Washington in 60 Seconds: Democrats Head for the Hills

Good morning, Capitolists! It's a bitterly cold day in D.C., and a bitter news day for Democrats as the reality sinks in that they're down three incumbents in one day.

Here's what's making news in Washington today:

* Hasta la Vista. Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) will announce at noon today that he is not seeking reelection in 2010. The news did not surprise his colleagues, who knew of Dodd's political struggles at home, despite his outsized leadership role for the Democrats in the Senate in 2009. Watch the announcement live on any cable news station.

* Colorado Storm. Also announcing his retirement today will be Colorado's Democratic governor, Bill Ritter. Ritter was championed by national Democrats in 2006 as a moderate who turned Colorado from red to blue. Like Dodd, however, Ritter has seen his popularity sag as the economic downturn hit his state hard and a spirited run by former congressman Scott McGinnis shows the state is ripe for a GOP pickup.

* Obama Health-Care Huddle. President Obama will meet with House Democratic leaders for the second time in two days to plot a strategy for moving health care through the conference committee. Expect the president to tell House leaders that it's the Senate bill or bust this year, now that the Dems' 60-vote majority looks cloudier than it did just yesterday.

* Steele's RNC Spending Spree. He made the wrong kind of headlines yesterday for saying his team would not win back the House in 2010, but Michael Steele's real low point could come today as news of an RNC spending spree surfaces. The Hill reports this morning that Steele's tenure at party HQ has resulted in its worst cash-flow situation in a decade. The RNC starts the year with just over $8 million in the bank, $15 million less than when Steele took the reins in 2009.

* Move That Goal Post! Taegan Goddard at CQ reports that, after predicting that Democrats would have a health care bill signed into law before the president's state of the union address, "there are indications" the White House wants to delay the SOTU until February to make the deadline meet the goal.