WWGD?

The Phillies send Pedro Martinez to the mound tonight at Yankee Stadium after taking a 1-0 World Series lead last night. Phillies Manager Charlie Manuel was roundly criticized after pulling Martinez in Game 2 of the NLCS despite a 1-0 lead and just 87 pitches (through seven innings).

At the time, the Phillies bullpen seemed shaky: Brad Lidge had lost the "closer" job late in the season, and ended the year with an 0-8 record and a 7.21 ERA. (A year ago he had been 48-for-48 in regular season and post-season saves.)

The Phillies' pen has been better in recent games, and perhaps Manuel will feel confident in that performance. But in another cold night in the Bronx, the ghost of Grady Little will undoubtedly be lingering over Pedro and his manager as the dreaded 100-pitch limit approaches.

Midnight Madness on M Street

Georgetown opened its 2009-10 college basketball season with a "Midnight Madness" tribute to the King of Pop.

Drudge Speechless

At approximately 5:50AM ET, the New York Times has been reporting for 15 minutes that Barack Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize in a "stunning surprise."

The Drudge Report, which is traditionally right-leaning, remains headlined with "Dems Plot Second Stimulus," together with a photo of Nancy Pelosi; there is no mention of the Peace Prize on the site.

Even Drudge is speechless.

And, as they say, what a difference a week makes in politics.

Or perhaps its just the change in Scandinavian cities.

Scoring

The summer doldrums that dragged down the Health Care bill -- and President Obama's poll numbers -- can be linked almost directly to the CBO's preliminary analysis that 'scored' the "Affordable Health Choices Act" as adding approximately $1.0T to the deficit over the 2010-19 period.

The CBO is of course the Congressional Budget Office, which is the non-partisan Congressional agency that provides analysis of the budgetary impact (i.e., adding to or reducing the deficit) for all Congressional bills. That analysis begins and ends all questions and debate.

So the report this afternoon that the CBO has scored the current proposal (the Senate bill) and found that it will reduce the deficit by $81B over the 2010-19 period is good news for the Administration, and its allies in Congress.

If the numbers hold up, then Health Care is: Done and Done.

Whip Counts

AP hopes that the White House has a better sense of the whip count in the Senate (and House, for that matter) on health care than they did (clearly) with the International Olympic Committee in Copenhagen.