counting votes, obama, reid, pelosi.jpg
This is it. This is the week. As a great, Drudge-recommended piece by Clive Cook states in The Financial Times

What the Obama administration lacks in clarity of message it makes up for in sheer nerve. Mr Obama has doubled down on his healthcare gamble. He has delayed a planned trip to Asia this week, so that he can exert more influence as the House Democratic leaders try to corral the vote. If the effort fails, he will be fully implicated in the failure.

We need to make sure it fails. Call, fax, Twitter, and email your rep this morning.
Per FireDogLake:

The quiet confidence among Democratic leaders over the health care bill belies the hardball tactics going on behind the scenes.

The reason they’re having to play hardball is because we’re playing hardball. Only it’s a game of life and death. Bear that in mind as you keep playing. Call, fax, Twitter, and email your rep this morning.
Latest whip count, from FireDogLake.com (although it’s soon to be updated… will post when that happens)…
whip count, march 12 and 14.png
From The Hill, March 13:

House Democratic leaders don’t have the votes to pass healthcare reform. At least not yet….
Pelosi is clearly down in the vote count. 34 House Democrats are either firm no votes or leaning no, according to The Hill’s whip list. Dozens more are undecided….
If every House member votes and all Republicans reject the bill as expected, Pelosi can only afford 37 Democratic defections. That breakdown of the votes would lead to a 216-215 tally.
Of the 34 no votes/leaning no votes, 8 of them backed the House-backed bill in November. Meanwhile, 9 Dems who voted no last fall are publicly on the fence.
Friday’s decision by Democratic leaders to forge ahead without the backing of anti-abortion rights Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI) has dealt a blow to the chances the lower chamber can pass a health bill….

From The Hill, March 14:

Democrats don’t currently have the votes necessary to pass healthcare reform in the House, Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-SC) acknowledged today.
House leaders are frantically trying to gather enough votes to pass the Senate bill as early as this week, but so far they’ve fallen short, Clyburn said.
“No we don’t have them as of this morning but we’ve been working this thing all weekend,” Clyburn told NBC’s Meet the Press….
“I’m very confident we’ll get this done,” he said. “I think the members are going to vote for this.”

We frankly need to rub Clyburn’s confidence in his face. Call, fax, Twitter, and email your rep this morning.
[Graphic via The Financial Times]

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