EmailThe Note's Must-Reads are a round-up of today's political headlines and stories from ABC News and the top U.S. newspapers. Posted Monday through Friday right here at www.abcnews.com
Compiled by ABC News Digital News Associates and Desk Assistants JACQUELINE NG FERNANDEZ, JAYCE HENDERSON, CLAUDIA MORALES AND MAGGY PATRICK
PRESIDENT OBAMA
The Washington Times’ Kara Rowland: “Obama concedes 'shellacking'” Mr. Obama wouldn't concede that the electoral blowout was a direct repudiation of his policies. Instead, he blamed a slow economic recovery and the perception that some of the "emergency" measures taken to right the economy, such as the stimulus bill, may have been interpreted by voters as a permanent expansion of government, as opposed to a one-off response to the financial crisis. LINK
The Los Angeles Times’ Peter Nicholas and Christi Parsons: “For Obama, the daunting challenges of 2012 start at once” As he turns to the 2012 presidential campaign that kicks in today, a battered President Obama needs to address two glaring vulnerabilities laid bare by the midterm election: how to fix the economy and rebuild the voting coalition that put him in power. LINK
The New York Daily News’ Michael McAuliff: “Big loser may be Obama's agenda as Republicans take emphatic control of House on Election Night” Forget a wave – a Republican tsunami hammered Democrats from power across America on Tuesday night. LINK
USA Today’s Richard Wolf, John Fritze, Susan Page and Mimi Hall: “Obama, GOP face choices of compromise or conflict” During the dog days of August, House Republican leader John Boehner urged President Obama to fire his entire economic team for failing to lead the nation out of the recession and create more jobs. LINK
The Boston Globe’s Matt Viser and Bryan Bender: “With clashes likely, Obama, GOP talk of cooperation” President Obama, professing himself humbled by what he described as a shellacking by voters in mid-term elections Tuesday, said yesterday he is prepared to work seriously with the new Republican leadership in the House — despite being on an apparent collision course with the GOP on health care and deficit reduction. LINK
ELECTION 2010 / TEA PARTY:
ABC News’ Huma Khan: “Democrat Michael Bennet Projected to Win in Colorado; Senate Democrats Face Uphill Battle on Legislative Agenda” Democrats will hold on to the Senate seat in Colorado, avoiding another embarrassing defeat in a state that voted for President Obama in 2008. LINK
The Washington Post’s Amy Gardner and David Fahrenthold: “For tea party, victories may trigger identity crisis” Rep. Michele Bachmann's announcement Wednesday that she will seek a House leadership post broadcast loud and clear that she hopes to secure a prominent place for the emboldened tea party movement in Congress. LINK
Newsweek’s Andrew Romano: “Murphy’s Law” It’s quarter after 10 on a chilly Saturday morning in late October, and Rep. Scott Murphy’s people are a little peeved. There are only 10 days until the voters of New York’s 20th Congressional District go to the polls to decide whether Murphy, the hulking, fair-haired, Harvard-educated Democrat and former entrepreneur who emerged from obscurity to defeat prominent state Assemblyman Jim Tedisco in the March 31, 2009, special election to replace Kirsten Gillibrand, gets to return to Washington. LINK
The Wall Street Journal’s Laura Meckler: “Two Key Races Undecided” Democrats won a hard-fought Senate race in Colorado, while a Republican won the governor's chair in Florida as results from Election Day continued to trickle in Wednesday. The outcome of Senate contests in Alaska and Washington state may not be known for days or even weeks. LINK
Politico’s Jonthan Martin and Manu Raju: “GOP senators fight over failure” Long-simmering tensions within the Republican Party spilled into public view Wednesday as the pragmatic and conservative wings of the GOP blamed each other in blunt terms for the party’s failure to capture the Senate. LINK
The Hill’s Alexander Bolton and Sean J. Miller: “After his grueling race, 112th Congress poses challenges for Reid” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), who survived a tough reelection race by showcasing his independence from President Obama, must now decide how to position Senate Democrats for 2012. LINK
ECONOMY:
The New York Times’ David Sanger and Sewell Chan: “Fed to Spend $600 Billion to Speed Up Recovery” The Federal Reserve, getting ahead of the battles that will dominate national politics over the next two years, moved Wednesday to jolt the economy into recovery with a bold but risky plan to pump $600 billion into the banking system. LINK
The Wall Street Journal’s JON HILSENRATH: “Fed Fires $600 Billion Stimulus Shot“ The Federal Reserve, in a dramatic effort to rev up a "disappointingly slow" economic recovery, said it will buy $600 billion of U.S. government bonds over the next eight months to drive down interest rates and encourage more borrowing and growth. LINK
USA Today’s John Waggoner: “Fed action may help stock investors but not savers” The Federal Reserve is launching its second round of quantitative easing, and stock investors should get a rise out of it. But savers and bondholders might not be too happy. QE2 will pump more money into the system to avert deflation — a period of falling prices. LINK
OTHER
ABC News’ Ray Sanchez: “Exclusive: Speaker Nancy Pelosi Says She Has 'No Regrets'” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said today she has "no regrets" one day after a Republican landslide stripped her of the power that defined her historic tenure as the first female speaker of the House. LINK
The Denver Post’s John Ingold: “Ballot-counting wrapping up” With the exception of Arapahoe County, which still had as many as 30,000 ballots to count this morning, only small clutches of uncounted votes remain. Adams County Clerk Karen Long said she had "a few hundred" mail-in ballots that were dropped off yesterday at polling places still to count. Pueblo County had about 3,000 such ballots, Clerk Gilbert Ortiz said. LINK
ABC NEWS VIDEO
ABC News: “Obama: 'I Take Responsibility'” President Barack Obama holds press conference about 2010 election results. LINK
ABC News: “Boehner: 'Focus on Americans' Priorities'” New Republican House leader promises to "be the voice of the American people." LINK
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