House Health Care Plan Is "Dead on Arrival" in the Senate

Sarah Palin has been fighting hard against the Obama-Pelosi Healthcare Plan. And it looks as if it will go to the Senate now to die.

In the Senate, the Democrats have 60 votes, including two Independents. One of those Independents, Senator Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, today said that he would not only vote against the House Bill - he'll fight it.

The Associated Press has this -

If a government plan is part of the deal, "as a matter of conscience, I will not allow this bill to come to a final vote," said Sen. Joe Lieberman, the Connecticut independent whose vote Democrats need to overcome GOP filibusters.

"The House bill is dead on arrival in the Senate," Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said dismissively.

So the 60 votes is publicly down to 59, privately it is closer to 50. There are 8-12moderate Democrats who have real problems with the bill.

You can expect this "historic" house bill to get watered way down before it has any chance to come out of the Senate. The public option will either be eliminated or postponed; abortion funding will be gone and it will cost significantly less - to name a few expected changes.

Even then, it may not pass - and certainly not by year's end.

The Senate will likely begin debate on the ObamaCare bill in the next week or two. Here is a target list of Democrats who can be persuaded to vote against the bill.

Blanche Lincoln (D-Arkansas) ~ (202) 224-4843
Mark Pryor (D-Arkansas) ~ (202) 224-2353
Mary Landrieu (D-Louisiana) ~ (202) 224-5824
Michael Bennet (D-Colorado) ~ (202) 224-5852
Mark Begich (D-Alaska) ~ (202) 224-3004
Byron Dorgan (D-North Dakota) ~ (202) 224-2551
Kent Conrad (D-North Dakota) ~ (202) 224-2043
Ben Nelson (D-Nebraska) ~ (202) 224-6551