From NewsOK:

Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett will seek a third term, he announced this morning.

“I expect the next four years in Oklahoma City to be pretty spectacular, and I want to be a part of it,” Cornett said in a news release.

It was widely speculated that he would seek a higher office, but Cornett cited the city’s progress in recent years and a possible MAPS 3 initiative later this year as reasons to try to stay in office.

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From The Tulsa World:

Direct involvement by President Barack Obama is the only way to forge a bipartisan health-care bill, U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn said Thursday.

“What needs to happen is for the president to sit down with some of us and say ‘I’m going to write a bill and send it to Congress,’ ” Coburn said during a town hall meeting at Bristow. “That’s what has to happen. If we do that, we’ll get a good bill.”

Such a scenario might give Coburn, who counts Obama as a friend despite their different political views, more influence on the process. One of two physicians in the Senate, Coburn has been unable to make much headway with his proposal to expand health insurance coverage by subsidizing private policies through refundable tax credits.

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From NewsOK:

Top state lawmakers are discussing the possibility of a special legislative session to address budget issues as the state’s revenues continue to shrink.

Paul Sund, spokesman for Gov. Brad Henry, said the governor is “in general discussions with legislative leaders about the state’s revenue outlook and (has) made no final definitive decisions on anything yet.”

Possible topics of the special session could include additional budget cuts or using money from the Rainy Day Fund, which has nearly $600 million in it.

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From The Tulsa World:

Anxiety and anger rained on U.S. Rep. Dan Boren on Tuesday during a series of town halls around his 2nd District in eastern Oklahoma.

For most of those who lined up to speak during the two-hour meetings in McAlester, Muskogee and Pryor, health-care reform served as a focal point for more general concerns about the federal government and rising national debt.

Boren, who said he will not vote for a health-care reform measure that includes the so-called public option — federally operated health insurance similar to Medicare — was taken to task for voting for several big-ticket economic programs intended to buoy the nation’s sagging economy.

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