On Ben Nelson’s statement that “I think it was a mistake to take health care on as opposed to continuing to spend the time on the economy”:

Nelson is right on two counts. A, it was a distraction, as the citizenry sees it, from the main issue, which is the recession and unemployment. And secondly because the bill itself, the proposals themselves are so appalling that on the merits, on the substance, there’s huge opposition. …
And of the two senators who stepped aside, Dodd is more of a personal issue in the sense that he had stains on his own record which were peculiar to him — his involvement with Countrywide, the failed sub-prime lender, and the fact that he moved the family out to Iowa in ‘08 when he ran for the presidency, a run which discredited him in many ways.
Dorgan, I think, is more representative of the national trend and the winds blowing. … He’s been hurt because of the huge opposition in his state on the health-care issue… All the liberal Democrats are tied to the mast on this one, and there’s no escaping.
And so I think it does indicate that the Republicans have a chance of nationalizing this election.