Health Care Deal Close, and Unicorns and Rainbows for Everyone!

Pelosi says that the senate and house are close to resolving and presenting a final bill. But she says just a few small things remain up for discussion including the public option and abortion provisions... yeah right... just those two teeny tiny issues that are so easy to agree on.

I have to admit I have completely lost hope for the public option. I don't get congress. 75% of americans wanted it. There was plenty of political support for it. But no. we can't seem to get anything that is just plain good for the american people. It was an OPTION folks. We were not asking to mandate a public plan, but offering to give people a chance to choose it and make the insurance companies actually compete for health care dollars. What a bad idea. feh. I am sick and tired of the whole thing.

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Electoral-Vote.Com

Another political friend from back in 2004 is the Votemaster at http://www.electoral-vote.com He's a brilliant guy and has done a fantastic job on his site of calculating and presenting polling and electoral data. It should be a regular stop on your intertube surfing as we head into the final 100 days of this election. Need more assurances? Check this out.

"The site also covered the 2006 midterm elections and correctly predicted the winner of all 33 Senate races that year."

This week the Votemaster had some great reviews of the global tour bump.

Yesterday Barack Obama said that he expected his polls to drop since he hadn't been campaigning for a week (as if he didn't know the effect of having Americans watch 200,000 Germans cheering and waving American flags). To his "surprise," Obama got a bounce in the national polls. Gallup has him ahead 48% to 41% (was 45% to 43% before the trip). Rasmussen has him ahead 49% to 43% (was tied at 46%). An NBC/WSJ poll has Obama on top 47% to 41%. A 5% win in the popular vote will almost assuredly result in a landslide in the electoral college.

John Weaver, for many years Mcain's top political strategist, said it was a big mistake for McCain to dare Obama to go to Iraq, only to have the country's Prime Minister endorse Obama's plan to withdraw U.S. troops in 2010. It is going to be very hard for McCain to continue to argue that American troops should be in Iraq for 100 years if the elected Iraqi government doesn't want them there. McCain can probably change his position without being accused of flip-flopping (e.g., by saying something like "If the Iraqis now feel we have secured their country, it is fine to leave") but it will be very difficult for McCain to claim he has better judgement than Obama on foreign affairs.

Make sure you click around his site. He has great data on the presidential race but also a terrific senate and house pages. His downloadable data page will warm the heart of the wonkiest wonks and the most hard core politicos among us (you know who you are).

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Georgia on my mind.

It is Wed. and that means it is time for the wonderful Wednesday Wire; coming out every week. From this week's edition;

ELECTION UPDATE GEORGIA. Five military veterans are running as Democrats against five entrenched Republican members of the House. They are Bill Jones, former Air Force officer against Tom Price in GA – 06; Doug Heckman, former Army Colonel against John Linder in GA-07; Bill Gillespie, retired Army Lt. Col against Jack Kingston in GA – 01; Bobby Saxon, National Guard major against Paul Broun in GA – 10 and Bud Gammon, Air Force Academy grad against Phil Gingrey in GA –11. With the Republicans having a hard time finding top drawer candidates to take on our perennial vulnerables Jim Marshall (GA – 08) and John Barrow (GA -12) (both very conservative Dems)

This expansion of the playing field could make serious trouble for the Georgia GOP. Don’t expect any of the five to win, but in a wave election year, surprises do happen.

My favorite quote from the homepages of the Georgia Fighting 5 is this jem from Bobby Saxon;

I'm as sick of politics as most of you are and this is exactly why I'm running for Congress. I believe our political leaders should serve the best interests of this country. They should work for the good of all people and they should act like adults and find a way to work together for the common good of all Americans. (emphasis, mine)

Hear.Hear!

Read more news, views and state by state analysis from John McQueen at http://www.wednesdaywire.com/ every week. He is a pragmatic progressive and mentor-extraordinaire. Do you know more vets running? More exciting House and Senate races we should be paying attention to? Share in the thread. And here's an old sweet song in honor of the Georgia Fighting 5! Don't hesitate to send them some bloggy-love in the form of contributions. Every little bit can make a big difference in the house races.

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