Overnight Briefing & General Reality Check

What a difference a year makes:

Some are calling yesterday's Brown /Coakley election in Massachusetts a referendum on the Obama Administration.
   SCOTT BROWN, a little-known Republican state senator, upset the Democrat MARTHA COAKLEY in the U-S Senate race to replace TED KENNEDY.
   This has been a seat occupied by the Kennedys going back to Senator Kennedy's brother, the former president JOHN KENNEDY.
   Brown's win (by roughly 52-47 percent) means the end of the Democrats' 60-vote super majority they've used to push along health care reform.   Coakley, who already was being second guessed as a study in bad campaigning, will be second-guessed even more after watching her 31-point lead evaporate in less than a month.
   Some of the most interesting fallout will be seen in Congress where Democrats are now likely to try and pass health care before Senator-elect Brown can take his seat, either by trying to get the House to go along with a Senate bill and passing it quickly, or reverting to a 51-vote majority through the reconciliation process. Either would result in howls of outrage among Republicans. (Maiman)

Top talkables of the day:

An American trapped after the Haiti earthquake owes his life to his iPhone.
   According to NBC Miami, Colorado Springs resident DAN WOOLLEY was in Port-au-Prince filming a documentary. When his hotel collapsed around him during the earthquake, Woolley reached for his iPhone.
   First Woolley used the light from his phone to look at his injuries. He then used a first aid application on the phone to properly diagnose a broken foot. The app also offered instructions for treating the excessive bleeding from the cuts on his legs and the back of his head.
   Woolley was trapped for 65 hours before rescue crews found him. He wasn't sure he'd make it out alive, so used the Notepad app on his iPhone to write a letter to his wife and young children. He wrote, "I was in a big accident. Don't be upset at God. He always provides for his children even in hard times." (Page)

The 411:

The country's worst commutes? You might think it's yours but the Daily Beast website teamed up with traffic tracking firm INRIX, which collects information nationwide from more than 1.5 million GPS units, to put together the 75 worst commutes in the country.
   With gridlocked commuters collectively spending a total of 686 hours every week in bottlenecked congestion, the Hollywood Freeway in Los Angeles was ranked in the worst spot. Several of the usual suspects made the top 10, including New York, Washington, Chicago and San Francisco, but Austin, TX? It placed at No. 4.
   The list was created using data from rush hour congestion, measuring the time difference for a trip taken during peak congestion hours and the same trip taken during free-flow hours.
10. Airport Expressway (State Road 112), Miami
 9. Kennedy Expressway, Chicago
 8. I-95, Bridgeport, CT
 7. I-5, Seattle
 6. Cross Bronx Expressway, New York City
 5. Highway 101, San Francisco
 4. I-35, Austin
 3. Capital Beltway, surrounding Washington DC
 2. Lunalilo Freeway (H-1), Honolulu
 1. Hollywood Freeway, Los Angeles

AskMen.com's Top 99 Women:

The yearly list is out today --topped by "Entourage" actress EMMANUELLE CHRIQUI --and compiled from over six million votes. The top 20:
20. Paz Vega (actress)
19. Monica Belluci (actress)
18. January Jones (actress)
17. Natalie Portman (actress)
16. Kelly Brook (British actress and model)
15. Padma Lakshmi (celebrity chef)
14. Erin Andrews (sportscaster)
13. Bar Rafaeli (model)
12. Gisele Bundechen (model)
11. Megan Fox (actress, last year #2)
10. Miranda Kerr (VS model)
9. Eva Mendes (actress, last year #1)
8. Cheryl Cole (singer, "X Factor" judge)
7. Penelope Cruz (actress)
6. Beyonce (singer)
5. Jessica Alba (actress)
4. Alessandra Ambrosio (VS model)
3. Kate Beckinsale (actress, last year #10)
2. Marissa Miller (VS model, last year #3)
1. Emmanuelle Chriqui (actress, last year #12)