November 6, 2009

President Barack Obama’s push to overhaul health care will take him to Capitol Hill tomorrow where he will have a “House call” with Democratic lawmakers. On Saturday the House is expected to vote on a sweeping $1.2 trillion dollar bill that would extend coverage to millions of uninsured and prohibit insurance companies from denying coverage. AARP and American Medical Association (AMA) have endorsed the House bill, but strong opposition from Republicans and some conservative Democrats persists. Ceci Connolly of The Washington Post will explain where there may be room for compromise and how abortion, immigration, and a so-called “millionaire tax” are factoring into the debate.

This week Democrats lost two key gubernatorial races in New Jersey and Virginia while picking up a historically Republican congressional seat in New York. Democrats insist the results were more about local issues; Republicans argue the Democratic defeats signal voters’ dissatisfaction with the Obama presidency. We go beyond the partisan “spin” to get analysis from James Barnes of National Journal on what the results really reveal about incumbents, independent voters, and Americans concerns about the economy and jobs as well as the impact on President Obama’s standing and political capital just one year after he was elected.

The flawed Afghan presidential election that began in August finally concluded this week with Hamid Karzai being declared the winner after his challenger withdrew from the run-off election. Now the question is how will the re-election of President Karzai and on-going concern about corruption within his government factor into the Obama administration’s decision about U.S. engagement in Afghanistan? Martha Raddatz of ABC News will report on how Karzai’s victory and the recent surge in violence may change the U.S. mission in the region.