News Nuggets 1375

DAYLEE PICTURE: An aerial view of the Namib desert in Namibia.  From National Geographic.

Health Insurers' Stocks, CEOs Feeling Good about Obamacare (Jon Perr) from Daily Kos
"Despite the troubled rollout of the ACA's health insurance exchanges, the CEOs of the biggest carriers seem confident that the growing pains for what is a small part of the businesses in 2014 will be overcome. While Cigna chief executive David Cordani reassured the JP Morgan event
attendees that "we're still in the early innings," CEO Joe Swedish of Wellpoint declared himself "cautiously optimistic.""

Most State Residents Favor Medicaid Expansion, Poll Says from the Rapid City Journal [of South Dakota]
"Despite a poll showing a majority of South Dakotans favor Medicaid expansion, Gov. Dennis Daugaard’s office said Wednesday he has no plans to introduce legislation to expand health care in the state. In a survey released earlier this week by the American Cancer Society’s Cancer Action Network, 63 percent of 400 state residents favored Medicaid expansion while 31 percent opposed it."

Maine Inching Closer to Expanding Medicaid (Joan McCarter) from Daily Kos 
"Despite the adamant and incoherent opposition of Gov. Paul LePage, Maine's legislature is inching toward a Medicaid expansion, with Democrats saying they are close to having enough Republicans to pass it, and to override LePage's veto."

It's Official: Republicans are Done Trying to Kill ObamaCare (Jon Terbush) from The Week
"House Republicans have voted to repeal ObamaCare 47 times. They probably won't take a 48th crack at it."

Going the Distance: On and Off the Road with Barack Obama (David Remnick) from the New Yorker
"... after a miserable year, Obama’s Presidency is on the clock. Hard as it has been to pass legislation since the Republicans took the House, in 2010, the coming year is a marker, the final interval before the fight for succession becomes politically all-consuming."

The Fallout of Dysfunction (Ruth Marcus) from Real Clear Politics
"... the congressional failure isn't total. Case in point: the Senate intelligence committee's just-released report on the "preventable" tragedy in Benghazi. When legislators choose careful oversight over political grandstanding, the results not only provide crucial evidence for the historical record -- they can help prevent the recurrence of such debacles."

The Republican Party’s Uphill Path to 270 Electoral Votes in 2016 (Dan Balz) from the Washington Post
"A recent conversation with a veteran of GOP presidential campaigns raised this question: Which, if any, of the recent battleground states are likely to become more Republican by 2016? The consensus: very few."

GOP Insiders Freak Out: Could Tea Party Blow Another Election? from Salon 
"2012 was just the beginning: Republicans are stuck in a civil war that threatens to derail even more winnable races."

Most Voters Skeptical Of Chris Christie's Bridgegate Claims, Poll Finds from the Huffington Post
"Most individuals who are aware of the scandal surrounding New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) and the closure of access lanes to the George Washington Bridge doubt that the governor was not aware of his aides' involvement in the controversy."

How Bad Does the GOP Need Chris Christie? Really Bad. (Michael Tomasky) from the Daily Beast
"Without the scandal-engulfed New Jersey governor, Republicans don’t have a candidate who could even come close to the votes needed to win the presidency in 2016."

Chris Christie: The End Game (Robert Kuttner) from the Huffington Post 
"Let me go out on a limb here. Chris Christie will not run for president, and he is very likely not to serve out his term as governor of New Jersey. The reason is very simple. Given everything we know about Christie's style of governing, it is inconceivable that he did not know what his underlings were up to."

First Thoughts: Christie's Two-Front War (Chuck Todd et al.,) from MSNBC 
"Christie's biggest political problem right now is that he's fighting wars on two different fronts, both of which increasingly look like wars of attrition. ... The biggest GOP beneficiary from Christie’s woes: Jeb Bush. ... if Bush were starting to really think about a presidential bid -- under the impression that the best time for another Bush to run for the White House would be in the year that another Clinton does -- the Christie news has to give him even more to consider. So don’t be surprised if you start hearing an establishment drum beat for Jeb in the coming months, as major donors who were enamored with Christie decide to start looking elsewhere for an electable savior."
I find it interesting that, even as numerous reporters, Clinton ex-aides and confidants are saying both on and off the record that they are certain Hillary is running in 2016, NO ONE seems to have an inside line on where Jed Bush is on a 2016 run.  All we know is that Barbara Bush does not want him to run.  Big whoop.  The thing is that IF he is going to run, he needs to start putting the pieces in place for such a run.  These days, organizing and running a top flight presidential campaign is like building an aircraft carrier.  It takes x amount of time and there is no way to cut corners.  If he wants the good talent, the good pollsters, the crack-a-jack state-level experts and primary activists, he needs to start lining them up, if not now really soon.  Are reporters, pundits and conservative election junkies tracking Jeb's moves  in this arena?  I actually don't get that anyone is really paying any attention -- so it leaves me wondering what's actually happening in Bush circles these days. 

There Is No 'Third Term Curse' For Dems In 2016 (Ed Kilgore) from Talking Points Memo
"I’d recommend that Sides and anyone else looking ahead drop the “third-term curse” as a predictive factor. It represents a dubious lesson from a very small sample, and should henceforth be regarded mainly as spin."
I completely agree with Kilgore's assessment here.

The Conservative War on Liberal Media Has a Long History (Nicole Hemmer) from the Atlantic
"Roger Ailes's success at Fox News is unique, but the project of creating a right-leaning alternative to established media stretches back to the 1940s."

CIVIL RIGHTS HISTORY NUGGET!!
How Kids Dealt With the Stress of Desegregation (Jennie Rothenberg Gritz) from the Atlantic
"Before Norman Rockwell immortalized Ruby Bridges in a painting, an Atlantic writer followed her for two years and reported on her daily battles."