The New Republic

How the pick and roll became the hot play in college basketball: When Illinois coach Bruce Weber started his coaching career as an assistant at Western Kentucky and Purdue, hardly any college teams used the pick-and-roll as a central part of their offense. READ MORE >>

This year, some Senators have proposed breaking up the traditional red team-blue team State of the Union seating chart and having Democrats and Republicans intermingle their seating. It's a completely symbolic move, a cost-free way to signal bipartisanship that requires no substantive policy compromise. Who could possibly be against that? Mitch McConnell, that's who: READ MORE >>

Salesmanship is, of course, a crucial part of politics. And most Democrats would concede that, over the past two years, they've done a miserable job of touting health care reform. "None of us did a good enough job," Steny Hoyer told reporters yesterday. In the run-up to the midterms, Republicans ran wild talking about the Affordable Care Act in apocalyptic terms, while many Democrats—especially vulnerable members—just tried to avoid the topic altogether. It didn't work. READ MORE >>

The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery By Eric Foner (W.W. Norton, 426 pp., $29.95) READ MORE >>

Without an extension by the end of December, the 2 year old Build America Bond (BAB) program will expire. As of this writing, both the Senate and House tax bills failed to include BABs as part of their packages. READ MORE >>

It's starting to look more plausible that President Obama will try to cut a budget deal with Republicans. Bob Kuttner thinks Obama plans to spring a proposal in the State of the Union address: READ MORE >>

The junior Kentucky Senator-elect is a fascinating character. He has deep roots in paleolibertarianism and obviously comes to politics out of an ideological sensibility rather than careerism. Yet his transformation from ideological crusader to hack pol is the most astonishingly rapid sellout I've ever seen. First he just refuses to discuss his beliefs about anything. READ MORE >>

It's beginning to become clear that the exact shape of this election (beyond the near-certainty of a Republican House and a Democratic Senate) isn't going to be definitively known until pretty late tonight. House races from such target-rich (for Republicans) states as Pennsylvania, Ohio, and New York are coming in very slowly. Two "early" races in Kentucky are so close that a call may not be made until virtually all votes are in. The Florida governor's race is very close, and although exits suggest Pat Toomey may have an advantage in Pennsylvania, that race, too, is very close. READ MORE >>

This is your comprehensive hour-by-hour guide to Election Night 2010. It will help you follow all of the bellwether indicators throughout the day and interpret the returns. So what are you waiting for? Print it out and keep it close during every minute of the agonizing countdown.   READ MORE >>

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