Cloture vote foreshadows conference tussle over health bill  —  As the Senate prepares for the dead-of-night cloture vote on its healthcare reform bill, lawmakers in both chambers have already begun jockeying over what the final bill should look like.  —  Starting with the dramatic announcement Saturday …

Why I Still Believe in This Bill  —  Jacob S. Hacker is the Stanley B. Resor Professor of Political Science at Yale University.  An expert on the politics of U.S. health and social policy, he is author, coauthor, or editor of numerous books and articles, both scholarly and popular …

CBO issues correction: Health bill nixes deficit less than thought  —  The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) corrected its estimate of the Senate health bill's costs on Sunday, saying it would reduce deficits slightly less than they'd predicted.  —  In a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid …

Brittany Murphy Dies  —  Brittany Murphy died early this morning after she went into full cardiac arrest and could not be revived, multiple sources tell TMZ.  —  She was 32.  —  A 911 call was made at 8:00 AM from a home in Los Angeles that is listed as belonging to her husband …

POOR CHESS PLAYERS.... If it seemed as if the vast majority of Senate Democrats were acting with a stronger-than-expected commitment to getting health care done this year, it wasn't an accident. … Now, I happen to like that sentiment quite a bit, but let's pause to appreciate who made it: Evan Bayh?

A Whodunit: The $100 million mystery hospital  —  ABC News' Z. Byron Wolf reports:  —  The health reform Christmas gifts for Sens. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana and Ben Nelson of Nebraska are well known .  But somewhere out there is another good little legislator who got funding for a hospital in their state.

When Will White People Stop Making Movies Like “Avatar”?  —  Critics have called alien epic Avatar a version of Dances With Wolves because it's about a white guy going native and becoming a great leader.  But Avatar is just the latest scifi rehash of an old white guilt fantasy.  Spoilers...

Cooped-up senators turn cranky  —  Senators are suffering from cabin fever — and it has nothing to do with the snowstorm that socked Washington over the weekend.  —  A marathon session of early-morning, late-night and weekend votes — all coming after senators are typically home for the holidays …

A ‘STARTER HOME’.... There's a sizable chasm between the failed health care status quo and the progressive ideal.  This, at a minimum, contributes to the differences between progressive proponents of reform — the same proposal can be seen by the same ostensible allies as both an important step forward and a bitter disappointment.