BackstabWatch

And there goes filibuster reform, shot down by the man who talked a big game last summer, but whom we always suspected would cave when the moment arrived. The Founders never envisioned the filibuster — the Senate was (and is) sufficiently undemocratic as designed, so why overegg the recipe?

Senate Leaders Finalize Scaled-Back Filibuster Deal [TPM]

“Former Democratic presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich has signed on as a regular contributor to Fox News Channel… Kucinich, who was elected mayor of Cleveland at age 31, said Fox has always provided him with a chance to offer his perspective.” [AP, via Political Wire]

“Executive Producer Erik Jendresen of National Geographic Channel’s upcoming television movie ‘Killing Lincoln,’ said John Wilkes Booth ‘could be the poster child for the Tea Party.'” The show is adapted from Bill O’Reilly’s book. [CNS]

“Eight weeks after the Nov. 6 presidential election, a revised vote count in New York shows that Barack Obama is the first president in more than five decades to win at least 51 percent of the vote twice.” [Bloomberg, via Political Wire]

“By all accounts, the past month has been most difficult on Romney’s wife, Ann, who friends said believed up until the end that ascending to the White House was their destiny. They said she has been crying in private and trying to get back to riding her horses.” [WaPo, via Political Wire]

Wingnut underwriter Foster Friess wonders where his money went: “You have no idea of the financial structuring of a lot of these outside groups in terms of how much went to the actual delivery of a message, versus how many dollars were taken off as fees to the people running them.” [LAT, via TPM]

“Labor unions and liberal interest groups are going all-out for President Barack Obama’s reelection — but they’re just as ready to turn that firepower back on him if he betrays them with a grand bargain. These groups fear a victorious Obama would ink a deal with Republicans during the fiscal cliff negotiations that slashes entitlement benefits.” [Politico]