GET The Gotdam Votes! ( +Huzzah for the ProgCaucus!)

First let us praise the Progressive Caucus in the House for standing up and making their voice and power heard on Health Care. This is a great development, whatever the eventual outcome. A strong bloc of Progressives is an absolute necessity on every important issue going forward, so….

HUZZAH, HUZZAH, HUZZAH!!!

Next it must be noted that as ALWAYS….the Republicans are  On that there is only one entity to blame, The White House. A good PR campaign was essential to get a good health care plan passed. Where is it? The polls out today all point to the same conclusion…the Repub Fear campaign is working. As ALWAYS. IF we lose on Health care, that is THE biggest factor right there, eroded public support due to the GOP Winning the Spin. When will the Dems learn?

Finally , on to the self fulfilling prophecy that has dominated the CongDems consciousness for years now, if not decades:

We don’t have the votes.

I have said it before and I will say it again….the purpose of Politics is GETTING the votes.

The famous aphorism of “Politics is the art of compromise” is a sugarcoated version of the truth.

Politics is the art of making deals.

Last night CornSyrupAwareness wrote a great diary at Daily Kos 44 Senators Support A Public Option wherein s/he laid out the current vote count and the status of what can only be called the undecided Dem Senators.

Only TWO “Democratic” Senators have come out firmly against the Public Option.

Only TWO ….out of Sixty. Out of the 60 votes needed. And Olympia Snowe makes up for one of those, since she has said she WILL support the PO. The TWO who are a firm NO are Mary Landrieu.  And of course …..Joe Lieberman.

That leaves 14 Senators who have at least technically are uncommitted. If they are technically uncommitted, that means that they are open to…..a deal.

Note…CornSyrupAwareness is iffy on Blanche Lincoln. I count her as on board since she has stated she will support the PO. I count her because IF there are 59 votes I think she WILL get onboard. And that is a key factor.

As we have all been educated now, the Senate is a club, a clique….in essence the senate is much like High School. If all the other kids are doing it, it is hard not to go along.

That is a huge factor in the self-fulfilling “we don’t have the votes” prophecy. As long as some of the Senators say “we don’t have the votes” other Senators will waffle. This is where leadership comes in.

Here are the 14, with CornSyrupAwareness’s notes:

Max Baucus D-MT: but he has said the public option is ‘on the table’, and he said he opposes the public option merely because it won’t get enough votes, not on substance.”

Evan Bayh D-IN: We know he’s a Blue Dog and they have many concerns about a public option. According to TPM he hasn’t “openly opposed it”.

Mark Begich D-AK: I’m optimistic about his support. He hasn’t given it yet, but there are some signs that he may.

Michael Bennet D-CO: He seems to be on the fence but leaning towards supporting a public option. TPM says that he, “prefers the co-op idea, but said he could support a public option.”

Robert Byrd D-WV: is listed on TPM as “very old and very sick.”

According to bloggers at West Virginia Blue he has stated his support for a public option and his opposition to using the Byrd rule to deny reconciliation.

Thomas Carper D-DE: He seems to be in favor of a trigger plan or the Conrad co-op plan. In an interview with David Schuster, Senator Carper said he won’t draw a line in the sand about what type of plan he’ll support.

Kent Conrad D-ND: He’s got the co-op plan but TPM says, “Main reason for opposing the public option because it didn’t have the votes, not because of its substance.  If momentum picks up, I think he’ll jump aboard.”

Dianne Feinstein D-CA: Calls to her office have left varying results, one saying she supports a public option. Another aide said she’d have to see the details first.

Bill Nelson D-FL: TPM says he “sits on the Finance committee, does not want to embrace the public option but has avoided openly opposing it.”

Ben Nelson D-NE: . He can be found on both sides of this debate. Publicly saying he will oppose a public option and then telling Nebraskans he would consider it.

Mark Pryor D-AR: . He seems to be with Feinstein in the can’t support it till I see it crowd.

John Tester D-MT: Tester is with Pryor and Feinstein.

Mark Warner D-VA: has expressed interest in a co-op plan and is considering a trigger

Ron Wyden D-OR: has his own plan called the Healthy Americans Act.Repeated calls to his office have indicated his support for his own plan, and an unwillingness to say if he’d support a public option if his bill failed.

These 14 CAN be lead, can be convinced, can……make a deal.

The process is simple in principle, the devil of course is in the details. And there are MANY devilish details, This is by no means an easy thing to do, but it is the essence of politics.

Reid and Durbin need to huddle with Obama and staff. They need to look at each individual senator, figure out what they want and make a deal with them. You give them what they want for their state in return for their vote on Health Care.

That is the carrot, you also use the stick, threaten to take away what they want if they don;t vote the way you want, reward them with what they want if they do. And…threaten them with shunning from the clique as well.

yes….to get say for example, Ben Nelsons vote, you will have to give up something you REALLY don’t want to give up. You will have to do something that under other circumstances you would not do. you have to trade, you have to deal.

You go to each of these Senators who are to some degree or another and flatter them and threaten them and negotiate with them until you get there vote.

You do the same to any Republican you think is vulnerable.

And you do it until you have 60 votes.

THAT is politics.

LBJ politics, which is what we need to move the logjam of the Bush/Repub legacy.

The Politics of Change, as FDR and LBJ proved….is NOT for the weak.

This is a tipping point.

This is make or break.

This IS Waterloo and just like the Progressive Caucus is doing, it IS time to draw a line in the sand and pull out all the stops. Now.

And for God and the nations sake…..learn how to do PR and Win the Spin! Public support, head knocking and deal making.

It’s called politics guys. DO it.

Go Big or Go Home.

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And let me add a huge shout out to CornSyrupAwareness for doing the hard work!