You knew it was coming, didn't you? After a Nigerian man tried and failed to blow up an airliner landing in Detroit, Repubicans are calling for Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano to resign and Congresscritter Pete Hoekstra (R, MI-2) is castigating the administration in a fundraising letter . Cue the Democrats complaining about the administration's nominnee for the head of the Transportation Security Administration being on hold due to South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint, (which Harry Reid is supposedly going to force a vote on now) and GOP votes against TSA funding.

The President, so far, has stayed above the political aspects, simply stating the system had failed and ordered reviews into the terrorist watch list and airport screenings procedures.

Yesterday, on Face the Nation, Senator Joe Leiberman vowed to filibuster any health care reform bill that has a public option in it.

(Leiberman) "There're so many good things we can do to make health insurance more affordable and to extend it to people who don't have it now, but I feel so strongly about the creation of another government health insurance entitlement, of the government going into the health insurance business, I think it's such a mistake that I would use the power I have as a single Senator to stop a final vote."

"But wouldn't that mean that you might wind up with nothing instead of something?" asked Schieffer.

"Yeah, but I'd say to the people who are all of a sudden making the public option a government health insurance company the litmus test here, they're stopping us from getting something done."

Maine's Senators, Olympia Snow and Susan Collins, both Republicans, are often seen as moderates willing to work with the Democrat administration, especially on health care reform. But when it comes to the 'public option' they've taken noticeably partisan tone.

Snow says the public option is "universally opposed by all Republicans in the Senate", while Collins rejects the idea and the 'trigger' compromise, which would allowed the public option only if insurance companies failed to do certain undefined things.

Meanwhile, Max Baucus, chairmen of the Senate Finance Committee, says he'll make a final push this week to win Republican support for his committee's bill.

Filed this one under "Can't be good": Senator Ted Kenneday, currently battling brain cancer, has asked the Massachusetts legislature to change the succession laws so that the state will not be without Senate vote if the seat is vacant, aka he dies. Currently voters have to chose a new Senator via a special election within five months of the vacancy, but Kennedy is asking that the Governor be allowed to appoint someone temporarily. The implication is clear since Kennedy has long been a champion of health care reform, but there's a chance he may die before the vote comes up this fall and if so, he'd wants his state, the Senate and his party, the Democrats, to have all of their votes available for the vote on health care reform

Ok, so Nevada Senator John Ensign had an affair with a woman, Cynthia Hampton, who worked for his campaign. The affair lasted from December 2007 to August 2008. Ensign eventually ended the affair, partially on the advice of fellow Senator Tom Coburn, and gave Hampton a large severance. Her husband Doug, who had also worked for Ensign tried to blackmail Ensign, saying the situation had destroyed his family and they needed restitution.

What's next? Evidently Ensign's parents gave $96,000 to the Hamptons in Aril, 2008. Yes, his parents bailed him out. Specifically, they gave $12,000 each to Doug, Cythnia and two of their three children. $12,000 just happens to be the limit of what one person can give to another without declaring it to the IRS.

is an apparently (acc. to NPR) very popular conservative Dem congresswoman. WaPo called it (almost) back in November. But I'm personally disappointed that we couldn't double the diversity of the US Senate, all the way to 2%. (last link's a double)