Democrats Fear Every Seat Up for Grabs After Massachusetts Defeat
TIMES ONLINE: Fear and recrimination ricocheted through the Democratic Party today after the loss of a safe Senate seat left Congressmen feeling none of them was secure in the upcoming midterm elections.

Barbara Boxer, a Democratic senator for California, confirmed the sense of alarm spreading through the party. “Every state is now in play,” she told Politico.

Tuesday night’s Massachusetts by-election defeat, in one of the most liberal states in America, stripped President Obama of his 60th, filibuster-proof vote in the US Senate.

Claire McCaskill, senator from Missouri, said: “If there’s anybody in this building that doesn’t tell you they’re more worried about elections today, you absolutely should slap them.”

Mr Obama was scrambling yesterday to save his entire domestic agenda after losing the late Edward Kennedy’s Senate seat, a defeat that dealt a devastating blow to hopes of reforming the US health system.

The loss of an almost sacred Democratic seat, which Mr Kennedy had held for 47 years, was a humiliating upset that showed Mr Obama how the popular mood has turned against his policies and his party, a year to the day after he took office. >>> Tim Reid in Washington and Times Online | Thursday, January 21, 2010

John Yettaw, American Jailed in Burma, Released to US Officials
THE SUNDAY TIMES: The American man jailed in Yangon for swimming to the house of Burmese democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has flown out of Burma after being released to US officials earlier today.

Authorities in Burma handed over jailed American citizen John Yettaw to US embassy officials earlier today, ahead of his departure from the country with US senator Jim Webb.

The US embassy said Mr Yettaw is now headed to Bangkok, Thailand, on a military plane with Senator Webb.

The senator secured his release on Saturday with a plea to Myanmar's ruling junta.

Mr Webb thanked the government for the release of Mr Yettaw at a brief news conference just prior to their departure this morning. Mr Yettaw was sentenced last week to seven years at hard labour for breaking the terms of Ms Suu Kyi's house arrest in early May.

Senator Webb met Myanmar’s top military leader Than Shwe and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi yesterday, and announced the release of the American who was jailed for visiting the Nobel peace laureate.

Mr Webb, a Democrat who is chairman of a Senate subcommittee on East Asia and Pacific, is the first member of Congress to travel in an official capacity to Myanmar in more than a decade and is also believed to be the first senior American official ever to meet Than Shwe. >>> | Sunday, August 16, 2009