Carly Fiorina, once the most powerful businesswoman in America and now a Republican candidate for the California Senate seat now held by Barbara Boxer, no longer sports her trademark, playful blond pixie cut. Fiorina learned she had breast cancer last February and underwent surgery in March. Just a month after finishing chemotherapy in early October, she announced her Senate run, hitting the campaign trail with a stylish buzz cut. So when the U.S. Preventive Task Force, a government-appointed panel of medical experts, announced Monday that it no longer recommends routine mammograms and breast self-exams for women under 50—and that even women over 50 should have the procedure only every other year—Fiorina, 55, had a lot to say. Had she followed those guidelines, “I’m not quite sure I’d be alive today,” Fiorina told The Daily Beast.

* Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) — According to Politico, she's already told Reid how she'll vote but she hasn't made her intentions public yet. A new poll shows her vote may be critical to her re-election prospects next year.
* Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) — She's voiced opposition to the public option, but Bloomberg notes there was a $100 million addition to the bill to win her support
* Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) — We've already documented his threats to block the public option, but he's stated publicly he'll at least vote to bring the bill to the Senate floor.
* Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) — She was the only Republican senator to vote the bill out of the Senate Finance Committee, but she's also voiced opposition to the public option.

Call your Senator. Tell your Senator to vote NO on cloture on the motion to proceed. Tell your Senator that you consider a yes vote, a vote in favor of health care.

The new Rasmussen poll for the 2010 Arizona GOP Primary—John McCain 45%, J. D. Hayworth 43%—will generate a fair amount of buzz. But August is a long way away, and I assume that when McCain gets back to Arizona and campaigns, he’ll pull it out.

Still, who could help McCain beat back a populist conservative challenger? Sarah Palin. I predict that Palin will come to Arizona next summer to campaign for McCain, will make an impassioned case for him, and will help him win. She will thereby repay McCain for his confidence in picking her last year, help keep McCain as a crucial voice in the Senate for a strong foreign policy, and get credit for being a different kind of populist conservative—a Reaganite, not a Buchananite, populist—than the immigration-obsessed, voter-alienating (he was ousted in 2006 in a Republican district) Hayworth.

Favorable / Unfavorable
George Pataki: 51 / 44
Kirsten Gillibrand: 40 / 37 (chart)
David Paterson: 36 / 59 (chart)
Rudy Giuliani: 58 / 38
Rick Lazio: 36 / 44
Andrew Cuomo: 56 / 34

After emerging out of nowhere over the summer as a seemingly potent and growing political force, the tea party movement has become embroiled in internal feuding over philosophy, strategy and money and is at risk of losing its momentum.

The grass-roots activists driving the movement have become increasingly divided on such core questions as whether to focus their efforts on shaping policy debates or elections, work on a local, regional, state or national level or closely align themselves with the Republican Party, POLITICO found in interviews with tea party organizers in Washington and across the country.

Picking a side in a debate that could split the GOP, gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman has come out in favor of the $11 billion water bond that lawmakers recently placed on the November 2010 ballot.

Whitman initially gave a cautious response to the bond, but her press secretary told The Bee today that the candidate would be voting yes.

"Despite the typical Sacramento actions of including additional spending and pet projects that were included in the final language of the water bill, Meg believes providing water to communities across the state is too important to delay the process once again," Sarah Pompei said in an email. "She will vote in support of the measure on the ballot and will work to fix the broken process in Sacramento as governor."

A new Marist Poll in New York shows that Rudy Giuliani (D) would a formidable challenger to Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and now holds a 14 point lead, 54% to 40%.

Key finding: "Even one-third of Democrats report they would back the Republican challenger, and Giuliani runs competitively against Gillibrand in overwhelmingly Democratic New York City."

Reports suggest Giuliani has told confidants that he will likely run for Senate and not Govenor next year.

Update: Giuliani aides now deny he's made a decision to run for Senate.

Rudy Giuliani's spokeswoman is denying a report that he's decided to run for Senate.

"It's not true," spokeswoman Maria Comella emailed just now.

If he does decide to run, it will come as a surprise to the members of his circle I've spoken to today, and would be a sharp departure from recent remarks by the former mayor and top aides, like these noted by Mike Crowley:

Even though a recent poll had Giuliani beating [Gillibrand] by nine points, Giuliani laughs off the idea. "My value is in running things," he told me. "Commenting is great, but I get to do that anyway on television and radio and [in] op-ed pieces." "It’s a job that we have discussed in the past, and he just has no desire to do it," [longtime advisor Anthony] Carbonetti says.

Just like the original 2,032-page, government-run health care plan from Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA), Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s (D-NV) massive, 2,074-page bill would levy a new “abortion premium” fee on Americans in the government-run plan.

Beginning on line 7, p. 118, section 1303 under “Voluntary Choice of Coverage of Abortion Services” the Health and Human Services Secretary is given the authority to determine when abortion is allowed under the government-run health plan. Leader Reid’s plan also requires that at least one insurance plan offered in the Exchange covers abortions (line 13, p. 120).

What is even more alarming is that a monthly abortion premium will be charged of all enrollees in the government-run health plan. It’s right there beginning on line 11, page 122, section 1303, under “Actuarial Value of Optional Service Coverage.” The premium will be paid into a U.S. Treasury account – and these federal funds will be used to pay for the abortion services.

Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani has decided not to run for governor next year – but will run for U.S. Senate instead, sources told the Daily News.

A source familiar with Giuliani's thinking said the failed presidential candidate has been telling people he plans to run against Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand in 2010 to fill out the remaining two years of Hillary Clinton's term.

If elected, the source said, he could use that as a stepping stone to run for President in 2012 – rather than run for re-election to the Senate.
+++++++
Actually, this surprises me. But, think he may have an easier time winning the Senate seat rather than running against Cuomo.

Rudy Giuliani is not running for governor, the New York Times reports.

UPDATE: One more reason not to trust the New York Times; I am told by a reliable source close to Giuliani that this report about his decision comes as news to him. He is characterized by this reliable source as having not yet made his decision.

Giuliani spokeswoman Maria Comella emails, "Rudy has a history of making up his own mind and has no problem speaking it. When Mayor Giuliani makes a decision about serving in public office, he will inform New Yorkers on his own."

Rudy Giulani has told associates he's not going to make a play for governor in 2010, avoiding a potentially bruising election fight in a race where Attorney General Andrew Cuomo is seen as the Democratic frontrunner, several sources told The Post.

Giuliani started signaling to advisers and friends in the past few weeks that he's not running, sources said.

A senior New York Republican official said, "Rudy has made it clear in recent days that he's not going to run for governor."
++++++++
I don't think Rudy will run for the Senate.

Former Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani has decided not to run for governor of New York next year after months of mulling a candidacy, according to people who have been told of the decision.
His decision is a blow to many Republican leaders, who had viewed Mr. Giuliani as the strongest potential candidate in a year in which voter anger and anti-Albany sentiment appeared to be swelling.

Maria Comella, a spokeswoman for Mr. Giuliani, said Wednesday that it was “premature” to say any decisions had been made, and cited the former mayor’s statements on television last weekend.

In an interview with ABC on Sunday, Mr. Giuliani said he had not yet made his decision but said, “I will very soon.”

Despite defending Sarah Palin as an economic spokeswoman for John McCain during last year’s presidential race, California Senate candidate Carly Fiorina said she has never met the former Alaska governor – and declined to say whether she would be interested in Palin's endorsement.

Fiorina, the former chief executive of Hewlett Packard, is running against Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) but faces a primary challenger from her right against state Assemblyman Chuck DeVore.

"Sarah Palin is clearly selling a lot of books and really looks busy on a book tour. I haven't read it, and I'm focused on 2010 and Barbara Boxer, frankly,” Fiorina said in a pen-and-pad with political reporters this afternoon.

Women are making little progress cracking the executive glass ceiling in California, according to a study being released today by the University of California, Davis.

The fifth annual "California Women Business Leaders" study concludes that progress for women at the 400 largest public companies headquartered in the state is little improved since the first survey in 2005.

The third paragraph of the report's introduction makes this blunt summation: "There has been no progress since our last census."

"Our findings paint a disappointing picture," said Steven Currall, dean of UCD's Graduate School of Management. "There is only one woman for every nine men in the executive suites and boardrooms of these high-profile companies.

In my item, I mention a line of WFB’s: that the government will spend money on “free false teeth or whatever.” That is one of my favorite lines of all time, and you can perhaps still hear the tone with which WFB said it: “free false teeth.”

Well, here is that note from a reader:

Hi Jay,

I live in Central Wisconsin and within the next few weeks they will be breaking ground on a new federally qualified dental-health-care center. Among many other things they will provide are essentially free false teeth! Apparently they received some stimulus money from the “venerable” Dave Obey [a congressman]. Funny how it’s considered gov’t money and not taxpayer dollars.

Yeah, funny. And, as always: Be careful what you joke about. Free false teeth, come true!

The bill levies a 5 percent tax on elective cosmetic surgery. The provision raises $5 billion and was needed to make the numbers work, according to a Democratic Senate aide.

The Finance Committee considered the tax but dismissed it, in part because it was a public relations battle that senators were not willing to wage.

Recently launched California Senate candidate Carly Fiorina (R) is on a quest to prove her conservative bona fides. And, on Wednesday, the target audience was a group of D.C. reporters.

Fiorina, who faces a grassroots conservative primary challenger before she can get to Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), cast doubt on global warming, said she supported the Stupak amendment, and advocated an enforcement-first illegal immigration plan.

In fact, about the only places where she trended to the middle were when she had kind words for centrist GOP Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sen. Dianne Feinstein .

Fiorina was asked whether the New York-23 narrative of establishment centrist-versus-conservative fits her race. Her opponent, state Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, has garnered support from the same circles as Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman did in the New York special election.

“The story doesn’t fit the facts,” Fiorina said. “I am a conservative person.”

Carly Fiorina has advice for Washington lawmakers as they tackle issues such as health care and immigration reform: Don't take on so much at once.
The newly announced candidate for the U.S. Senate in California used the nearly 2,000-page health care bill recently passed by the House to make her point before a group of reporters Wednesday. She said the sheer scope of the undertaking has made people wary about how it will affect their access to care and their pocketbooks.

"What this health care bill does is create a vast new entitlement. It tries to boil the ocean — let's throw absolutely everything we can into this bill," she said. "As a result, it's creating as many problems for people as it is solving problems for people. That's why I think it's in trouble."

In the Battle of the Health Bills, the Senate wins out, bulk-wise – weighing in at 2,074 pages.

The House health reform bill was a mere 1,990 pages when introduced.

That means the Senate bill — like the one in the House — runs more pages than War and Peace, and has nearly five times as many words as the Torah.

The table of contents alone is 14 pages.

“Read the bill!” was a rallying cry of some health reform opponents over the summer. And if Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) gets his way, senators will get a chance to hear every word of it. He’s threatening to the read the legislation from start to finish, which by some estimates could take as long as 48 hours.

As the dean of Harvard Medical School I am frequently asked to comment on the health-reform debate. I'd give it a failing grade.

Instead of forthrightly dealing with the fundamental problems, discussion is dominated by rival factions struggling to enact or defeat President Barack Obama's agenda. The rhetoric on both sides is exaggerated and often deceptive. Those of us for whom the central issue is health—not politics—have been left in the lurch. And as controversy heads toward a conclusion in Washington, it appears that the people who favor the legislation are engaged in collective denial.

A little more than a year after his election, President Obama said his administration has laid the groundwork for success on global and domestic matters.

"I think that we've restored America's standing in the world, and that's confirmed by polls," he told CNN's Ed Henry in a wide-ranging interview this week during his trip to China.

"I think a recent one indicated that around the world, before my election, less than half the people — maybe less than 40 percent of the people — thought that you could count on America to do to the right thing. Now it's up to 75 percent."
+++++++
The world is still a dangerous place, Mr President.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid scrambled "to lock down votes" behind a health-care bill that he may present as early this afternoon, the Washington Post reports.

Reid "would not confirm that he had received commitments from all 60 members of his caucus to overcome GOP procedural objections and bring the bill to the Senate floor."

Meanwhile, the buzz on Capitol Hill is that Reid will not attempt to move the bill through the budget reconciliation process and will instead need 60 votes to end debate in the Senate — a possible indication that major concessions to moderates are coming.

Since then, however, a flurry of new polls makes clear that Democrats are facing deeper problems with independents—the swing voters who swung dramatically toward the party in 2006 and 2008 but who now are registering deep unease with the amount of spending and debt called for under Obama's agenda in an era of one-party rule in Washington.

A Gallup Poll released last week offered a disturbing glimpse about the state of play: just 14 percent of independents approve of the job Congress is doing, the lowest figure all year. In just the past few days alone, surveys have shown Democratic incumbents trailing Republicans among independent voters by double-digit margins in competitive statewide contests in places as varied as Connecticut, Ohio and Iowa.

California faces a budget gap of nearly $21 billion over its current and next fiscal years, according to the state government's budget watchdog agency, the Los Angeles Times reported on Tuesday.

The newspaper said California's Legislative Analyst's Office would issue an official report on Wednesday with its shortfall estimate.

The projection comes less than four months after Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and lawmakers agreed to a budget plan that closed a deficit of more than $24 billion largely with deep spending cuts to respond to plunging revenues amid the worst economic crisis to hit the most populous U.S. state since the Great Depression.