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Washington (CNN) — The day before the White House’s bipartisan summit on health care reform, there didn’t appear to be much mood for compromise on Capitol Hill.

Sen. Chris Dodd, a key author of the Senate health care bill, said flatly Wednesday that if Republicans continue to demand that Democrats scrap their health care proposals and start over, “then there’s nothing to talk about.”

“If you expect me to start all over on this, there’s really not much point in this, ’cause we’re not going to start over,” Dodd said.

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PHOENIX – Defeated just two years ago as the Republican presidential candidate and with his bonafides as a true conservative again being challenged, John McCain finds himself in a struggle to get even his party’s nomination for another term in the Senate.

Many conservatives and Tea Party activists are lining up behind Republican challenger and former talk radio host J.D. Hayworth, reflecting a rising tide of voter frustration with incumbent politicians. Only 40 percent of Arizonans have a favorable view of McCain’s job performance.

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WASHINGTON – A can’t-miss rung on the ladder to celebrity status in Washington: Newly seated Sen. Scott Brown will write a book about his life leading up to his upset election to succeed the late Sen. Edward Kennedy.

Brown spokeswoman Gail Gitcho said Wednesday the Massachusetts Republican hopes to provide “insight and encouragement” to others and to ensure the record is “complete and accurate.” She said that part of the book’s proceeds will go to charity.

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Washington (CNN) — Republican Scott Brown was sworn in Thursday as the new U.S. senator from Massachusetts to fill the seat formerly held by the late Sen. Ted Kennedy, and immediately signaled opposition to President Obama’s spending plans.

Brown’s new Senate colleagues applauded after the ceremony on the floor of the Senate chamber conducted by Vice President Joe Biden, in his capacity as president of the Senate. Democratic Sen. John Kerry, also of Massachusetts, and Brown’s wife, Gail Huff, accompanied Brown into the chamber.

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(CNN) — A conservative activist who made undercover videos of the liberal community-organizing group ACORN was one of four men charged Tuesday with attempting to illegally access and manipulate the phone system in a district office of U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana.

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Boston, Massachusetts (CNN) — Republican Scott Brown won a major upset victory in Tuesday’s special election for the U.S. Senate seat formerly held by liberal Democrat Ted Kennedy.

With 89 percent of the results counted, Brown had 52 percent of the vote to 47 percent for Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley, the Democratic candidate, according to the the National Election Pool, a consortium of media organizations including CNN. Independent candidate Joseph Kennedy, a libertarian who is not related to the Kennedy political family of Massachusetts, had 1 percent.

Full Story at msnbc.com

BOSTON – A panicky White House and Democratic allies scrambled Sunday for a plan to salvage their hard-fought health care package in case a Republican wins Tuesday’s Senate race in Massachusetts, which would enable the GOP to block further Senate action.

The likeliest scenario would require persuading House Democrats to accept a bill the Senate passed last month, despite their objections to several parts.

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President Obama and congressional Democratic leaders decided Tuesday to bypass a formal House and Senate conference to meld their health care bills, according to two congressional Democratic leadership sources.

The two told CNN that Obama and Democratic congressional leaders will instead hold informal negotiations to sidestep possible Republican delays of the process.

Avoiding a formal conference has long been expected, but one of the Democratic leadership sources said the president used Tuesday evening’s White House meeting with Democratic congressional leaders to formally clear the idea.

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Now that the Senate has caught up with the House by passing a sweeping health care bill, lawmakers are on the verge of extending coverage to the tens of millions of Americans who have no health insurance.

But what about the roughly 160 million workers and their dependents who already have health insurance through an employer? For many people, the result of the long, angry health care debate in Washington may be little more than more of the same.

As President Obama once promised, “If you like your health plan, you can keep your health plan.”

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Washington (CNN) — It’s known as the “greatest deliberative body in the world,” and with health care reform on the docket, the Senate’s debate on the contentious bill could last through Congress’ Christmas recess.

The goal, President Obama recently said, is for the Senate to pass legislation by Christmas — though opposition from Republicans could derail the hope.

While the House has wrapped up much of its business for the year and has already passed its form of the reform bill, senators have been working around the clock and on weekends.