who’ll never agree with you is an exhausting hobby. At least one developer has found a way to answer his would-be debaters without having to engage in a tiring, dead-end debate himself. When it comes to Climate Change, many people find themselves at odds with certain facts to the point of disputing the validity of said facts. The developer in question (that would be Australian syste...