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5 more Dems will vote against health care — Washington (CNN) — Five more House Democrats said Tuesday that they will vote against Senate health care legislation, which puts opponents of reform just 11 votes shy of the 216 needed to prevent President Obama from scoring a major victory on his top domestic priority.
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Do Pelosi and the Democrats Have the Health Care Votes? Here's the Math — ABC's David Chalian reports: President Obama and Speaker Pelosi have each spent some quality time with Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, in the last 36 hours. They probably have a pretty good idea …
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CNN, The Swamp, Washington Post, The Politico, The Hill, Associated Press, Riehl World View, The Hill and Open Congress

House Majority Leader: 'We're Going to Have a Clean Up or Down Vote' — Steny Hoyer, Eric Cantor Spar Over Health Care Vote Count, Parliamentary Tactics — House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer today hinted that Democrats may use a controversial parliamentary procedure to pass the health care bill …


Opinions Harden on Health — Nearly half call plan a ‘bad idea’ in latest Journal/NBC poll, but Democrats who oppose it risk alienating base — Democratic lawmakers may be tempted to vote against the health-care overhaul plan pending in Congress because it remains unpopular with a broad swath of the public.

Democrats Consider New Moves for Health Bill — WASHINGTON — As lawmakers clashed fiercely over major health care legislation on the House floor, Democrats struggled Tuesday to defend procedural shortcuts they might use to win approval for their proposals in the next few days.
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Los Angeles Times, Hot Air, ABCNEWS, Washington Post, Plain Dealer and The Atlantic Online

House Democrats scramble to ensure adequate deficit reduction in health bill
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The Note, Commentary, Associated Press, Swampland, USA Today, National Review and BluegrassBulletin.com

Hypocrisy: A Parliamentary Procedure — Any veteran observer of Congress is used to the rampant hypocrisy over the use of parliamentary procedures that shifts totally from one side to the other as a majority moves to minority status, and vice versa. But I can't recall a level …

Fineman Reports Kucinich to Vote “Yes” — Dennis Kucinich has called a press conference for tomorrow. Howard Fineman is reporting that Kucinich will vote “yes” on health care. — Kucinich told Obama that he wants a full ERISA waver and a public option in exchange for his vote.
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Breaking: Kucinich To Vote Yes — In a big get for House Dems, Dennis Kucinich just made it official: He's voting for the Senate bill, making him the first member to go on record fliping his vote from No to Yes. — “In the past week it's become clear that the vote on the final bill will be very close …

Admin, Dems move to put dispute with Israel in perspective — As a key pro-Israel House Democrat Howard Berman (D-Cal.), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, voiced sympathy for the Obama administration's sense of frustration with an Israeli government settlements announcement last week …
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McConnell Strategy Shuns Bipartisanship — WASHINGTON — Before the health care fight, before the economic stimulus package, before President Obama even took office, Senator Mitch McConnell, the Republican minority leader, had a strategy for his party: use his extensive knowledge of Senate procedure …
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Pelosi Calls All Female Democratic Members Into Meeting — Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is asking all female Democratic Members to attend a hastily called meeting Wednesday morning but isn't saying what the meeting is about. — Pelosi's office sent an e-mail out Tuesday evening requesting …

If bin Laden is found, he'll be killed, Holder says — Holder: If bin Laden found, he'll be killed — Osama bin Laden “will never appear in an American courtroom,” Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. told House members at a hearing Tuesday. — “Let's deal with the reality here,” …
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Kinsley's Transcendental Deduction of Hyperinflation — Michael Kinsley has a very strange column alleging that we're soon going to face hyperflation: “When everybody assumes 10 percent, all the forces that produced 10 percent push it to 20 percent, and then 40 percent …
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Was Medicare popular when it passed? — For some time, I've been trying to find good polling from the passage of Medicare. According to Greg Sargent, though, the Democrats beat me to it: … I wonder how many of the legislators who took the tough vote to move Medicare forward regret doing that today.
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Dem Leaders To Rank And File: Public Was Closely Divided On Medicare, Too!
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Washington Monthly


FACT CHECK: Premiums would rise under Obama plan — WASHINGTON - Buyers, beware: President Barack Obama says his health care overhaul will lower premiums by double digits, but check the fine print. — Premiums are likely to keep going up even if the health care bill passes, experts say.
Discussion:
Moonbattery
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Allies everywhere feeling snubbed by President Obama — The contretemps between President Obama and Israel needs to be seen in a broader global context. The president who ran against “unilateralism” in the 2008 campaign has worse relations overall with American allies than George W. Bush did in his second term.

The Fine Print on Financial Reform — If Dems want to campaign on regulatory overhaul for the banking sector, they need to make sure reforms are more than in name only. — On Monday, President Barack Obama released a complimentary statement about Sen. Chris Dodd's latest proposal for financial reform …
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The Huffington Post
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Field Poll: Meg Whitman trounces Steve Poizner, edges Jerry Brown — Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman has built a massive edge over her GOP rival Steve Poizner while taking a narrow lead over likely Democratic nominee Jerry Brown, according to results released today by the nonpartisan Field Poll.