Elizabeth Warren: Consumer Advocate

Democrats have an uphill battle to maintain control of the Senate in 2012, when they will be defending two-thirds of the seats up for re-election. Only 10 Republican seats are up, a result of Democratic pickups in 2000 and 2006. One notable pickup opportunity is in Massachusetts, where Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA) faces a tough challenge from Harvard professor and consumer advocate Elizabeth Warren. She has served as chairperson of the Congressional Oversight Panel which looked into the distribution of money from the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP), and then served as an advisor to President Obama and Treasury Secretary Geithner in setting up the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

"Don't Ask, Don't Tell" Becomes History

Dan Choi, the openly gay Army lieutenant who was discharged under the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, is planning to join once again now that the discriminatory policy has officially ended. The end of the policy is considered a promise fulfilled by the Obama White House to gays and lesbians that backed the Democrat in 2008. Choi has been an outspoken opponent of the policy which prevented gay and lesbian servicemembers from serving openly in the U.S. military. I, for one, am happy to see the policy go - unlike most Republican members of the U.S. House of Representatives.