From NBC's Mark Murray and Domenico Montanaro
We ranked the top 10 political stories of the decade for a video below. Let us know your thoughts. Here's the full video.

A brief clip is below:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Special Thanks to Ali Weinberg.

Edited by Domenico Montanaro and Wayne Dennis.

From NBC's Domenico Montanaro and Mark Murray
What
follows are what we consider to be the Top 10 stories that were
overhyped -- or got more attention than they deserved. Agree? Disagree?
Please share your thoughts.

1. WMD/Iraq as an imminent threat: There was an incredible P.R. effort by the Bush
administration in its run-up to the Iraq war. The center of its case
was the existence of "weapons of mass destruction" -- a stockpile kept
by Saddam Hussein that could be used against the United States. But no
WMD was found.

2. Joe the Plumber: What a ridiculous story. His name wasn't Joe, and he wasn't a plumber. Yet John McCain said his name 20 times in the last presidential debate with Barack Obama (who wound up saying it five times himself in that debate).

3. Rudy Giuliani/Fred Thompson (tie): The most overhyped presidential candidates in history? Perhaps. Despite national poll leads, Rudy Giuliani fizzled,
as he didn't campaign in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada or South Carolina.
He waited until Florida, but by then the momentum had passed him by. In
the end, he had spent $58 million and won just one delegate. Meanwhile,
Fred Thompson got Newsweek cover love, but his only mark in the campaign was splitting the conservative vote with Mike Huckabee in South Carolina, giving the state to his friend, McCain.

4. The public option: As we've
said before, the words "public option" or "public plan" weren't uttered
in any major 2008 campaign speech, TV ad, or debate. Yet, the next
year, it became THE liberal obsession in the health-care debate --
despite the relatively few people who could even be covered by it,
according to the Congressional Budget Office.

5. Color-coded DHS terror-threat alerts:
Wow. Remember those? Nothing struck fear in the hearts of everyday
Americans more than the Bush administration's continued pronouncements
of what color that day was.

6. The Obama-Clinton battle over mandates: About the only policy difference between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama was this one on health care. Did it matter? As it turned out, Obama reneged on his promise to not enact mandates and has since pushed for them -- which is exactly what Clinton's policy team was arguing in the first place.

7. Those PUMAs: That Democrats wouldn't come together after the contentious Obama-Clinton primary was a cable-crack story for the ages. And the people in the spotlight were the Clinton-supporting PUMAs (standing for "Party Unity, My Ass"). In the end, however, Obama carried 89% of Democrats (the same percentage John Kerry won in '04), and he won the general election in a near landslide.

8. Bill Ayers: Yes, he was friendly with Obama, but this particular blame-by-association game went too far. As Obama himself said during the campaign, he was only 8 years old when Ayers' Weathermen group was active.

9. Al Gore endorsing Howard Dean: The ultimate example of an endorsement that didn't exactly work out? At the time, many thought Gore's endorsement all but sealed Dean winning the Democratic presidential nomination in 2004. Well, they were wrong...

10. The West Virginia Primary: During the long Democratic primary season, almost every Tuesday was an Election Night. But near the end -- as Obama had almost a statistical lock on the nomination -- we all covered the stand-alone West Virginia primary like a full-blown election. As expected, Clinton crushed Obama in this contest, but it had no impact on the Democratic primary.

From NBC's Mark Murray
Huffington Post and Politico have both noted that it took George W. Bush -- then on vacation -- six days to respond to shoe-bomber Richard Reid's failed attack back in 2001. 

But that incident didn't turn into a partisan food fight -- unlike what has erupted over President Obama's response to the Christmas Day failed plot.

Why the double standard? Here's one explanation: Democrats back in 2001, then out of power, chose not make it an issue the way that Republicans have now.

Indeed, looking back at 20th century -- the GOP charges after the Yalta conference, Nixon and the House Committee on Un-American Activities, the accusations that Democrats "lost" China, Joe McCarthy -- historians note that Republicans have been much more willing than their Democratic counterparts to play the national security card to score political points, especially when out of power.

"It has worked very well for them," presidential historian Robert Dallek tells First Read. "It is a talking point that has helped them win elections and hold off the Democrats… There is a long history going back here."

To be sure, Democrats have participated in demagoguery, too. Yesterday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid accused Republicans of politicizing national security for placing a hold on Obama's pick to head the Transportation Security Administration. And Democrats have demagogued domestic programs like Social Security and Medicare for partisan advantage.

But on matters of national security, Republicans are more likely to accuse the opposition of weakness and cowardice -- whether or not the charge is justified. And it has worked for them.

*** UPDATE *** Via email, Berkeley political science professor Eric Schickler adds some important nuance. "As late as the 1950s, Democrats were pretty aggressive about capitalizing on such events -- a great example is how hawkish Democratic senators went after Ike following Sputnik, as showing we were losing the technology race to the USSR. Kennedy and a bunch of other senators argued the GOP had failed to fund defense (note Kennedy campaigned on a so-called missile gap in 1960) and science/technology. So both sides used to "play politics" with defense "crises" back then. I think it is more of a post-Vietnam phenomenon where the GOP is much more likely to take up the issue than Democrats."

More: After Vietnam, the GOP became clearly identified as the more hawkish, pro-military, "tough" party, and Democrats gained a reputation as more into diplomacy, etc. In political science terms, the GOP "owned" the issue of defense/militarism (just as Democrats "owned" Social Security). They were identified with the side that tends to win in public relations fights over the issue (seen as more competent, committed on the issue). So Democrats shied away from attacks after events such as Richard Reid, just as GOPers are ready to pounce."

*** UPDATE II *** Columbia historian Alan Brinkley also weighs in via email: "There is a long, long history of Republicans attacking Democrats on national security -- beginning ... with Yalta and has never stopped. The Democrats have never developed a similar critique of Republican national security. This has been a consistent Democratic problem, and now is certainly no exception." 

From NBC's Mark Murray
Here are the latest examples of how the failed Christmas Day terrorist plot has become a political football between Republicans and Democrats.

One, the National Republican Congressional Committee has issued press releases asking 11 targeted House Democrats -- including Reps. Mary Jo Kilroy of Ohio and Eric Massa of New York -- whether they agree with Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano's comment over the weekend that "the system worked." (Napolitano admitted a day later that the system did not work.)

"Will Mary Jo Kilroy finally demand answers from  Secretary Napolitano, or will she continue to silently endorse her alarming statement that 'the system worked' in the face of building evidence that the administration is unable to confront serious threats against the American people?"

Two, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid now becomes the highest-profile Democrat to accuse Republicans of playing politics with national security by placing a hold on President Obama's pick to head the Transportation Security Administration. "Despite his qualifications and being reported out by two Senate committees earlier this year, Republicans have decided to play politics with this nomination by blocking final confirmation," Reid said in a statement. "Not only is this a failed strategy, but a dangerous one as well with serious potential consequences for our country."

From NBC's Chuck Todd
State Dept. spokesperson Ian Kelly was hammered in an on-the-record briefing Monday on the issue of the 2008 visa the government issued to Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the Nigerian man charged with trying to blow up a Northwest airplane on Christmas Day. At points during the briefing, Kelly seemed so determined to protect the State Department's role in this that he may also have set off a government agency finger-pointing game.

Kelly said while the State Department had the authority to revoke a visa, it was not the department's responsibility. Kelly said when it comes to revoking visas, it's a question for the Nat'l Counter-terrorism Center (NCTC) and then they determined there was "insufficient evidence" to revoke the visa, despite the cable from the U.S. embassy in Nigeria sent to the State Dept. and NCTC on November 20, 2009.

Kelly would not elaborate on how it was determined that there was "insufficient evidence," saying it was a question for NCTC. When pressed, Kelly wouldn't say whether the State Department cable to the NCTC included the relevant information tat Abdulmutallab had a visa. Here's the exact Q&A on THIS topic:

QUESTION: Ian, did the State Department know when it sent the cable on the 20th, or subsequently before the 25th, that the individual had a U.S. visa?

MR. KELLY: Once he had the visa, once he got the visa in June of 2008, it goes into a system, a database that the counterterrorism community has access to and every consular officer here at the State Department and overseas has access to. The visa - the VISAS VIPER cable, it doesn't require the embassy to report that the person has a visa. It requires them to report on the person's name, date of birth, place of birth. If they have other information like passport information, they report that as well.

So while not DIRECTLY answering the question about whether the cable from Nigeria had the relevant visa information, it certainly sounds as if the cable did NOT include that information. Kelly, not surprisingly, was pressed on this issue. This is where Kelly seemed to attempt to point the finger at NCTC: "But everybody has access to this database, or everybody who wanted to check could see that this individual had a visa."

Kelly, later in the briefing, indicated that the State Dept. would likely change its procedure when it comes to reporting out visa information.

"Clearly, we need to review all of our procedures, and that's what the President has ordered the interagency community to do. And Secretary Clinton is also going to ask the State Department, primarily our consular division, to review all of our processes. We did what we were supposed to do under this Enhanced Border Security and Visa Entry Reform Act. But as you know, the President has ordered a complete view, and we'll have to see what comes out of that. One of the issues we have to deal with is that we get thousands of pieces of information that are not always completely accurate. I mean, you have a lot of - what do you call them, poison pen messages, of people trying to pass on derogatory information. So, I mean, we have to be careful about when we put somebody on a watch list."

As for whether NCTC knew before the Christmas Day attempted terrorist attack whether Abdulmutallab had a valid U.S. visa, intelligence sources hinted to NBC News that they did NOT know this information. Pressed about whether it is standard procedure to cross-check active visas with foreign nationals entered into the terrorist database, a source in the intelligence community in a position to know the answer ducked the question.

Bottom line: when Abdulmutallab's name was entered into the terrorist database, either the entry did NOT include the fact that he had an active U.S. visa or it was determined that despite the warnings from Abdulmutallab's father, it was determined that his visa should not only be revoked but that he didn't deserve inclusion on the secondary screening or no-fly list.

From NBC's Mark Murray and Domenico Montanaro
Today, we take a look at what we consider to be the most memorable political lines/statements/quotes of the decade, which shaped or cemented perceptions, were repeated endlessly, and impacted American politics. Agree? Disagree? What are your thoughts?

1. "I actually voted for the $87 billion before I voted against it." Without a doubt, this John Kerry line was perhaps the most memorable one of the entire 2004 presidential election, and the Bush-Cheney team used it portray Kerry as a waffling, indecisive opponent. Kerry said it in March 2004, and he was referring to his vote AGAINST an $87 billion supplemental for Iraq, but FOR another one that would have required a repeal of the Bush tax cuts to pay for it.

2. "The fundamentals of our economy are strong." If "$87 billion" helped defeat John Kerry, then this line -- which John McCain said after the news of the Lehman Brothers collapse -- perhaps was the final nail in the coffin for McCain in the 2008 presidential contest. After McCain uttered those words, the Obama campaign quickly pounced, immediately cutting a TV ad.

3. Bush's "Bring 'em on" and "Dead or alive" (tie). No two phrases greater captured the "Cowboy Diplomacy" of the Bush presidency. In his waning days as president, Bush said he regretted saying them.

4. "I can see Russia from my house." This line wasn't delivered by Sarah Palin or any other politician during the 2008 presidential election. Instead, it came from comedian (and Palin look-alike) Tina Fey, who on "Saturday Night Live" made fun of a Palin comment about Alaska's proximity to Russia. "[Russians are] our next door neighbors and you can actually see Russia from land here in Alaska, from an island in Alaska," Palin told ABC in Sept. 2008. Fey's impressions of Palin on "SNL" cemented a perception that Palin wasn't a serious, qualified VP candidate.

5. "Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job." This line -- after Hurricane Katrina -- by George W. Bush to embattled FEMA head Michael Brown underscored to critics how poorly the Bush administration (in words and deeds) responded to the hurricane and its aftermath.

6. "Go F%&@ yourself." Dick Cheney reportedly uttered this obscenity to Democratic Sen. Pat Leahy on Capitol Hill after Leahy and Cheney argued about the former vice president's ties to Halliburton.

7. "So it's not surprising then that they get bitter; they cling to guns or religion..." Republicans and the Clinton campaign pounced on these words that Obama said at an April 2008 fundraiser in San Francisco, in explaining why he was losing to Hillary Clinton in states with large rural populations like Ohio and Pennsylvania. It was a line that dogged Obama throughout the rest of the presidential election. Fortunately for Obama, these words weren't caught on videotape, thus minimizing the political damage.

8. Rumsfeld's "known unknowns" and "Army you have" (tie). After not finding WMD, former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld waxed philosophical with his "known unknowns" soliloquy: "There are known knowns. There are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns -- that is to say that there are things we now know we don't know. But there are also unknown unknowns. There are things we do not know we don't know. So when we do the best we can, and we pull all this information together, and that's basically what we see, as the situation. That is really only the known knowns and the known unknowns. And each year we discover a few more of those unknown unknowns. And it sounds like a riddle. It isn't a riddle. It is a very serious and important matter." And Rumsfeld was criticized for saying, "You go to war with the Army you have, not the Army you might want or wish to have at a later time."

9. "You lie!" In an unprecedented outburst at a formal presidential address to Congress, GOP Rep. Joe Wilson of South Carolina shouted this remark to President Obama during his Sept. 2009 speech to Congress on health care. Wilson's line came after Obama noted that illegal aliens wouldn't benefit from the health-care reform legislation Congress was drafting. Independent fact-checkers noted that Wilson was the one who wasn't telling the truth here, not Obama.

10. "Rudy Giuliani, there are only three things he mentions in a sentence -- a noun, verb, and 9/11." There were many memorable lines during the '08 primary debates, but this line -- from Joe Biden -- takes the cake, in our opinion.

Honorable mention: Obama's "You're likable enough, Hillary"… Bill Clinton's "fairy tale"… Hillary Clinton's answer on drivers' licenses for illegal immigrants… Bush's "Axis of evil"… Bush's "Need some wood?"

From NBC's Mark Murray
Politico run a story today observing that -- in contrast to past successful and unsuccessful terrorist plots -- this Christmas Day incident has quickly turned in a partisan battle, with several Republicans already pouncing on the Obama administration.

"Republicans have wasted no time in attacking Democrats on intelligence and screening failures leading up to the failed Christmas Day bombing of Flight 253 — a significant departure from the calibrated, less partisan responses that have followed other recent terrorist activity. The strategy — coming as the Republican leadership seeks to exploit Democratic weaknesses heading into the 2010 midterms — is in many ways a natural for a party that views protecting the U.S. homeland as its ideological raison d'etre and electoral franchise."

The article also notes -- as we did yesterday -- that the partisan attacks could backfire on the GOP, given that Republican Sen. Jim DeMint has been blocking the administration's pick to head up the Transportation Security Administration. Moreover, dozens of House Republicans, including GOP critic Pete Hoekstra, voted against the Homeland Security appropriations bill, which contained more money for airport security and screening.

From NBC's Domenico Montanaro and Mark Murray
Today's Top 10 list looks at what we consider the wackiest/most entertaining/most memorable news conferences of the decade.

1. McGreevey's 'My truth is I am a gay American': Nothing came more out of left field than McGreevey's announcement that not only was he resigning from office, but that the married-with-kids governor was having an affair with a man. His wife stood by his side for this announcement, but they later divorced.

2. Rod Blagojevich: In three separate news conferences, the disgraced former Illinois governor gave us quotes from Rudyard Kipling, Tennyson, Ulysses, and even the Golden Rule in professing his innocence. He vowed, "I am not guilty of any criminal wrongdoing. … I will fight. I will fight. I will fight until I take my last breath. I have done nothing wrong." He gave us Roland Burris -- with Congressman (and former Black Panther) Bobby Rush taking to the stage with an impromptu defense of Blago and Burris. And if that wasn't enough, there were even crying babies and a man in a wheeelchair on the day the Illinois House voted to impeach him. You can't make this stuff up.

3. Mark Sanford admitting his affair: Was he hiking the Appalachian Trail? Uh, no. This was the epitome of a rambling news conference -- you weren't quite sure what he was going to say next.

4. Larry Craig... 'I am not gay': What else can you say about Larry Craig's straight-faced defiant Idaho news conference? He gave us this line: "I did nothing wrong ... I am not gay, I never have been gay." Instead of resigning, he said, his biggest mistake was not getting a lawyer initially. And he claimed to be "viciously harassed" by the local newspaper. 

5. Donald Rumsfeld -- pick it: From going to war with the Army you have, to known unknowns, to going off on Jim Miklaszewski on Oct. 26, 2006 on the Iraqi security situation, a Rumsfeld news conference was quite the sight to behold.

6. The Bush shoe-thrower: Bush showed why he's one of the best athletes we've had as president. In Iraq, Bush dodged -- not questions -- but shoes thrown at him by an Iraqi "journalist."

7. Palin's resignation: Aside from the rambling and verbal ambling, the news of her resignation -- despite having a year and a half left on her term as Alaska governor -- came out of nowhere. It was just another chapter in the unconventional book of Palin.

8. Harry Whittington: Don't remember his name? That was the guy who Dick Cheney shot in the face! Incredibly, Whittington practically apologized for being shot in the face: "My family and I are deeply sorry for all that Vice President Cheney and his family have had to go through this past week." Wow.

9. Obama and Skip Gates: During a news conference dedicated almost exclusively to health care, President Obama took a question at the very end about the arrest of Harvard professor Henry Louis "Skip" Gates. Obama's answer -- that the police acted "stupidly" -- became THE news for days, rather than health care. It was an undisciplined moment for a normally disciplined president and White House.

10. David Vitter and wife: Instead of bowing out like many others embroiled in sex scandals before him -- wife by his side -- Vitter instead was defiant and came out swinging. Vitter, implicated in the DC Madam scandal, accused "political enemies" of spreading "falsehoods" and said he wouldn't take "endless questions." He didn't take any -- and instead talked about water and highway policy! His wife shot back at the press, calling for privacy.

Honorable mentions: The Chamber of Commerce news conference hoax; Sarah Palin flanked by all-male governors at the 2008 Republican Governors Association.

From NBC's Mark Murray
With a few Republicans already criticizing the Obama administration over the failed alleged terrorist attempt to blow up a Detroit-bound flight -- Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R) has taken issue with President Obama's silence so far -- it's worth noting that some Republicans have acted in ways that the previous administration would have attacked for being soft on terrorism.

For starters, it turns out that GOP Sen. Jim DeMint has held up Obama's pick to head up the Transportation Security Administration over concerns that the administration would allow airport screeners to unionize. (Per Ben Smith, a DeMint spokesman replied, "Democrats have only themselves to blame for not having a confirmed TSA administrator. President Obama waited 243 days in office before making a nomination and Harry Reid has been too busy trading earmarks for votes on health care to schedule debate on the nominee. This is an important debate because many Americans don't want someone running the TSA who stands ready to give union bosses the power to veto or delay future security measures at our airports.")

In addition, back in June, 37 Republican House members -- including Hoekstra, GOP leader John Boehner, Roy Blunt (who's running for Missouri senator), and Mike Pence -- voted against a Homeland Security appropriations bill providing more security funding.

On "Meet the Press" yesterday, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs urged both parties to refrain from politicizing national security. "I think going forward, the president believes strongly that this has to be a nonpartisan issue. This should not be a tug-of-war between the two political parties. I hope that ... everyone will resolve in the new year to make protecting our nation a nonpartisan issue rather than what normally happens in Washington, and that is devolving into politics."

From NBC's Robert Windrem
A senior counter-terrorism official says that at this point, the U.S. government is not yet able to account for the time Abdulmutallab spent in Yemen earlier this year nor who he met with. 

The official says it appears that Abdulmutallab spent "months" rather that "a month" in Yemen. (Other officials say that reports of his meeting Anwar al-Alauqi are inaccurate.) Abdulmutallab's mother is Yemeni.

This is being "worked hard," said the official, in light of Yemen's increasingly prominent role in al Qaeda activities ... and the U.S. cooperation with Yemen on counter-terrorism operations. Twice in the last two weeks, the U.S. has participated in Yemeni operations against al Qaeda camps, killing more than 60 fighters.

The official said among the things the U.S. is looking at is a statement made early last week by a leader of al Qaeda in Yemen, claiming, "We are dispatching a bomb to hit the enemies of Allah," meaning the U.S.

Mohammed Salih Omair delivered the speech to a group of fighters in Yemen following the first airstrike against al Qaeda Dec. 17.

There is no evidence to suggest that the statement is linked to the NWA 258 incident, but counter-terrorism officials are aware of it. Omair is believed to have been killed a few days after the speech.

From NBC's Mark Murray
Channeling something we've said before, the New York Times' Nagourney wrote on Saturday that, during the presidential campaign, many people saw in Barack Obama what they wanted to see. Liberals and progressives saw him as one of their own. Independents saw him as someone who would be a "post-partisan" president. And disaffected Republicans saw him as someone who would do what George W. Bush promised -- but failed -- to: engage in "humble" foreign policy and be a good steward of the nation's finances.

But as Nagourney noted, the kind of president Obama has become so far -- someone who is willing to work with the system to create change, someone who is willing to accept half a loaf -- shouldn't be surprising to anyone who paid attention to what he said during the campaign. 

As Times columnist Ross Douthat added on Saturday: "In hindsight, the most prescient sentence penned during the presidential campaign belongs to Ryan Lizza of The New Yorker. 'Perhaps the greatest misconception about Barack Obama,' he wrote in July 2008, 'is that he is some sort of anti-establishment revolutionary. Rather, every stage of his political career has been marked by an eagerness to accommodate himself to existing institutions rather than tear them down or replace them.'" More: "In this regard, he most resembles Ronald Reagan and Edward Kennedy. Both were highly ideological politicians who trained themselves to work within the system. Both preferred cutting deals to walking away from the negotiating table."

Yet Douthat sees this potential downside for Obama. "Obama doesn't enjoy the kind of deep credibility with his base that both Reagan and Kennedy spent decades building. When Kennedy told liberals that a given compromise was the best they could get, they believed him. Whether the issue is health care or Afghanistan, Obama's word doesn't carry the same weight."

But to us, Douthat seems to misidentify Obama's base. It's not necessarily Daily Kos and MoveOn.org -- the groups that are upset about the public option's exclusion from the Senate health-care bill -- but rather minorities (especially African Americans), urban residents, and voters under 30. Still, according to this month's NBC/WSJ poll, liberals approve of Obama's job by a 79%-14% clip.

From NBC's Mark Murray
The failed terrorist attack on Christmas Day has produced a slew of stories during this otherwise slow Christmas/New Year's holiday season -- on the Nigerian man who allegedly tried to blow up the Detroit-bound plane, on how the passengers subdued him, and on the stepped-up security measures.

But this Washington Post article, in particular, has drawn our interest: on the difference between President Obama's response and George W. Bush's. "After the attempted terrorist act, Obama sought answers to questions about the suspect and asked for new security steps at airports, White House officials said. But he did not ask to raise the nation's threat level -- and, in fact, left the decision entirely to [Homeland Security Secretary] Napolitano, senior officials said. Nor did he rush to address the public on camera, though he is likely to do so in the next few days, an official said." (In fact, Obama is set to make a statement later today.)

The Atlantic's Marc Ambinder offers this reason why Obama has remained quiet until today. "Here's the theory: a two-bit mook is sent by Al Qaeda to do a dastardly deed. He winds up neutering himself. Literally. Authorities respond appropriately; the president (as this president is wont to) presides over the federal response. His senior aides speak for him, letting reporters know that he's videoconferencing regularly, that he's ordering a review of terrorist watch lists, that he's discoursing with his secretary of Homeland Security."

"But an in-person Obama statement isn't needed; Indeed, a message expressing command, control, outrage and anger might elevate the importance of the deed, would generate panic (because Obama usually DOESN'T talk about the specifics of cases like this, and so him deciding to do so would cue the American people to respond in a way that exacerbates the situation)."

From NBC's Mark Murray and Domenico Montanaro
Today we look at what we consider the decade's Top 10 political speeches. What are your thoughts? (By the way, it's worth noting that five of the speeches on this list -- and five of the top six -- called for unity or coming together in some way. Yet here we are at the end of the decade, and the rancor is worse than ever...)

1. Obama's race speech in Philly (2008): Barack Obama has delivered many notable speeches -- in fact, we could even run a Top 10 Obama speeches -- but this was his defining address, showing the ability to tackle a controversial topic and take it to another level. It took Jeremiah Wright head on, and it arguably saved his presidential campaign.

2. Bush after 9/11 (2001): Here's something that even George W. Bush's supporters and detractors can agree on: This speech was his finest hour.

3. Al Gore's concession (2000): It brought an end to the 2000 presidential election -- and called for unity and graciousness.

4. Obama's keynote at the 2004 Dem convention (2004): It was the first time that the nation met Barack Obama. It also was the time in our memory that the keynote speaker actually overshadowed the rest of a party's political convention. That is until No. 8 below...

5. Bush's "Mushroom Cloud" (2002)/State of the Union-"Axis of Evil" (2002)/Colin Powell on WMD to U.N. (2003) (tie): We put these three together because they encapsulate the Bush administration's selling of the Iraq war. Putting Colin Powell's reputation and credibility on the line to sell evidence for WMD is certainly a marker in history.

6. Palin's convention speech (2008): Who can forget the "Hockey Mom with Lipstick" who bulled her way onto the national scene at that Republican National Convention? And what a scene it was in Minnesota. That speech launched a political star and -- overnight -- put John McCain ahead in the polls. But that euphoria only lasted a few weeks.

7. Hillary Clinton's concession (2008): Democrats, your long primary nightmare was finally over after this speech. Indeed, Clinton's concession brought an end to the year-and-a-half knockdown, drag-out primary between Clinton and Barack Obama -- the likes of which we'll probably never see again.

8. Zell Miller's keynote (2004): My goodness, where do we begin? Here's what Miller, then a Democrat, said about John Kerry: "This is the man who wants to be the Commander in Chief of our U.S. Armed Forces? U.S. forces armed with what? Spitballs?" He also said: "Kerry would let Paris decide when America needs defending." But our favorite moment is what happened after the speech -- Zell challenging MSNBC's Chris Matthews to a duel. Really.

9. The Dean Scream speech: Without a doubt, it's our favorite political sound bite from the 2004 election. Question: Had it not dominated the airwaves after the Iowa caucuses, would Dean have gone on to win the New Hampshire primary? (By the way, one of us was in the Iowa ballroom that night, and no one there actually heard the scream because the ballroom was so loud. Only the microphone that drowned out the background noise picked it up.)

10. Hugo Chavez at U.N.; Khaddafi at U.N.; Ahmadinejad at U.N., then Columbia (tie): We learned in this decade that speeches by dictators at the U.N. (or in New York) never fail to entertain. Bush as the Devil, hour-long ramblings from scribbled notes in a pocket notebook and no gay people in Iran make these a dictator Top 10 special. 

Honorable mentions (lots of Obama): Obama's inaugural, Obama's Cairo, Obama's Nobel speech, Obama's health-care address to Congress, Ted Kennedy's address at the 2008 Democratic convention.

From NBC's Ken Strickland
Some details of what occured in the Senate chamber during and after today's vote:

-- During the roll call vote, Senator Majority Leader Harry Reid stood up and first voted "no" before instantly realizing he meant to say "aye." Laughter erupted in the chamber... Reid dropped his head on his podium and then finally said, "Aye." He sat down looking red-faced and embarrassed.

-- While every other senator responded to the roll call vote with a simple "aye" or "no", Sen. Robert Byrd (D) lifted his finger in the air an said in a booming voice: "This is for my friend Ted Kennedy. Aye"

-- Bernie Sanders (I) was late for the vote and wasn't in his chair when the clerk called his name. A few minutes after all the names had been called, Sanders burst through to chamber doors and quickly walked the distance of the room giving a thumbs up to indicate his "aye" vote. When he finally got to his desk, the clerk called his name. He stood up and loudly pronounced "YES!" The chamber laughed and applauded.

-- Vicki Kennedy, the wife of the late Ted Kennedy, sat in the front row of the visitor's gallery one floor above the Senate floor. She cried during the vote. And when the vote tally was read, she shock her head with her hands over her face as in disbelief.

-- Republican Sen. Jim Bunning was a no-show and didn't vote.

*** UPDATE *** Per NBC's Lauren Selsky, Ben Nelson (D) spoke on the Senate floor this morning defending his health-care vote. He mentioned multiple times that he "stuck to his guns" and in no way compromised his pro-life principles. He stated that he did not look for weaker language, rather he looked for clearer language in the bill.

Nelson also stressed that the bill does NOT cover abortion, and that in order to have abortion covered a rider must be purchased with own funds, not federal money. He stated that both in the Stupak and Senate language, no federal funds can be used to purchase a plan that covers abortion saying "in short, the Senate bill assures that no federal funds be used for abortion."

From NBC's Mark Murray
Both Republicans and Democrats are trying to capitalize politically on this morning's vote. The National Republican Senatorial Committee issued press releases targeting Democratic Sens. Michael Bennet (CO), Harry Reid (NV), Blanche Lincoln (AR), Arlen Specter (PA), Kirsten Gillibrand (NY), Chris Dodd (CT), Evan Bayh (IN), and Barbara Boxer -- all up for election next year.

Sample NRSC release:

"Thanks to Michael Bennet's vote, the U.S. Senate passed a costly government-run health care bill today that will be paid for by Colorado families, seniors, and small businesses that are already struggling to make ends meet.
"On multiple occasions, Senator Bennet could have stopped this legislation by saying 'no' to President Obama and Harry Reid. But instead, Bennet voted to pass a bill that cuts Medicare for Colorado seniors, allows for taxpayer-funded abortions in America, and breaks President Obama's campaign pledge that no one earning under $250,000 would see a tax increase under his Administration.
"There's no doubt that Senator Bennet will be forced to explain his DC wheeling and dealing for this contentious and costly health care legislation if he makes it to the General Election in 2010."

 

Meanwhile, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee issued this release targeting GOP senators up for re-election next year, including Richard Burr (NC) and David Vitter (LA).

Sample DSCC release:

This morning, Senator Richard Burr voted to deny needed health care reforms that would benefit North Carolinians. Burr joined with his Republican colleagues in voting against the historic and landmark Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, but despite Burr's attempts at obstruction, Democrats succeeded in passing the bill out of the Senate. The bill will now go to conference committee, where final details of the bill will be worked out with member of the House of Representatives. The bill will then go back to each chamber and upon passage, will go to the President's desk for final signage. After voting against granting 1.7 million North Carolinians access to health insurance, will Burr make repealing health care reform a campaign promise?
"With this morning's vote, Richard Burr affirmed his role as a shill for the insurance companies," said Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Communications Director Eric Schultz. "Today's vote was historic and Richard Burr will find himself on the wrong side of history. Once this bill is signed into law, Richard Burr will have to look North Carolinians in the eye and pledge to repeal health care reform which will have afforded coverage to 1.7 million North Carolinians, brought down costs for families and small businesses, ended appalling insurance practices, and lowered the deficit. That is not a winning argument."

From NBC's Mark Murray
In a historic vote after 7:00 am ET, the United States passed its health-care bill by a party-line 60-39 vote. The measure required a simple majority to pass.

The legislation now moves to a Senate-House conference to reconcile their two bills.
 

From NBC's Ken Strickland
Vice President Biden is presiding over the Senate before today's health-care vote.

Also, according to Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent who votes with Democrats, there is a picture of Ted Kennedy in the Democratic cloakroom with the words "Let's get it done," as it relates to health care.

Sanders told MSNBC's Chris Matthews about the picture during his show earlier this week.

From NBC's Ken Strickland and Domenico Montanaro
As was expected, the Senate has passed the final 60-vote hurdle for the health-care legislation.

By a partisan-line, 60-40 vote, the Senate voted to invoke cloture, to end debate and to break the GOP filibuster on the underlying bill.

This vote sets the stage for tomorrow's 7:00 am ET vote on passage of the Senate health-care bill. Only a simple majority -- 51 votes -- will be needed for the vote tomorrow.

After the vote tomorrow, the bill goes to get reconciled with the House. And there are some hurdles there with relation to the public option and abortion.

*** UPDATE *** Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) said after the vote, that he sees this as a refusal of 60 leaders to let "fear overwhelm the facts." He called health care a right and not a privilege.

From NBC's Kelly O'Donnell
The Senate has moved up its vote on the health-care legislation to 7:00 am ET tomorrow.

From NBC's Ken Strickland
As many as EIGHT back-to-back votes are happening now on the Senate floor in relation to the health-care bill, but don't expect any drama. 

The Democrats should have the votes to beat back any Republican efforts.

Currently they are voting on Sen. John Ensign's (R-NV) amendment challenging the constitutionality of the health-care bill. (Olympia Snowe, by the way, just voted aye.)

We'll keep you posted.

From NBC's Kelly O'Donnell
Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) says he feels badly about his own heated moment on the Senate floor earlier this month with Sen. John Thune (R-SD).

"Every senator has had his or her chance to speak up and help make this a better bill or to make a case against the bill," Franken said. "Unfortunately, it's been a bit rancorous, and I think that's too bad. There have been accusations flying back and forth, umbrage has been taken. this place as become an umbrage factory. I even took umbrage once, and I feel bad about that. My colleagues across the aisle have taken great umbrage, because we've accused them of using scare tactics."

On Dec. 14, a clearly frustrated Franken accused Thune of misrepresenting what's in the bill and when benefits would begin. Franken nearly shouted, "We are entitled to our own opinions; we're not entitled to our own facts... Benefits kick in right away."

Thune then took the floor and stressed that "tax increases start 18 days from now," while "spending benefits don't start until 2014."

Franken appeared angrier and reclaimed his time. "He doesn't want to hear it," Franken said in a heated voice, while pointing to Thune. "We are entitled to our own opinions; we're not entitled to our own facts."

From NBC's Betsy Cline
Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) accused Senate Democrats being dishonest about the cost of the health care bill: "What we've seen is a colossal misrepresentation of the CBO scores."

Sessions, pointing to a large flow chart, said the Democrats are double-counting. He described the situation as money coming into the Medicare trust fund being used to fund the new health care legislation, with the Treasury basically writing Medicare a very large IOU. And that, Sessions said, "is a $300 billion dollar misrepresentation."

Sessions was joined by Sens. Jon Kyl (R-AZ) and Judd Gregg (R-NH) for today's news conference on Capitol Hill. Kyl said he's hoping this information from the Congressional Budget Office will help sway the votes of those Democratic senators who have promised not to vote for a bill that would increase the deficit:

"This disclosure reveals a massive hole in their argument," Kyl said. "So for all of our colleagues that said they wouldn't support a bill that adds to the deficit, that's why this is important."

From NBC's Mark Murray and Domenico Montanaro
Yesterday, we listed our Top 10 political downfalls of the decade. Today, in the Christmas spirit, we look at the risers -- today's prominent politicians (many with bright futures), who we didn't know at the beginning of the decade. This was a harder list to come up with than our downfall one. Below are our thoughts. What are yours?

1. Barack Obama: Need we say more?

2. Sarah Palin: You could make an argument that she deserves to be on our downfall list instead -- given her resignation earlier this year -- but going from the mayor of Wasilla, to Alaska governor, then to the GOP's vice presidential nominee in 2008 is a quite a rise. Not to mention, she has quite the influence with activist conservatives, and did we mention she's now a millionaire? No matter if Palin never runs for the presidency, she is the nation's biggest political celebrity, other than Obama of course.

3. Bobby Jindal: Yes, he had a bad response to Obama's State of the Union, but the Rhodes Scholar is just 38 years old. Chalk it up as a MINOR setback for his national ambitions. He has a reputation for being a good executive, has lots of money in the bank, and represents something that's currently lacking in the Republican Party -- diversity.

4. Chuck Schumer: While he first got elected in the '90s (1998), there's probably no Democrat with more skins on the wall. How many total Senate seats did he help Democrats pick up as head of the DSCC again? (The answer is 14.) There's no doubt about it: He's the rising star of the Senate. And chew on this... If Harry Reid loses his re-election, and Dems hold their majority, Schumer vs. Durbin would be an interesting race for majority leader, no?

5. Marco Rubio: Some might say he's too high on this list -- and he still has a difficult primary to win -- but Rubio has instantly turned into a conservative star in his Senate fight against Charlie Crist. Conservatives see him as the GOP version of Barack Obama. But first, he's got to beat Crist, which won't be easy...

6. John Thune: He was a little-known South Dakota congressman at the beginning of the decade. He ran against Sen. Tim Johnson (D) and lost -- barely. Then he ran again and beat Democratic Senate leader Tom Daschle. And now he is one of the Republican Party's biggest (and most telegenic) stars. Will he run for president in 2012?

7. Eric Cantor: No current Republican congressman has risen so far, so fast. Elected just nine years ago, Cantor now serves as the No. 2 figure in the House leadership. He is just 46.

8. Tim Kaine: Kaine began the decade as a little-known mayor of Richmond and as then lieutenant governor. But his 2005 gubernatorial victory in Virginia ended up serving as a model for future Democratic campaigns in 2006 to 2008. And that win -- as well as his three-plus years as governor -- catapulted him as VP finalist last year. He's now the chairman of the Democratic National Committee. What's next?

9. Bob McDonnell: As was the case with Kaine's gubernatorial victory in Virginia in 2005, Republican Bob McDonnell -- who won this year's VA Gov contest -- has become an instant star in his party. And assuming he enjoys success as governor, McDonnell will be an automatic VP possibility (or higher?), given that Virginia is a must-win presidential battleground state for Republicans.

10. Brian Schweitzer: He started the decade narrowly losing a Senate race against GOP incumbent Conrad Burns. He then became governor of Montana in 2004. Will the bolo-tie-wearing governor run for president in 2016? He's 54.

Honorable Mentions: Paul Ryan, Jon Huntsman, Claire McCaskill, Mark Warner, Jim Webb.

From NBC's Mark Murray and Domenico Montanaro
Some liberals are upset with this statement President Obama made to the Washington Post: "I didn't campaign on the public option."

The liberal group Progressive Change Campaign Committee is up a with new TV ad in response, which will run in D.C. and Wisconsin (to influence Sen. Russ Feingold). "President Obama should frankly feel ashamed that he promised Americans a public option, got people to believe real change was possible, and then never truly fought for it -- instead, pushing an insurance mandate that he specifically campaigned against," said the PCCC's Adam Green. "Hopefully, our ad inspires one brave senator to represent the will of the people and insist that a public option be in any final bill."

As we've written before, the words "public option" didn't appear in any Obama campaign speech we can remember; they didn't come up during the debates; and they didn't surface in TV ads. Remember when Obama and Hillary Clinton dominated the MSNBC debate with Brian Williams and Tim Russert with 16 minutes of health-care discussion, the words "public option" were never uttered.

It is true that a public plan was part of Obama's health-care plan, and it's also true that the public option was an idea being debated in policy-wonk circles during the campaign.

But, from our vantage point as reporters who covered the presidential campaign, Obama's quote to the Washington Post appears to be correct.

And here's Huffington Post's Sam Stein's take: "An examination of approximately 200 newspaper articles from the campaign, as well as debate transcripts and public speeches shows that Obama spoke remarkably infrequently about creating a government-run insurance program. Indeed, when he initially outlined his health care proposals during a speech before the University of Iowa on March 29, 2007, he described setting up a system that resembles the current Senate compromise - in which private insurers would operate in a non-profit entity that was regulated heavily by a government entity."

Now, there's no doubt that Obama broke a promise on mandates. And he's had to answer for that in interviews with reporters. It's certainly accurate to say that he campaigned against a mandate. Remember, Clinton was in favor a mandate and much of the debate on health care centered around THAT word. And because of the mandate, the irony for the left -- now up in arms about mandates -- is that her plan was the one that was seen as the more liberal.

When asked over e-mail about the above points, Green wrote, in part, "Those two arguments above -- that he actively campaigned against the mandates, and that his health care plan actively called for a 'new public insurance plan' seals the deal beyond the need for anything more."

He added, "[C]ampaigns are mostly about themes, you know that. Obama promised he would take on special interests and fight for regular people. He promised change you can believe in. Instead he cut a deal with the insurance and pharmaceutical industries, is embracing a bill that they love which is wildly unpopular with the public, and never fought for a public option which Americans overwhelmingly want. As the petition that accompanies our ad says (which his own staffers, volunteers, and donors signed), that's not change we can believe in."

Yet, Jacob Hacker, the Yale professor who is credited with being the father of the public option endorsed the Senate bill -- even without the public option.

To that, Green responded, "When Hacker was being honest with himself, he wrote a piece about the Medicare buy-in called, 'You Call This A Compromise?' When later accepting this even-worse bill, he said that if we don't pass it, 'The most progressive president of my generation...will be handed a crippling loss. The party he leads will be branded as unable to govern.' This was before it came out that Obama never even pressed Lieberman to support the public option. He didn't fight. So this isn't a real compromise...it's an insurance industry bill."

Here's an excerpt from his May 29, 2007 speech laying out his health care plan. Again, there's nothing about a public option.

"It's a goal I believe we can achieve on a national level with the health care plan I'm outlining today," Obama said, according to his prepared remarks from that day. "The very first promise I made on this campaign was that as president, I will sign a universal health care plan into law by the end of my first term in office.  Today I want to lay out the details of that plan -- a plan that not only guarantees coverage for every American, but also brings down the cost of health care and reduces every family's premiums by as much as $2500. This second part is important because, in the end, coverage without cost containment will only shift our burdens, not relieve them. So we will take steps to remove the waste and inefficiency from the system so we can bring down costs and improve the quality of our care while we're at it."

This all really speaks to what a blank slate Barack Obama was for so many people -- liberals, centrists and conservatives alike. Anyone could find something they liked about him and adapt the idea of Obama to what they wanted.

From NBC's Ali Weinberg
As the Obama administration works to boost college graduation rates during an economic downturn, a liberal nonprofit organization is recommending that sometimes controversial for-profit colleges like the University of Phoenix and DeVry Universities be recognized as viable alternatives to traditional institutions like state and community colleges. 

Michael J. Wilson, the director of the organization Americans for Democratic Action, said today that for-profit colleges are a good fit for both first-time and returning college students, especially those in underserved communities, and should not be overlooked in the hierarchy of higher education institutions.

"We don't believe we can use the same narrow bands of universities that we traditionally use, and we believe we need to use every arrow in our quiver," Wilson told reporters in a conference call today. Citing the rising, often prohibitive costs of traditional colleges Wilson said "education is unequal depending on where you are from, and we need to give more opportunites" to low-income people seeking further education and training.

For-profit colleges are owned by publicly traded companies and do not rely directly on taxpayer money like state and community institutions, which Wilson said is a "wonderful two-fer" for students and taxpayers that "really fit the current fiscal system." He added, "These schools provide increased access and more flexibility for adults. They are not taking tax money to pay for themselves, but are paying back taxes." 

By some accounts, however, the funding structure of for-profit colleges is problematic. Because the schools attract a high number of low-income students, many take out loans like federal Pell Grants. Last year, 24% of the government's record $18.3 billion Pell Grant program went to for-profit colleges, a recent AP study found. But the study also concluded that nearly one quarter of students at for-profits default on their loans within four yearse, more than double the rate of other kinds of schools. 

Some for-profit instutions have also recently come under fire for their recruiting practices. Last week, Bloomberg reported that Apollo Group Inc., which owns Phoenix University, paid $78.5 million to settle a whistleblower lawsuit over allegations that recruiters were compensated based on the number of students enrolled.