Washington

He’s not in the grave yet but he’s likely spinning already. The Colorado Independent is late coming to this today, but indie rocker and Memphis rat Alex Chilton died last night. Today Tennessee U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen eulogized him on the floor of the House.

Election night was bittersweet for Andrew Moylan. The young government affairs manager of the conservative National Taxpayers Union was watching returns in Asheville, N.C., with fellow attendees of the conservative State Policy Network’s annual meeting. Early in the night, the gubernatorial races in Virginia and then New Jersey went to the Republicans. Moylan, however, was watching the returns on two anti-tax, anti-spending ballot measures in Maine and Washington. Those weren’t turning out so well.

“I care a lot less about Republicans than I do about policy,” Moylan said. “So it was depressing to watch those numbers come in.”

Mike Lillis at the Washington Independent sends the following dispatch from the frontlines in the partisan war to extend benefits to the vast ranks of the unemployed.
“To hear the Democrats tell the tale,” he writes, the extension of jobless benefits enacted over the weekend will provide those living in high-unemployment states with an additional 20 [...]

Colorado environmental groups were quick to criticize Democratic Congressman John Salazar Saturday after he joined the two Republican members of the state delegation in voting against the American Clean Energy and Security Act Friday.
The landmark climate change bill, which seeks to reduce carbon emissions in the United States 80 percent by 2050, passed out of [...]

Here’s the text of President Barack Obama’s speech to Congress on Tuesday night, as prepared for delivery. Read the responses to the speech from Colorado’s congressional delegation here. Follow the live Twitter discussion here.