The Hill writes that Democrats are "scrambling to save healthcare reform legislation" in the wake of Scott Brown's victory in Massachusetts.

The New York Times: "Senate Democrats prepared to meet on Wednesday to consider the fate of the Democratic health care overhaul now that Scott Brown's decisive Senate victory in Massachusetts has cost them their razor-thin advantage." 

The Boston Globe adds, "Democrats were sharply divided over what to do. Some vowed to press on. But a number of others rejected the notion of using parliamentary maneuvers or having the House quickly pass the Senate bill, saying it was time to step back and reevaluate their approach." But: "Failure to enact a health care bill, which the president made his top domestic priority and Congress spent a year pursuing, could be a political disaster of epic proportions for Democrats, casting serious doubt on their ability to govern and further jeopardizing their political position heading into this year's elections."

The liberal group PCCC wants "reconciliation" used to pass health reform.

Our take on the latest NBC/WSJ poll: "When Barack Obama entered office, the expectations that he and others set for his presidency couldn't have been higher. Obama announced that he was embarking on an ambitious agenda -- to create new jobs, to reform the nation's health care system, to lessen the world's nuclear threats and to curb partisan bickering. 'We have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord,' he said in his inaugural address. 'On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn-out dogmas that for far too long have strangled our politics.'"

"But as Obama wraps up his first full year in office, the American public has grown increasingly skeptical over his promises to change Washington and his 'yes-we-can' agenda, according to the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll. A plurality of Americans believe his health care overhaul is a bad idea; fewer than one in five are satisfied with the economy; just 30 percent give him good marks on changing business as usual in Washington; and a majority think he has accomplished 'very little' or 'only some' of his goals over the past 12 months." 

Here's the Wall Street Journal's take: "As Barack Obama enters his second year in office amid an enduring economic downturn, voters are less optimistic about his ability to succeed and no longer clearly favor keeping the Democrats in control of Congress… The trends point to an increasingly difficult political climate for President Obama as he hopes to push his domestic agenda beyond health care this year and preserve his party's majorities in the House and Senate. The severity of that climate, in fact, was promptly underscored by Democrats' surprising loss of a Senate seat in Massachusetts Tuesday. The seat of the late Edward Kennedy went to a conservative Republican, Scott Brown, in one of the nation's bluest states." 

The Republican Party's strategy going forward: "House Minority Whip Eric Cantor of Virginia, one of 10 leaders who attended a strategy session in Annapolis, Md., this week, said the party will attack Democrats relentlessly for the stimulus, health care and cap-and-trade bills," Politico writes. "Internally, Republicans call it the '80-20 strategy,' which, loosely interpreted, means spending 80 percent of the time whacking Democrats and the remainder talking up their own ideas … Cantor conceded that the public is far from thrilled with the GOP -- in fact, the party's image is worse than the Democrats' -- but he argues that Republicans will benefit most from the public loathing of Washington. 'I don't think that we Republicans can even remember what it feels like to have wind at our back,' Cantor said. 'We can win back the majority.'"

ARKANSAS: Add retired Gen. Wesley Clark (D) to the list of those considering a run for departing Rep. Vic Snyder's House seat. 

CALIFORNIA: "Republican California gubernatorial hopeful Steve Poizner says he's won the backing of former California Gov. George Deukmejian," one of three living California governors, the Washington Examiner reports.

DELAWARE: The Washington Post's Chris Cilizza sheds light on expected Senate candidate Beau Biden's delay in entering the race: "Democrats have acknowledged privately that Biden's timetable to make up his mind about the race has been seriously affected by his work on widespread allegations of pedophilia against a Delaware pediatrician. The case, which broke just before Christmas, is consuming huge amounts of Biden's time. The problem with further delay for Biden -- and Senate Democrats -- is twofold. First, it allows Rep. Mike Castle (R), who entered the race in October, time to collect cash; he raised $1.1 million in the initial quarter of 2009 and ended the year with $1.7 million in the bank. Second, the longer Biden waits -- no matter the reason -- the more uncertainty enters the process, particularly given the negative political environment for Democrats, as evidenced by the turn of events in the Senate special election in Massachusetts."

LOUISIANA: "Louisiana Secretary of State Jay Dardenne (R) on Tuesday announced that he will not challenge Sen. David Vitter (R) for the Republican Senate nomination this fall, ending months of speculation about the possibility of a high profile GOP primary in the Bayou State," CQ Politics reports. The popular Dardenne was being closely watched as a potential primary challenger to Vitter and as recently as early December he told local news outlets that he was considering polling in the race. … With the possibility of a serious GOP challenge off the table Vitter won't have to worry about bleeding away resources in the primary before his general election matchup against Rep. Charlie Melancon (D)."

TEXAS: "Contending that Gov. Rick Perry has used the state as his personal playground, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison unveiled a government reform plan Monday that includes term limits for Texas governors and restrictions for lobbyists," the Dallas Morning News writes. "In announcing her proposal, Hutchison said Perry, the longest-serving governor in Texas history, had been in office too long. 'If there's anything Texans don't like, it's one person having too much power,' Hutchison said during a news conference at Dallas Love Field."

From NBC's Mark Murray
While we've discussed what it means that Democrats will be at 59 Senate votes once Scott Brown (R) is seated -- especially when it comes to health care -- it's worth pointing out that Democrats actually began the year at 58 Senate votes (before Arlen Specter switched parties) and then stood at 59 votes (before Al Franken finally was seated).

Indeed, as the Washington Post's Ezra Klein notes, 59 is the second-largest Senate majority since the 1970s (after Watergate).

AP reports that Scott Brown has won the race.

MSNBC's Norah O'Donnell reports that two Democratic sources tell her Martha Coakley has conceded.

Check back here for Massachusetts election results:

From NBC's Luke Russert
Powerful Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee Henry Waxman (D-CA) does not support moving healthcare reform bill quickly if Martha Coakley loses.

"I don't think it's a good idea for us to do that," Waxman said. "He ought to be seated and we'll see where we go -- if he wins!"

But other Democrats think differently. Will a Brown victory tonight determine the fate of healthcare reform?

"Absolutely. Absolutely I am sure," Rep. Lacy Clay (D-MO) said. "If we don't win we better have a 'Plan B,' because we're going to need to be ready to move quickly."

On the race tonight, Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-MA) (of Brockton and South Boston), who toyed with an idea of a Senate run on Coakley's chances tonight:

"It doesn't look good," Lynch said. "In my district, I saw a lot of home made signs for Brown -- that wasn't a good sign for Coakley. The people of Massachusetts are sending us a message that they want us to listen. Most people acknowledge that there is a problem with health care, but they seem to be saying look it's not all broken, how about you folks work on fixing the parts that are broken instead of changing everything for everybody all at once. That's got people panicked."

Lynch, though, said that the Senate health-care bill won't fly with the House.

"I think a lot of the reform has been stripped out of that Senate bill," he said, "and I think for a lot of the folks over here, it would be hard to support that bill. If comes down to the Senate bill or nothing, I think we are going to end up with nothing. I don't hear a lot of support on our side for that bill. Folks are telling me I should vote yes and fix it later. You wouldn't buy a car for a $1 trillion and have somebody tell you 'It won't run but we'll fix it later.' You know?"

From NBC's Mark Murray

Here's our write-up of the latest NBC/WSJ poll:

WASHINGTON - When Barack Obama entered office, the expectations that he and others set for his presidency couldn't have been higher.

Obama announced that he was embarking on an ambitious agenda — to create new jobs, to reform the nation's health care system, to lessen the world's nuclear threats and to curb partisan bickering.

"We have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord," he said in his inaugural address. "On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn-out dogmas that for far too long have strangled our politics."

But as Obama wraps up his first full year in office, the American public has grown increasingly skeptical over his promises to change Washington and his "yes-we-can" agenda, according to the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll.

A plurality of Americans believe his health care overhaul is a bad idea; fewer than one in five are satisfied with the economy; just 30 percent give him good marks on changing business as usual in Washington; and a majority think he has accomplished "very little" or "only some" of his goals over the past 12 months.

"What Americans wanted and expected was a better economy, a reduced presence in Iraq and a fundamental change in the way Washington does business," said Democratic pollster Peter D. Hart, who conducted the survey with GOP pollster Bill McInturff.

"This hasn't happened. And not surprisingly, the president has suffered."

Still, the message of hope that Obama campaigned on hasn't necessarily evaporated. Nearly four in 10 believe that he will be a successful president, and a nearly identical number of Americans say it's too early to make a judgment about his presidency.

Indeed, as Obama also declared at his inaugural, the country's challenges wouldn't be solved in a year. "They are serious, and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time."

Click here for the rest of the article.

From NBC's Ali Weinberg
The lines are snaking around the block at polling stations around the Bay State, as political junkies nationwide turn their attention to a once-certain Democratic victory that transformed in less than two weeks into a test of grassroots conservative will against a deep-rooted Democratic voting tradition. Bloggers on both sides of the aisle comment on the voter turnout they're seeing on the ground, and some are already looking ahead, making predictions about the fate of health care and national party politics in the event of an upset of historical proportions.

NRO's Jim Geraghty shares some notes from the ground at his blog "The Campaign Spot." The dispatches suggest that a Democrat/GOP voter enthusiasm gap and weather conditions are contributing to a much different Election Day scene than during the presidential election in November 2008. From one voter in Worcester County: "I spoke to a woman I know who was standing on West Street in the snow holding a Brown sign with three other Brown supporters (I didn't see a single Coakley supporter standing in the snow as of 9:30 this morning).  She says she's been out since seven this morning and that she'd estimate shows of support (honking horns, etc.) from the passing cars to be in the 60 to 70% range.  Great if true." From another in Lowell: "When I voted this morning, I saw a dozen signs outside the polls in support of Scott Brown. I did not see a single sign for Martha. I have received 2 to 5 phone calls a day for a week now in support of Scott Brown. I have yet to receive a single phone call for Martha. I have received 1-2 glossy mailers a day for a week now in support of Scott Brown." And in Boston: "This morning at around 7:30 my wife and I were the only two voters at the polling station." 

AMERICAblog's Joe Sudbay gleans a very different message from the view on the ground, saying Scott Brown's late success has mobilized Democrats to come out in droves: "Most people in Massachusetts just weren't paying attention to politics over the holidays. Plus, Mass. never has elections at this time of year. Now at least, people know, which means turnout will be higher than expected just a couple days ago. And, Democrats are actually fired up. A friend mentioned he saw Rep. Ed Markey on local news yesterday thanking Scott Brown for uniting the Mass. Dem Party like never before. Democrats have been shaken out of their complacency… All this added attention could and should help Coakley. I'm wondering if this election could be like the Democratic primary in New Hampshire two years ago when everyone thought Obama would win -- as all the polls predicted, but Clinton prevailed."

Red State's Dan Perrin responds to a post by The New Republic's Jonathan Cohn, who wrote yesterday that centrist Senate Democrats wary of voting again for a final health care bill, in the case of a Coakley loss, should pick the lesser of two evils and vote yea: "I know, I know--it's politics, not policy, that would determine how Congress reacts to a Coakley loss. But Democrats from both ideological sides ought to consider whether voting against it now really spares them political blow-back. All of them have already voted for a health care bill. And that means they can expect one of the following two advertisements this fall: Candidate X is an out-of-touch liberal who voted for the horrible health care reform bill that passed [or] Candidate X is an out-of-touch liberal who voted for the horrible health care reform bill that almost passed."

Erickson argues that voting against the bill the second time is a prime opportunity to demonstrate sensitivity to voters' concerns: "Cohn says that if you voted for the bill the first time on the floor you should vote for it again because if you vote no you will still get criticized for it. Uh, huh. This line of argument willfully ignores the fact that the public (conservatives, liberals and independent voters HATE this bill) and being able to say, "I voted for it the first time, and oh boy, did I ever hear from my voters. I LISTENED and voted against it at the earliest possible moment." This will help deflate voters concerns, as opposed to enrage an already angry electorate, which Cohn advocates.

He is grasping at straws trying to tell Dem Representatives that voting for something the public and swing voters hate will cause you less political damage than if you vote against what they hate. It shows an unbelievable naivety with regard to health care politics, specifically, and electoral politics generally."

Writing at conservative blog Red Mass Group, Garrett Quinn writes of the paradigm shift a Scott Brown victory -- or even close defeat -- would bring in the state's political hierarchy down the ballot: "The natural progression of entrenched incumbents up the political ladder will be, if only briefly, halted. Coakley is doomed either way because she will face a primary challenger for AG if she loses or she will face a primary challenger if she wins in 2012… A Brown victory will lead to a clamoring of local Republican selectman, school committee members, and others throwing their hats in the ring for state representative and state senate races. It will put the fear of God in elected incumbents the way the 1990 deluge did.  Whether it will lead to a string of victories in November remains to be seen but it will certainly lead to more competitive races down the ballot. Even if Brown loses it has infused the local conservative movement…[in] some ways the Republicans have already won without actually winning."

Red Mass Group and its liberal counterpart Blue Mass Group have a bet: if Joe Kennedy wins the race, they will merge the two blogs.

From NBC's Domenico Montanaro
Start the clock. And mark Jan. 29th on your calendars for Democrats to have a chance at a cloture vote on health care -- if Republican Scott Brown defeats Democrat Martha Coakley in today's Massachusetts special election.

That's the earliest the winner of today's election is likely to be seated, according to the Massachusetts Secretary of State's office.

Military and overseas ballots have to be received by the state 10 calendar days after today's special election -- Jan. 29, according to Brian McNiff, spokesman for Massachusetts Secretary of State William Galvin.

Municipalities then have an additional five days to send in results, giving Democrats, theoretically, until Feb. 3. But that's not likely because this is not a complicated election, McNiff said.

"There's only one contest on this ballot," McNiff said, so municipalities should be able to count all the votes and have everything in closer to the 10-day deadline than later, he said.

After the results are sent back to the Secretary of State's office, then the results are voted on by a board, and then the certification is signed by the governor.

Remember that we learned during the Blago-Burris appointment escapade that the Senate requires both the signature of the governor and the Secretary of State in order to seat an incoming senator.

Massachusetts Rep. Niki Tsongas, however, was seated before certification, but that was because the House requested that the state say who the winner was based on unofficial results and then accepted that as enough, McNiff said.

That's not the case with the Senate, however, McNiff said. If the Senate were to ask for that, though, he added, "then they'd get it."

Ted Kennedy was seated just one day after he won election in 1962 -- not 10 or 15 days, a point Republicans have reiterated.

True, McNiff said, but that's because the rules have changed since then. In 1962, the former Sen. Ben Smith RESIGNED after Kennedy was elected, and Kennedy was then APPOINTED by the governor. But, McNiff said, if Kennedy's replacement, Paul Kirk, resigned, that would trigger a special election. (Even though Democrats had changed the law to allow Gov. Deval Patrick to appoint Kirk, McNiff said it was written narrowly to allow for Kirk to serve only until this special election.)

In the Senate, Majority Leader Harry Reid dictates the agenda. His spokesman, Jim Manley, said it is also Reid's office's understanding that Massachusetts takes 10 to 15 days to certify, and after that, a new U.S. Senator will be seated.

"When there is a certified winner in Massachusetts," Manley said, "the Senate has received appropriate papers, and the Vice President is available, the successor to Senators Kennedy and Kirk will be sworn in."

From NBC's Mark Murray
As the political world waits on the returns from the special Senate election in Massachusetts, one of the big issues in the race -- the health care debate -- has increasingly become a liability for the Obama White House and the Democratic Party, according to the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll.

In the survey, only 33 percent say President Obama's health-reform effort is a good idea, versus 46 percent who consider it a bad idea.

That result is essentially unchanged from last month's poll. However, the number saying that Obama's health plan is a bad idea has increased 20 percentage points since April, when the public supported the reform effort by a 33-26 percent margin.

The NBC/WSJ poll was conducted Jan. 10-14, and it has an overall margin of error of plus-minus 3.1 percentage points.

The full survey comes out later this afternoon.  

From NBC's Luke Russert
CAPITOL HILL -- House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) says Democrats can pass health reform in the next 15 days.

(As we reported, Democrats could have between 10 and 15 days to try to get a cloture vote on health care.)

Hoyer further called the Senate bill "better than nothing."

"I think moving ahead is essential if we are going to make sure every American is going to have access to quality affordable healthcare," Hoyer said, "and if we as a nation are going to be able to afford the healthcare system that is increasingly driving people off the rolls and making it tougher for governments at the state level and federal level to have dollars to spend on other activities…I think the Senate bill is clearly better than nothing, so we'll see."

On Martha Coakley, Hoyer said, "I'm not going to anticipate, speculate or hypothesize on what may or may not happen in Massachusetts today. I am very hopeful and my expectation is that Attorney General Coakley will be elected to the United States Senate. The reason I am hopeful about that is that I believe on balance the policies that she supports are policies that are supported by the voters of Massachusetts. ...

"Obviously special elections are a different breed as you are not entirely sure who is going to show up at the polls but I'm not going to speculate on that until it happens. ...

"Again, I don't want to speculate on that, because we are not there on making that decision. We are making progress on figuring on the differences between the Senate and the House, the fact is that the our objective is to get agreement and not to take the Senate bill or the House bill, it's to get an agreement and we are working on that."

Asked what the tight race says about the Democratic agenda, Hoyer said, "I don't need the Massachusetts race to tell me the psyche of the American people, I just need to go to the grocery store, people are angry, fearful and very concerned about where the economy is…they know that things aren't what they ought to be. ... 

"We brought change; it hasn't affected on the ground -- change as quickly all of us would have liked.

"We are unpopular because people don't feel good and we are the leaders in Congress and they expect us to do something, we've been trying to do something about it, I think we are making success, 50% increase in value of stock holdings is progress, until the numbers turn around and there is more stability people are going to be angry."

From MSNBC's Norah O'Donnell
Some early tidbits from the campaign about turnout....

According to a top Brown campaign adviser, there are "longer lines outside Boston than inside. Not good sign for Coakley. Scott's voters highly motivated."

A Democratic source says get-out-the-vote efforts have been good for Coakley, but adds, "I don't know if the machine gets you 10 points."

More updates later...

It's Election Day in Massachusetts… Will the last day of Obama's first full year in office end on a sour note for the Democrats?... The Democratic blame game has already kicked into full gear… How do Democrats start performing better with independents?... A GOP lesson learned in the Coakley-Brown contest -- it's a good thing to be an outsider… Polls close in Massachusetts at 8:00 pm ET… David Brooks sees Obama as a "pragmatic Leviathan"… And Ted Strickland officially launches his re-election campaign.

From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, Domenico Montanaro, and Ali Weinberg
*** Tough end of the year? Today is officially the last day of President Obama's first full year in office. And there's the very real possibility that the year ends on a very sour note for the White House if Scott Brown (R) defeats Martha Coakley (D) in today's special Senate election in Massachusetts -- which would end the Democrats' filibuster-proof majority in the Senate, jeopardize health care's chances for passage, and result in the ultimate insult of a Republican winning the seat held by Jack and Ted Kennedy. Of course, Coakley could surprise the Beltway establishment and pull off the victory tonight; remember that it was almost two years ago to the day when another female candidate, Hillary Clinton, stunned us all in winning in another New England state, New Hampshire. Then again, Martha Coakley ain't Hillary Clinton…

*** The blame game: Win or lose, the Democratic blame game has already kicked into full gear, and there's plenty to go around. It starts with Coakley and EMILY's List, who clearly weren't ready to run a campaign in a challenging environment. Here's one email we received from a Democratic operative who is more than familiar with Massachusetts politics: "A different Democratic nominee and we're not having this discussion. There's no ideological playbook that urges candidates to see a primary victory as a coronation or go dark, literally disappearing from public view and staying off the air for close to 10 days just when voters were starting to focus." Also, the unpopularity of the Democratic leadership in Massachusetts -- it wasn't Obama in those Brown ads, but Deval Patrick -- has been a factor, as has the overall political environment. In short, all Democrats would own a Coakley loss. A good candidate/campaign could survive in a political environment like this. And a bad candidate/campaign wins if everything was going swimmingly for local and national Democrats.

*** So how would Obama own a loss? It pains the White House to accept a defeat here, since they believe defeat was unavoidable (see: List, EMILY's). That said, if Coakley loses, this would be the third major election in a row (New Jersey, Virginia, Massachusetts) where the Democratic candidate has lost the very independent voters who put Democrats and Obama in victory lane in both 2006 and 2008. If the Democrats and the White House don't have a serious conversation about how they can gain credibility back with independents, they are fooling themselves. Perhaps they start with today's 11:30 am ET meeting at the White House with retiring GOP Sen. George Voinovich, who could be a potential vote on several issues…

*** Republican lessons to learn: Here's one thing Republicans can take away from this race: It's good to be an outsider. If you'll recall, just before the NY-23 special, we remarked that what made Doug Hoffman the perfect potential candidate -- and we stress the word potential, because Hoffman ended up losing -- was that he wasn't burdened with the GOP brand. He was running as a conservative, but NOT on the Republican ticket. And we wondered if that was the perfect way for a conservative candidate to both excite the conservative base and woo independents. In essence, Scott Brown was able to do something similar to Hoffman with one extra advantage: Unlike Hoffman, Brown had a personality. We now see the GOP path to victory right now in this toxic political environment for the establishment. Not only run as outsiders but actually be an outsider. It was easy for Brown since he had never had a Washington address. Of course, this isn't going to be as easy for a Roy Blunt in Missouri or a Rob Portman in Ohio or, as we're learning in Florida, a Charlie Crist.

*** What you need to know: Polls in Massachusetts open no later than 7:00 am ET, and they close at 8:00 pm ET… The state has never elected a female as U.S. senator or governor… A Republican hasn't held a U.S. Senate seat in the state since Edward Brooke in 1979, and the GOP hasn't held this particular seat since Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. in 1953… The winner will face re-election in 2012, when this seat's term expires… And a Gallup analysis shows that, in 2009, 49% of the state residents identified themselves as independents, 35% said they were Democrats, and 13% said they were Republicans. 

*** The Pragmatic Leviathan: As mentioned above, today is the final day of Obama's first full year in office, and we have a new NBC/WSJ poll coming out beginning at 6:30 pm ET that measures the president's first year. And the New York Times' David Brooks takes a stab at the White House's current troubles. While praising what he sees as Obama's pragmatism and thoughtfulness, Brooks writes that Obama has become a "voracious" pragmatist. "Driven by circumstances and self-confidence, the president has made himself the star performer in the national drama. He has been ubiquitous, appearing everywhere, trying to overhaul most sectors of national life: finance, health, energy, automobiles and transportation, housing, and education, among others. He is no ideologue, but over the past year he has come to seem like the sovereign on the cover of 'Leviathan' -- the brain of the nation to which all the cells in the body and the nervous system must report and defer." 

*** Obama's day: At 10:00 am ET, President Obama and Education Secretary Duncan hold a discussion at Graham Road Elementary School in Virginia with 6th Grade students. Then, 25 minutes later, the president delivers remarks on his "Race to the Top" education initiative. 

*** More Midterm news: In Ohio today, Ted Strickland announces his lieutenant governor running mate and officially kicks off his campaign… And in Texas, the Texas Tribune is reporting that the top GOP and Democratic candidates for governor collected a combined $35 million in donations and loans last year.

Countdown to IL primary: 14 days
Countdown to TX primary: 42 days
Countdown to Election Day 2010: 287 days

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The Boston Globe previewing today's election: "From Pittsfield to Framingham, North Andover to Dorchester, the candidates for US Senate made a last dash across the state yesterday, issuing their final pitches to voters ahead of a special election today that has drawn the eyes of the nation."
 
More: "Massachusetts came to exemplify the nation's political divide in recent weeks, as Brown caught fire with voters -- including many independents - who are either disenchanted with Democratic leadership nationally or not sold on the Democratic nominee. Activists from the Tea Party Movement flocked to the state. Obama rallied Coakley supporters by saying Massachusetts had the power to determine the nation's course. And voters were besieged with TV ads, robocalls, fliers, and door-knockers urging them to vote for one candidate - or, often, simply against the other. The tense race became downright ugly in its final days." 
 
The Washington Post: "Democrat Martha Coakley's struggle to stave off a potentially devastating defeat in Tuesday's special Senate election in Massachusetts marks a critical turning point in the year-long debate about health-care reform. Regardless of the outcome of the race, the two parties appeared headed toward a monumental clash over the issue in the coming midterm elections."

The Globe's Vennochi has some tough words for Brown: Scott Brown is running for U.S. Senate as a pleasant guy in a pickup truck. But a mean spirit drives some of his campaign… Coakley is accountable for her record as a prosecutor - and for her campaign mistakes. But her opponent should also be accountable for the unpleasant rhetoric that some of his supporters are embracing in the last hours of this hard-fought campaign.
 
And here's some of it: "Messages posted on Coakley's campaign Facebook include these vicious sentiments: 'Scott Brown should rape Martha Coakley and then deny her emergency contraception'. 'Martha Coakley getting raped would complete my life.' 'Abortion is wrong. Kill her.' After one message that states 'Looking forward to the rally Friday, Martha,' a woman named Amelia Bosley writes: 'Hope she gets shot.' Imagine putting your name to that in the name of political change." 
 
The Globe's Cullen looks at a big problem for Coakley -- her inability to mobilize minority voters. "Fourteen months ago, there was a buzz on Blue Hill Ave. and the streets that run off it like caterpillar legs. This is the heart of the biggest minority community in the state, and the energy generated by the prospect of Barack Obama becoming president was palpable. Yesterday, I drove the length of Blue Hill Ave. and counted exactly two Martha Coakley signs… If Martha Coakley loses today, it won't be because she didn't put up enough signs on Blue Hill Ave. It'll be because she failed to convince enough of the people who put up the Obama signs on Blue Hill Ave. and a lot of other avenues across Massachusetts that Obama's ability to get anything done depends on her winning the election." One of the places where the sign was put up was in a laundromat, where the man behind the counter said he knew absolutely nothing about Coakley and that he wasn't sure he was going to vote. And many of the customers, he noted, are Haitian and aren't focused on the special election. 

The New York Post puts the Massachusetts special election on its cover: "Critical Mass." and paints a loss as "bad for O." 
 
Stu Rothenberg goes so far as to liken a potential Democratic loss in Massachusetts to the stock market collapse that led to the Great Depression: "If you are looking for an analogy for a Republican victory in Massachusetts, the best one for Democrats may well be the stock market crash of 1929. Come Tuesday night, you could have Democrats jumping out windows and off roofs."

"President Obama will deliver his State of the Union address to Congress at 9 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 27," the New York Daily News writes. "As customary, the White House has asked all the major television networks to carry the speech live. But there was no immediate answer from Fox on whether it would preempt the hugely popular 'American Idol' that night."

President Obama sent his first Tweet. "Obama used the [American Red Cross'] page to tweet: 'President Obama and the First Lady are here visiting our disaster operation center right now.' The next tweet read, 'President Obama pushed the button on the last tweet. It was his first ever tweet!' It was the first time that the president who made history using social media during the 2008 election had personally used the technology." That, despite there having already been a Barack Obama to follow on Twitter -- which apparently was not run by the president, but staff.

"Congressional Democrats are considering passing healthcare reform before the winner of the Massachusetts special election is seated in the upper chamber, Democratic sources say," The Hill reports. A senior Democratic aide said, "That would be an option." The aide also "downplayed an alternative scenario wherein the House would pass the Senate-approved healthcare bill without changes… Leaders will make a final decision when results of the election are known, but sources close to the Democratic leadership in both chambers say a speedy vote is the best option. Rushing the final bill through the Senate before Brown could take a seat would be difficult.
 
More: "The president and Democratic leaders must reach an agreement, receive a cost analysis from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and give lawmakers and the public 72 hours to review the final language. Finally, they must pass the bill through the House and wade through the final Republican procedural objections in the Senate before clearing the bill to President Barack Obama. This would be complicated enough in normal circumstances, but if Brown wins, they would have to do it within a span of seven to 15 days."

"Even as Democratic leaders pondered contingencies [in the wake of today's election], the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, insisted that the legislation would move forward, though she acknowledged that Tuesday's results could force a tactical shift. 'Certainly the dynamic will change depending on what happens in Massachusetts," Ms. Pelosi told reporters in California on Monday. 'Just the question of how we would proceed. But it doesn't mean we won't have a health care bill.'"  More Pelosi: "'Let's remove all doubt,' she added. 'We will have health care one way or another.'"

HAWAII: The Hill reports on a new Mason-Dixon poll showing former Rep. Ed Case (D) with an early lead [37%] in the "yet-to-be-declared special election for Rep. Neil Abercrombie's (D) seat."

MAINE: "The roster of gubernatorial hopefuls has grown to 23," including the former chief of staff to Senator Olympia Snowe, the Bangor Daily News reported over the weekend. "For those still keeping count, the breakdown is now seven Republicans, eight Democrats, one Green Independent and seven politically unaffiliated or "unenrolled" candidates."

MINNESOTA: The Minneapolis Star-Tribune notes how wide open the gubernatorial race is now that Norm Coleman has opted not to run. "Coleman's long-awaited decision, on one hand, clarifies some elements of the long-simmering governor's race and, on the other, unsettles others. Even DFL Party Chair Brian Melendez had mixed feelings about Coleman's political departure."

NEW YORK: Is this quote, from a 2006 debate, going to haunt Harold Ford in his New York Senate bid? "A questioner during a 2006 debate asked Ford about his record, ticking off several of his conservative views and votes, including his support for school prayer and a constitutional amendment to define marriage as a union between a man and a woman. 'I know one thing,' Ford said at the time, 'it doesn't describe a liberal.'"  

"In his toughest comments to date, Harold Ford cast Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand Monday as a 'weak' puppet of the state's political establishment who has failed to connect with voters after a year in office," the New York Daily News writes. He said: "There is no doubt that Sen. Gillibrand is weak in many places across the city and the state. At best, there is interest in hearing an alternative." 
 
And then this: "The Rev. Al Sharpton gave potential Senate hopeful Harold Ford Jr. a boost yesterday, slotting him to speak before Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand at a Martin Luther King Day celebration -- and then leaving with him for a Westchester event while the senator remained on the dais," The New York Post writes. "The eye-catching moves came as Ford, a Tennessee transplant, is deciding whether to run."

And this forming CW: "Many New York Democratic insiders are privately speculating that if the Democrats face a Martha Coakley loss -- or near-loss -- in Massachusetts to GOPer Scott Brown in tomorrow's senate election, it increases the odds of a Harold Ford Jr. candidacy," the New York Post's Haberman writes. "The logic, several longtime Democratic strategists and insiders said, is that if Coakley loses such a blue state -- and the seat held by Ted Kennedy, one of the senate's most liberal members, for nearly 50 years -- then it spells trouble for other Dem incumbents in the fall." 

Gillibrand leads Ford in a new Siena Research Institute poll out Monday 41%-17%. But barely cracking 40% may not be the best sign for the senator.

TEXAS: "The top candidates in the Texas governor's race collected more than $35 million in campaign donations and loans last year," the Texas Tribune reports, taking a look at data compiled from all the candidates' campaign receipts after Fridays' year-end filings with the Texas Ethics Commission. Top Republican candidates Gov. Rick Perry and Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison raised a combined $24 million in 2009, with Hutchison spending $8.2 million and Perry spending $6 million.

From NBC's Athena Jones
WASHINGTON -- During an event to mark the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday, President Obama said the Emancipation Proclamation -- the 1863 document that marked the beginning of the process to free the slaves -- would be on loan to the White House. It is being displayed in the Oval Office. (PHOTO HERE.)

This copy of the document is one of the authorized copies that was made in 1864, according to the White House press office. The original -- signed Jan. 1, 1863 -- is in the National Archives. This one may hang in the Oval for six months after which it will be placed in the Lincoln Bedroom where the original was signed.

The president used today's conversation in the Roosevelt Room with a group of elderly civil rights activists and young people to talk about the importance of celebrating public service and getting out of one's comfort zone.

"I was very pleased to hear from Taylor Branch, author of one of the definitive biographies of the civil rights movement and Dr. King," the president told the group gathered around the table. "He shared, I thought, a really interesting idea, which is that not only is Dr. King's birthday a time to celebrate service, to reflect and study on how we had helped to perfect our union, but that it should be a day in which each of us individually also try to stretch out of our comfort zones and try to do something for others and to reach out and learn about things that maybe we've shied away from -- because part of what the civil rights movement was all about was changing people's hearts and minds and breaking out of old customs and old habits."

President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on Jan. 1, 1863 (a preliminary version was written in September of the previous year, after the Union victory at Antietam). The document read "that all persons held as slaves" within the rebellious states "are, and henceforward shall be free."

Lincoln called emancipation "an act of justice." But according to the National Archives and Records Administration, the document was limited in numerous ways. For instance, it only applied to states that had seceded from the Union; it exempted parts of the Confederacy that had already come under Northern control and the freedom it promised depended on ultimate victory by Union forces. Still the Proclamation is seen as an important milestone on the path to ending slavery. 

From NBC's Ali Weinberg
Oh, the weather in Massachusetts is frightful, which is nothing but delightful to conservative bloggers who claim that climate will dissuade unenthusiastic voters -- namely, Democrats uninspired by Attorney General Martha Coakley's campaign -- from heading to the polls. Just as, a few weeks ago, conservative bloggers were urging readers to vote for the then-underdog Scott Brown, liberal bloggers are now finding themselves imploring followers to "GOTV." Plus, the very-real prospect of a Brown victory has many liberal bloggers speculating on the future of health care reform without a 60-vote majority in the Senate.

NRO's Jim Geraghty shares an email from a reader giddy over the poor road conditions in the state: "The weather this morning in eastern Massachusetts is brutal. Cold rain, gale-force winds. Wish the election were today! And guess what I saw while driving out to get some bagels? Twenty Brown supporters at an intersection, braving the elements, trying to hold onto their signs." 

Red State's Erick Erickson also shares some on-the-ground info with readers. He links to Watchdog.org, a blog of independent journalists who track state and local governments, which features a video of a phone bank, apparently in the offices of the Massachusetts Teachers Association around 10:20 this morning -- completely empty. Erickson asks, "Would you want to get out in the snow to make calls for a woman who thinks Curt Schilling is a Yankee? I didn't think so."

At the liberal blog Daily Kos, Laura Clawson points to the importance of GOTV, or Get Out the Vote -- the Daily Rundown's 'Washington Speak' word of the day. Pointing to another 2000 Massachusetts Senate poll, this one showing Martha Coakley tied at 48% with Scott Brown, Clawson writes, "As we keep saying, this one comes down to GOTV. Personal contact is by far the most important thing -- if you know people in Massachusetts who could be persuaded to vote for Coakley, do whatever it takes to persuade them."

As First Read pointed out this morning, the option of having the Senate simply pass the House health care bill to avoid a filibuster-vulnerable vote is becoming increasingly viable. The New Republic's Jonathan Cohn, writing at the magazine's health care blog The Treatment, calls that maneuver "the slightly preferred option," above trying to get Olympia Snowe back on board or having both houses pass the bill before Scott Brown assumes his seat (assuming he wins). "It would also be perfectly legitimate: When a chamber votes to pass a bill, as the Senate did when it passed health care reform on Christmas Eve, it's effectively offering to make that bill a law, pending the other chamber's approval. And that offer is good through the end of the Congress, even if the chamber's membership changes," Cohn adds. 

The American Prospect's Robert Kuttner writes a column at The Huffington Post lamenting health care's transformation from "a reform that was going to make Obama ten feet tall into a poison pill for Democratic senators," claiming that White House leadership drew three faulty lessons "from the defeat of Clinton care… First, get it done early (Clinton's task force had dithered.) Second, leave the details to Congress (Clinton had presented Congress with a fully-baked cake.) Third, don't get on the wrong side of the insurance and drug industries (The insurers' fictitious couple, Harry and Louise, had cleaned Clinton's clock.)."

Kuttner goes on to note that, regardless of whether Coakley retains or loses the Democrats' 60th Senate vote, health care will dominate the agenda to the detriment of everything else on the docket: "Suppose Coakley loses. Obama and the House leadership may then decide that their one shot to salvage health reform after all this effort is for the House to just pass the Senate-approved bill and send it to the president's desk. They can fix its deficiencies later. This is an easy parliamentary move. But the bill passed the House by only five votes… a Coakley loss would make the bill that much more politically toxic." Conversely, Kuttenr writes, Coakley wins and "the Democrats have a near death experience." Either way, he concludes, "the Massachusetts surprise should be a wake-up call of the most fundamental kind. Obama needs to stop playing inside games with bankers and insurance lobbyists, and start being a fighter for regular Americans. Otherwise, he can kiss it all goodbye."

From NBC's Domenico Montanaro
Here's something we stumbled on today... Germans made a way out there musical of Obama and the 08 election, called: "Hope: The Obama Musical Story." It premiered yesterday. (Hat tip: Talking Points Memo)

Jeremiah Wright, Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin all make an appearance. (And Hillary and Palin are apparently played by the same actress.)

From NBC's Mark Murray
The Coakley campaign has released a new 30-second TV ad featuring footage of President Obama campaigning for Coakley yesterday.

[Youtube:FNYhkeCnKy0]

From NBC's Mark Murray
A year into the presidency of the nation's first African-American president, a majority of Americans (63%) say that race relations in this country have stayed the same, according to a new NBC/MSNBC/WSJ poll. Only 20% believe they've gotten better, and 15% believe they've gotten worse.

That's a change from our Jan. 2009 NBC/WSJ poll, when a plurality (45%) said Barack Obama's election improved race relations, when 39% said it didn't change things, and when 13% said it made race relations worse.

"Everything is back to where it was -- if you're white or African American or Hispanic," said Democratic pollster Peter D. Hart, who conducted the survey with Republican pollster Bill McInturff. "The euphoria has disappeared."

The full NBC/WSJ poll will be released tomorrow night beginning at 6:30 pm ET. But these numbers on race are being unveiled now, pegged to today's Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, as well as tonight's MSNBC special program "Obama's America -- 2010 and beyond," hosted by MSNBC's Chris Matthews.

In another question, 72% said that race relations are good in the United States, which is up considerably from 2007 (when 58% said that) and 1995 (when only 34% said that).

But there's a racial divide here: While 72% of whites now say that race relations are good, a slightly smaller percentage of African Americans -- 64% -- say the same thing.

On affirmative action, 49% believe that it is needed to counteract past discrimination against minorities, versus 43% who think affirmative action programs have gone too far. Not surprisingly, African Americans (81%) and Hispanics (69%) support affirmative action more than whites (41%) do.

The poll was conducted Jan. 10-14, and it has an overall margin of error of plus-minus 3.1%. 

What happens to health care if Coakley loses?... Do House Democrats vote for the Senate bill?... And do Obama and the Dems hit the re-set button?… New NBC/MSNBC/WSJ poll numbers on race… Yesterday's overlooked speech by Obama… And Norm Coleman decides against a gubernatorial bid.

From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, Domenico Montanaro, and Ali Weinberg
*** If Coakley loses? If Martha Coakley (D) loses in tomorrow's special election in Massachusetts -- and it's more than a possibility at this point -- then what happens to health care? There are some Plan Bs for the Democrats, but all of them have risks. One, they could hope to delay Scott Brown's (R) being seated in the Senate, especially if the race is close, but this move would have disastrous P.R. consequences for the White House and Democrats in control of Congress (think Franken-Coleman, but on steroids). Two, they could try to persuade Olympia Snowe (R) to be their 60th vote, but if she didn't vote for the legislation in December, why would she vote for it now? (And what Harry Reid said about her in the New York Times magazine probably doesn't help, either.) Third, they could use budget reconciliation to pass it without 60 votes, but as we've written before, you're putting health care's fortunes in the hands of the Senate parliamentarian, who could strike out key sections of bill because they aren't germane to the budget. And fourth, you have the House pass the Senate bill, but we know that many House Democrats weren't fans of the Senate's work.

*** I'll take what's behind Door Number 4… : Still, Door Number 4 seems to be gaining the most traction at this point. So how can Democrats do this? Well, the Senate passed their bill with a House number -- H.R. 3590. So because it has a House number, it's technically a House bill, and if the House passes it without a single change, then the bill can go to the White House for the president's signature without another vote in the Senate. (After all, would Blanche Lincoln and Evan Bayh still be there for the White House for another vote? Both are up in 2010 in states a lot less Democratic friendly than Massachusetts.) Putting a House number (H.R.) on their bills is something the Senate does regularly with many bills, particularly if there's a concern about how the conference committee process is going to work.

*** Unintended consequences and unanswered questions: Now there are plenty of unintended consequences and unanswered questions of going this route. If the House simply passes the Senate bill, the deal Big Labor cut last week on the so-called "Cadillac" excise tax is null and void. Also, the Medicaid exemption for Nebraska would still be in there. Finally, this idea really hasn't been floated by the House Democratic leadership. When First Read asked a member of the House leadership about this possibility a few months ago, were told, "No chance" because the assumption was the House moderates and progressives were going to want to have a real say in the conference committee and didn't want to simply look like they were run by the Senate Democrats. Of course, that was then; this is now. And the political reality is this: The White House does not want a year of the political capital they used up on health care to die because of a special election in Massachusetts. They believe they need SOMETHING for all of this political pain they've endured.

*** Hitting the re-set button? A top GOP strategist asked First Read this question: "Isn't it a bit ironic that we've all concluded Obama will fail if he doesn't have 60 votes? Maybe he could go back to the campaign plan of being a post-partisan?" Indeed, a Democratic loss on Tuesday could actually turn out to be a blessing for the White House (if they seize the moment), because it would allow Obama and the Democrats to hit the re-set button, forcing Democratic leaders to work with their GOP counterparts to get something done. Of course, it takes two to tango, and Republicans haven't yet to show any willingness to work with this president unless it's Afghanistan or some GOP orthodoxy (like tax cuts). However, the White House did a poor job of creating its own GOP caucuses, separate from the Dem leadership's.

*** Gender and Patrick: If Coakley loses tomorrow, you'll also hear plenty of reminders that Massachusetts has never elected a female governor or senator. But it's also worth remembering that Massachusetts did overwhelmingly vote for Hillary Clinton in the Bay State's Democratic presidential primary, as did neighboring New Hampshire, which has elected Jeanne Shaheen as governor and senator. Here's one other thing to point out: Brown has run almost as much against Deval Patrick as he's run against Coakley and the Democratic agenda in Washington. Patrick is more unpopular than Obama's health care plan. And by running against Patrick early on, Brown was able to frame Coakley as the "incumbent."

*** Race in America one year into Obama's presidency: In our new NBC/WSJ poll, which gets released in full tomorrow night, we asked some questions about race. And we're unveiling those numbers today in conjunction with Martin Luther King Jr. Day and MSNBC's special program "Obama's America -- 2010 and beyond," which airs tonight at 10:00 pm ET. Here's one set of numbers we can release early: Asked whether America is a nation where people are not judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character, 60% of all adults agreed, which was up from 47% in Jan. 2008 before Obama won the presidency. But there's a racial divide here: While 62% of whites and 57% of Hispanics said that people are not judged by the color of their skin, only 40% of African Americans agreed with that. We'll be releasing some other NBC/WSJ poll numbers on race later this afternoon. So one year into the Obama presidency and it appears views on race haven't dramatically changed -- yet.

*** Yesterday's overlooked speech: Speaking of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Obama's comments yesterday honoring MLK at an African-American church in D.C. haven't received as much attention as his rally for Coakley did. But they should. For one thing, he admitted some of his failings in his first year in office. "On the heels of that victory over a year ago, there were some who suggested that somehow we had entered into a post-racial America, all those problems would be solved," he said. "There were those who argued that because I had spoke of a need for unity in this country that our nation was somehow entering into a period of post-partisanship. That didn't work out so well." Could this be the first hints of what we could hear at the State of the Union next week (assuming it is next week), particularly in the wake of a Brown victory tomorrow?

*** Obama's message to progressives: Obama also uttered these words, which seemed directed at progressives who have been disappointed with some of the compromises his administration has had to make. "Sometimes I get a little frustrated when folks just don't want to see that even if we don't get everything, we're getting something. King understood that the desegregation of the Armed Forces didn't end the civil rights movement, because black and white soldiers still couldn't sit together at the same lunch counter when they came home. But he still insisted on the rightness of desegregating the Armed Forces. That was a good first step." And that brings us to…

*** Democrats eating their own? Eyebrows were raised when prominent liberal blogger -- Firedoglake's Jane Hamsher -- released a robo-poll on Friday showing Arkansas Rep. Vic Snyder (D) trailing by 17 points (56%-39%). Later that day, Snyder announced he wouldn't be seeking re-election. Then on Saturday, Firedoglake released another robo-poll showing Ohio Rep. Steve Driehaus (D) also losing by 17 points. What's interesting here is that Snyder and Driehaus both voted for the House health-care bill last November And liberal blogger Dave Weigel wondered if Hamsher and Firedoglake were trying to scare vulnerable House Dems into retirement as a way to kill health reform, due to Hamsher's disagreements with the legislation (over the public option, mandates, and deals with industry groups. Hamsher replied, "If Vic Snyder is getting hammered, it isn't because of a poll. The fault lies much deeper than that. The corrupt PhRMA deal, the insurance company giveaways, their exemption from anti-trust laws -- people understand what's going on, and Democrats across the country are paying a price for it. You'd have to be in serious denial to pretend anything else."

*** More midterm news: In Colorado, Democrats are trying to persuade Andrew Romanoff, who is currently challenging incumbent (and appointed) Sen. Michael Bennet (D), to run for lieutenant governor… And in Minnesota, Norm Coleman has said he's not running for governor this year. "This is not the right time for me and my family to conduct a campaign for Governor," he said in a Facebook post. "The timing on this race is both a bit too soon and a bit too late."

Countdown to MA Special Election: 1 day
Countdown to IL primary: 15 days
Countdown to TX primary: 43 days
Countdown to Election Day 2010: 288 days

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The Boston Globe: "President Obama, putting his political capital on the line, swept into town yesterday to bolster Martha Coakley's campaign in the final days of an extraordinarily and unexpectedly tight US Senate race, saying that a Democratic victory tomorrow is vital to moving his agenda forward." The crowd estimate was at about 1,500, while Republican state Sen. Scott Brown held an opposing rally that drew more, about 2,000 people "on a day when the race seemed to grow even more politically charged and vitriolic."

The Washington Post has more on the Obama-Coakley rally: "Obama, whose 2004 address to the Democratic convention here [in Boston] set him on an arc to winning the presidency, said his entire domestic agenda -- from financial regulatory reform to climate change legislation -- would be at risk with a Brown win. 'A lot of these measures are going to rest on one vote in the United States Senate,' he said. The roughly 30-minute speech was heavy on partisan rhetoric, without much appeal to the independent voters who account for nearly half the state's electorate."

The New York Times: "Democratic leaders in Congress and at the White House were bracing for what they said was a real possibility that Ms. Coakley could lose the race. The most alarming fact in polls and internal research, several party advisers said, was that Ms. Coakley was still falling behind Mr. Brown among voters who had a favorable view of the president."

The AP: "Republican Scott Brown is surfing a wave of voter frustration with President Barack Obama that has helped propel the once low-profile Massachusetts state senator from long shot to contender in the race to fill the Senate seat left vacant by Edward Kennedy's death. Brown's meteoric rise caught nearly everyone off-guard, particularly Democratic Party leaders who assumed their candidate, state Attorney General Martha Coakley, would have a cakewalk to the U.S. Capitol after winning a four-way primary in November."

As for Obama's speech yesterday honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr… "President Obama called on the memory of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. on Sunday in making what could be seen as a veiled plea for pragmatism on his health-care overhaul, saying that the civil rights leader never chose to forsake progress for a theoretical ideal that was out of reach at the time," the Washington Post reports.

Here come the year-end polls… "Nearly half of the Americans surveyed said Obama is not delivering on his major campaign promises, and a narrow majority had some or no confidence that he will make the right decisions for the country's future," a Washington Post/ABC poll finds. "More than a third saw the president as falling short of their expectations, about double the proportion saying so at the 100-day mark of Obama's presidency in April. At the time, 63 percent said the new president had accomplished a "great deal'' or a "good amount.'' The percentage saying so in the recent poll dropped to 47 percent."

"President Obama met in the Oval Office yesterday with Bill Clinton and George W. Bush to announce a massive effort to raise billions of dollars to relieve earthquake-ravaged Haiti. … The former commanders-in-chief have created the Web site ClintonBushHaitiFund.org to receive contributions.  'I know a lot of people want to send blankets or water. Just send your cash,' said Bush, making his first visit back to the White House."

The AP on Obama's day today: "Following a Monday morning meeting with senior advisers, the president and first lady Michelle Obama will participate in a public-service event. Later at the White House, Obama will host a conversation with a small group of African American seniors and their grandchildren on the legacy of the civil rights movement. In the evening, the president and Mrs. Obama plan to attend the "Let Freedom Ring" concert at the Kennedy Center."