Chuck Todd claims public option

does not have 40 votes in the Senate.

Time to start a whip count. I know Boxer (CA) supports. I would also add in Harkin (IA), Sanders (VT), Kerry (MA) and Kennedy (MA). I don't think Feinstein is on board, but I saw something that indicated otherwise from a DUer. So we've got at least 5 votes.

Any others?

into it.

Add Feingold (WI) and Leahy (VT) to your list as well.

Boxer (CA)
Feinstein (CA)(?)
Harkin (IA)
Kerry (MA)
Kennedy (MA)
Sanders (VT)
Leahy (VT)
Feingold (WI)

As of this moment, I'm not averse to torture rendition, either.

Bitter that he didn't get timmy's spot on MTP. Wah, Wah!

He hasn't stood up to Durbin yet.

Boxer (CA)
Feinstein (CA)(?)
Harkin (IA)
Kerry (MA)
Kennedy (MA)
Franken (MN)
Sanders (VT)
Leahy (VT)
Feingold (WI)

...or a wet fart. HELP will be the only real game in the Senate, and it's becoming Teddy's Last Hurrah. She'll fall into line.

Boxer (CA)
Feinstein (CA)(?)
Harkin (IA)
Durbin (IL)
Burris (IL)
Kerry (MA)
Kennedy (MA)
Franken (MN)
Schumer (NY)
Sanders (VT)
Leahy (VT)
Feingold (WI)

Boxer, Casey, Cantwell, Brown, Burris, Feingold, Durgin, Dodd, Harkin, Gillibrand, Franken, Kaufman, Kerry, Kohl, Klobuchar, Lautenberg, Leahy, Levin, Menendez, Merkley, Mikulski, Murray, Reed, Schumer, Specter, Shaheen, Stabenow, both Udalls, Whitehouse, Wyden, Akaka, Inouye, Feinstein, one and maybe both VA senators...

If Finance fails to produce a bill at all -- and that's not out of the question -- the numbers go up.

Really?

...the Admiral, he can't beat Toomey from the right, because he'd fall off the earth trying. Big union state too.

Back when the stimulus was passed some PA newspapers ran stories about how Specter single handedly managed to double the budget of some government groups researching ways to fight cancer. The fact that he pushed for including it in the stimulus bill before giving it his vote shows he does care about health care related issues. He's also got a primary challenge to worry about, but honestly I wouldn't be surprised if Specter supported a public option anyway even if he had a clear field on our side.

...are worrying for Inouye, Akaka, Byrd, and Kennedy. Two of those seats, if vacant, could go R very easily.

As far as my understanding of the polls go..

So I think we can safely say that the seats of Hawai'i will remain a firm D.

Ambercrombie might get one of the seats..

Hawkeye-X

Boxer (CA)
Feinstein (CA)(?)
Harkin (IA)
Durbin (IL)
Burris (IL)
Kerry (MA)
Kennedy (MA)
Franken (MN)
McCaskill (MO)
Schumer (NY)
Sanders (VT)
Leahy (VT)
Feingold (WI)

I am thinking that Michigan should have two in here. What about VA? MD, DE, NJ, NH?

And both NJ are solid.

I don't regret Baucus fiasco, maybe planned fiasco to reveal weak GOP support, but deadline could have been kept to avoid August vagueness. Grassley was determined to slow it down.

We don't know yet.

I am backing Tasini against Gillibrand in the primary.

He exists only to belittle Democrats and suck up to repubs.

Secondly, I was listening to Rachel Maddow tonight describe the role of a Senate party whip, namely to "whip" members into line to get them to vote for the party's position on a given bill. And it made me wonder, do the Democrats have a "whip"? Who the hell is it? Why isn't he/she whipping the asses of some Democratic senators to get them to support the Democrats position on health care.

The only reason I can think of is that the Democrats do not HAVE a position on health care and that is exactly the problem. Obama has basically farmed the job out to the congress and they are going to come up with a health plan designed by committee which by definition is gonna suck. It's the president's job to propose a plan not 500 other people.

I can't believe Obama fucked this up on his own. He's too smart for that> But I think he's getting some real shitty advice from some aides in very high positions within his administration.

Like um, I dunno,,,,,

then-majority and said "Here, go pass this for us". Remember how well that worked? And Rahm Emmanuel was Assistant to the President for Political Affairs and then Senior Advisor to the President for Policy and Strategy in the Clinton White House. He saw that train-wreck up close and personal.

Obama is open to the charge of fighting the last war, but it's not a random decision to wait on what comes out of Congress before fully engaging the White House.

Boxer (CA)
Feinstein (CA)(?)
Udall (CO)
Dodd (CT)
Kaufman (DE)
Harkin (IA)
Akaka (HI)
Inouye (HI)
Durbin (IL)
Burris (IL)
Mikulski (MD)
Kerry (MA)
Kennedy (MA)
Stabenow (MI)
Levin (MI)
Franken (MN)
Klobucher (MN)
McCaskill (MO)
Shaheen (NH)
Lautenberg (NJ)
Menendez (NJ)
Udall (NM)
Schumer (NY)
Gillibrand (NY)
Brown (OH)
Merkley (OR)
Wyden (OR)
Casey (PA)
Specter (PA)(?)
Reed (RI)
Whitehouse (RI)
Sanders (VT)
Leahy (VT)
Cantwell (WA)
Murray (WA)
Feingold (WI)
Kohl (WI)(?)

That's 37

...is what Todd should have said.

..are either doubtful or I don't know them well, or, like Tester, have no track record.

Whip counts, at this point, are meaningless. They're useful as slightly-more-authoritative polls. I am surprised that so many Progressives, who usually claim to have greater intelligence and political acumen than most people, believe that this race is almost run, when the actual horse trading hasn't even started.

Congress hasn't reconvened yet. None of what is being said in/by the Press is anything more than "running it up the flagpole to see who salutes". I wouldn't even count Rope-a-Dope out at this point.

Right now, it is the calendar that is in command.

The first Monday after re-convening (Sept. 14?) is when it gets serious. At THAT point, the pressure will increase dramatically, and I suspect we will see the White House unsheath the great tamahagane Katana. The main body of the action will last a minimum of six weeks. I concur with Gov. Dean that we will be able to get the bill passed WITH Public Option. Because, if the bill fails, it will come back ASAP as a Single Payer bill.

Right now, in spite of all the gnailing and washing of teeth, there is nothing going on aside from general wankery on the part of those who have more PR than power. Our anxieties are premature. The fight is back on the day after Labor Day.

--d!

So we can get single payer.

I believe that when Scahill talked about the actions of Blackwater, Todd stated that there's no use in reporting about them because there's no chance their members would be prosecuted. Is he a journalist or a member of the government? Whatever the government decides to do, isn't he supposed to inform the people? Isn't that his job? And when Scahill asked Todd if he could perhaps raise questions at Obama press conferences about what's going on in Afghanistan, he got very defensive. And when Leno and Maher talked about the fact that there used to be real journalists in America, he made fun of that belief, stating that back in the good old days, those journalists also used to look back to the journalists who came before them.

These clowns like Todd don't deserve any respect as journalists and we should turn the TV off.

giving him a forum.

Boxer (CA)
Feinstein (CA)(?)
Udall (CO)
Dodd (CT)
Kaufman (DE)
Harkin (IA)
Akaka (HI)
Inouye (HI)
Durbin (IL)
Burris (IL)
Cardin (MD)
Mikulski (MD)
Kerry (MA)
Kennedy (MA)
Stabenow (MI)
Levin (MI)
Franken (MN)
Klobucher (MN)
McCaskill (MO)
Shaheen (NH)
Lautenberg (NJ)
Menendez (NJ)
Bingaman (NM)
Udall (NM)
Schumer (NY)
Gillibrand (NY)
Brown (OH)
Merkley (OR)
Wyden (OR)
Casey (PA)
Specter (PA)(?)
Reed (RI)
Whitehouse (RI)
Sanders (VT)
Leahy (VT)
Cantwell (WA)
Murray (WA)
Feingold (WI)
Kohl (WI)(?)

You are missing Kennedy, Webb, Rockerfeller, Begich and Mikulski. Open left calls Kohl a maybe and lists Landrieu as a maybe that Biden can probably convert. Open Left and Dean both list Specter and Feinstein as definite supporters. Johnson (SD) and Warner are considered likely.

Senator Amy Klobuchar, who was in Minneapolis today, says the slightly different not-for-profit co-op, may be the way to go.

"And one of the things we're starting to hear is we want to have some tug on the insurance companies so they offer good rates to us. We want to have some type of competition,” says Sen. Amy Klobuchar.

http://kaaltv.com/article/stories/S1089469.shtml?cat=10151

No one.

http://standwithdrdean.com/where_congress_stands

In the Senate, 45 support, 39 oppose, 16 are uncommitted.