You Don't NEed To Convince ME An Untriggered PO Available Day One Is The Best Bet

[WeDidIt]

Can you convince two of these Senators?

Pryor
Lincoln
Landrieu
Nelson
Nelson
Conrad
Baucus
Carper
Lieberman
Bayh

Convince two of them and the only hurdles are the procedural votes that would lead up to an up or down vote on reconciliation.

Anybody got any ideas on how to get two of these people to vote for an untriggered public option?

[ProSense]

1. Most of them will likely vote for a bill with a public option, and...

Baucus

Conrad

those are the Democrats on your list who are not going to oppose reconciliation.

Add the Democrat who fills Kennedy's seat and that's 51.

Game over!

[WeDidIt]

2. Baucus and Conrad have both dodged the issue of triggered or untriggered

and Conrad has stated emphatically there are not enough votes for a public option.

I doubt seriously if either is going to be on board but if they are, awesome,

BTW, don't count a Senate seat before it's filled.

[ProSense]

3. Still 50. Period. n/t

[WeDidIt]

4. Yeah, go read the bill Baucus and Conrad have put out

Where's the PO in that bill?

[ProSense]

5. Where's the trigger? Baucus is simply trying

in his owned failed way as a leader to get a bill out of committee with one Republican vote.

He has said he supports a public option, the majority in his state supports the option, and he will not stand in the way of reconciliation.

[WeDidIt]

6. I'm not counting on Baucus

but if you're right, cool.

[ProSense]

9. It's going to pass without a trigger. n/t

[WeDidIt]

12. I hope you're right

but I can't be that optimistic any more.

I will take a triggered public option over co-ops any day.

[polichick]

7. The president could simply say he'll campaign for their opponents...

He promised to campaign for Specter if he'd switch parties ~ it's something he's used before.

[WeDidIt]

8. If we're lucky, he's got Rahm twisting arms

Lieberman will eb the toughest nut to crack, but his shit is done after the 2010 elections and I think he knows that.

[polichick]

10. Strip these clowns of committee leadership spots, etc. - it's not so hard to do...

But Rahm leans TOWARD the Blue Dogs, which makes one wonder if the president does too.

[WeDidIt]

11. I understnad why the blue dogs are so protected

The Blue Dogs are the Democratic equivalent to the Chaffees, Colinses, and Snowes of the GOP.

Of course, our 19 or so moderate to conservastive Democratic Senators beat the hell out the the GOP's two moderates from Maine.

Basically, tolerating the Blue Dogs is why we hold our majorities. The present GOP is the perfect example of what happens when you stop tolerating moderated views in your party.

[polichick]

13. But if we let Blue Dogs dictate policy, having a majority means very little change...

I think like Howard Dean ~ draft progressive candidates everywhere.

[WeDidIt]

14. I look at it this way

It's better for us to have Blue Dogs telling us what we cannot do than having Republicans telling us what they WILL do.

[polichick]

15. Well, I'm thinking caving to the dogs would be a giant mistake...

...not just for healthcare, but for energy too.