Mitt Romney's made it clear that he believes that corporations and zygotes deserve more rights than women, which is why it's not terribly surprising that female American voters say they prefer Barack Obama over the presumptive GOP nominee by 18 percentage points. To close that gap, it may make strategic sense for…

Well, that was meteoric. Georgetown Law student cum congressional birth control advocate cum scourge of Rush Limbaugh's ad time Sandra Fluke appears to be poised to run for political office — but which one?

Scott Brown of Massachusetts is pretty much the GOP's greatest remaining hope for hip, modern ideas in a party increasingly characterized by dour, prude regressionism. A visionary new voice for a party that's unfortunately branded itself as a retro outfit that just wants women to get back to the kitchen. Yes, Scott…

Though partisanship amongst the Senate's Republican and Democratic men has never been greater, lady legislators have maintained a civil level of discourse mostly, writes the Daily Beast's Margaret Carlson, by attending a monthly "no boys allowed" supper club, ironically held in the Capitol's Strom Thurmond Room.

In a serious blow to reasonable behavior in our nation's capital, longtime Senator Olympia Snowe, Republican of Maine, announced today that she will retire at the end of her current term. This surprising decision was not due to political pressure—she was expected to be re-elected easily—and, in fact, it puts her fellow …

Senators Joe Lieberman and Olympia Snowe can rejoice: the public option and the Medicare buy-in are off the table. What will happen next? Howard Dean's soundbyte is to "kill the bill," but his actual stance is much more nuanced.

From the AP: Senators Barbara Mikulski (left) and Olympia Snowe sponsored an amendment that "would allow the Health and Human Services secretary to require insurers to cover preventive health screenings free of charge." It passed. [AP]

He wouldn't say whether he has the 60 votes needed to prevent a Republican filibuster, but yesterday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced that the healthcare bill he sends to the Senate floor will include a public option.

Yesterday afternoon, Senator Olympia Snowe cast her vote for healthcare reform and threw her party (and the punditocracy) into a tizzy. The result? No one knows where to focus their attention. A quick round-up of the situation, after the jump.

[Washington, D.C., October 13. Image via Getty]