Forward March: New villains in old story, but Dems face own distractions

By Rick Klein:  The health care push lingered long enough to get Democrats something new: some villains to make the story more interesting. (And that might even be a message that could break through, if Democrats weren’t doing such an effective job producing bad guys of their own right now.) Just as Anthem Blue Cross put a greedy corporate face on the health care debate, Sen. Jim Bunning put an angry congressional face on Republican obstructionism. They answer the two key questions the public has to be asking for health care reform to go down smoothly: Why do Democrats need to act, and why do they need to act alone? Neither characterization is entirely fair. Yet neither is it fair that, at the very same moment that Democrats need to come together around health care, another kind of vote-counting is going on to gauge support for House Ways and Means Chairman (still for the moment) Charlie Rangel, D-N.Y., while Gov. (also for the moment) David Paterson, D-N.Y., twists in the wind he kicked up. So it’s not a clear shot. But it’s a shot nonetheless, with just maybe some different dynamics, as President Obama commands all the health care attention once again: ABC’s Jake Tapper, on the president’s message with his 1:45 pm ET remarks Wednesday: “President Obama will indicate a willingness to work with Republicans on some issue to get a health care reform bill passed but will say that if it is necessary, Democrats will use the controversial reconciliation rules requiring only 51 Senate votes to pass the ‘fix’ to the Senate bill. “In his remarks, scheduled to be at the White House, the president will paint a picture of what he will say will happen without a health care reform bill — skyrocketing premiums, everyone at the mercy of the insurance industry as recently seen with the 39% premium increases proposed by Anthem Blue Cross in California.” In embracing some Republican-offered ideas, the White House got the headlines it wanted on Wednesday. Thursday’s and Friday’s need to look a little different. “By signaling that he is open to the opposition’s ideas, Mr. Obama struck a bipartisan tone even as the White House prepared the ground for Democratic efforts to pass comprehensive legislation on a party-line vote,” David M. Herszenhorn and Robert Pear write in The New York Times. Embracing Republican ideas — to get Democrats on board: “In a measure of the partisanship that has dominated the battle, his embrace of those GOP policies drew no plaudits from Republicans; instead, it appeared designed to coax votes from nervous Democratic moderates by demonstrating an attempt to cooperate with the other party,” the AP’s Alan Fram reports. “Obama's gesture to include GOP-backed provisions on cutting health costs and preventing fraud appeared to strengthen the resolve of congressional Democrats,” Lori Montgomery and Shailagh Murray report in The New York Times. “On Tuesday, Democratic leaders seemed increasingly confident that they could revive the bill and deliver it to Obama's desk, perhaps before the Easter recess begins March 29.” “The issues have been joined, we know where areas of commonality are, we know where the differences are,” senior White House adviser David Axelrod tells Bloomberg’s Kristin Jensen and Edwin Chen. “He will draw them out and talk about where that should lead us.” What’s in a word that won’t be spoken? “Obama is expected to stop short of formally calling for the use of reconciliation when he addresses his plans for health reform in remarks at the White House Wednesday, but officials say his message will be clear — Congress should take an up-or-down vote on a comprehensive plan,” Politico’s Carrie Budoff Brown and Patrick O’Connor report. “Even as all signs point to reconciliation — which would require 51 votes in the Senate to pass Obama’s fixes to the Senate bill — other problems surfaced Tuesday that could further complicate the Democrats’ efforts.” Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich.: “I don’t see members voting for the Senate bill.” Unless… “A survey Tuesday by The Wall Street Journal of all House Democrats who voted against the bill last fall found at least a half-dozen lawmakers who are now withholding judgment,” the Journal’s Greg Hitt, Laura Meckler, and Janet Adamy report. “Among them is Rep. John Tanner (D., Tenn.), who is taking a ‘wait and see approach’ to the bill and wants to see details, a spokesman said. Mr. Tanner, who isn't running for re-election, voted no last time, in part out of concern the bill didn't go far enough to control costs for individuals and small businesses. Rep. John Adler (D., N.J.), a freshman who won a Republican-leaning district in 2008, is also undecided, after voting no last fall. He said the Senate bill did a better job containing health costs.” Wait — more changes? The Washington Post editorial: “Many of [the Blue Dog Democrats] genuinely want the country to make progress on health care, but they are justly worried — as are many of their constituents — about enacting an expensive new entitlement at a time of rising federal debt. Our advice: Don't just agonize, do something. If the Blue Dogs stuck together, they could insist that health-care reform be made more responsible than the version recently endorsed by President Obama.” Why Jim Bunning still matters, even though he’s stopped flipping off reporters, and has given up his one-man blockade holding up an extension of unemployment benefits: “If the rules let Jim Bunning hold up unemployment benefits for 200,000 Americans just because he feels like it, maybe voters won't get so outraged when the GOP talks about how important the filibuster is,” writes Salon’s Mike Madden, who gets a-hold of the Democrats’ talking points. (And the DNC is all over this one — with local media hits on Bunning’s impact from Florida to Louisiana to Arizona…)
  And remember what March was supposed to be about? “Whatever happened to that shift from health care to the economy?” Jeff Zeleny writes in The New York times. “That question came to mind as Mr. Obama arrived in Savannah on Tuesday, where he delivered a 17-minute economic speech and talked to bricklayers and steelworkers before returning home to settle in for another push on health care legislation.”  What else March is turning out to be about: “Senior House Democratic aides say that House Ways and Means Chairman Charlie Rangel is negotiating terms with Democratic leaders to step down temporarily from his post atop the powerful tax-writing committee, pending the completion of several ethics committee investigations into his conduct,” ABC’s Jonathan Karl reports. “But Rangel remained publicly defiant, emerging from a meeting with Democratic leaders tonight saying he would hold on to the chairman’s gavel.” “You bet your life,” Rangel said, when asked whether he would remain chairman. (“And I don’t lie to the press,” he added.)
Said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., to The Hill: “I guess he is still chair of Ways and Means…” Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Chris Van Hollen, D-Md.: “We are going to be meeting [with] the caucus to discuss the best way forward,” Van Hollen said, per Bloomberg News. The New York Daily News: “Rangel was bluntly told he doesn't have the votes to hang onto his powerful perch atop the tax-writing committee, and he will have to quit as chairman as soon as Wednesday… Rangel told confidantes during the day that he knew time was running out.” Likely results, with House Republicans poised to force a vote on the matter Wednesday: “Rep. Charles Rangel appeared poised to lose the chairmanship of the powerful House tax-writing committee as dozens of Democrats said they would support a Republican resolution urging him to step down,” The Wall Street Journal’s Greg Hitt and Brody Mullins report. “As many as 30 House Democrats could join 178 House Republicans in voting to oust Mr. Rangel as head of the Ways and Means Committee.”  “A growing number of rank-and-file Democrats said they could not envision standing behind the embattled chairman given the likelihood that he would soon face further reprimands by the ethics committee, and Republican challengers would criticize such a vote in the fall elections,” David M. Herszenhorn and Carl Hulse report in The New York Times. Into the swamp: “Pelosi is facing her most serious ethics quandary since she became speaker three years ago, vowing to run ‘the most ethical Congress in history.’ Her fellow Democrats are also facing sharp attacks from Republicans calling for Rangel's ouster,” The Washington Post’s Paul Kane and Perry Bacon Jr. report. “A Democratic source had said Rangel was likely to ‘temporarily’ relinquish his chair amid rising concern among some Democrats that Rangel's troubles posed a political risk,” the AP’s Chuck Babington writes. “Rangel was scheduled to chair a Ways and Means Committee meeting Wednesday morning.” Elsewhere among Harlem Democrats… the political world is closing in on Gov. David Paterson. “A key figure in the domestic abuse scandal bedeviling Gov. David A. Paterson told investigators that the governor phoned to enlist her help in quieting the accuser, according to a person with knowledge of her account,” David Kocieniewski and Jeremy W. Peters report in The New York Times. “Deneane Brown, a state worker, was friends with both the governor and the woman who had accused a senior aide to Mr. Paterson of assaulting her last fall. The person with knowledge of Ms. Brown’s version of events said Ms. Brown was told by Mr. Paterson several weeks ago to convey a message to the accuser: ‘Tell her the governor wants her to make this go away.’ ” “Fallout from the controversy continued on Tuesday. The State Police superintendent, Harry J. Corbitt, who first admitted a week ago that state troopers contacted Ms. Booker in what he described as an effort to explain her ‘options,’ announced Tuesday evening that he would resign,” they continue. Gubernatorial candidate Rick Lazio, R-N.Y., on ABC’s “Top Line” Tuesday (and previously something of a Paterson defender): “He needs to step forward quickly and clarify this or he needs to step down.” And on the attorney general’s investigation: “It seems to me absurd, honestly, that Andrew Cuomo, as a political aspirant to the governor’s mansion not appoint somebody who is beyond reproach and independent and unbiased on this to conduct this investigation.”  The New York Times editorial: “Gov. David Paterson gave New Yorkers his ‘personal oath’ on Friday that he had never abused his office. It now seems clear that, at the very least, he tried to arrange a ham-handed cover-up to avert a scandal involving a top aide. … Mr. Paterson has failed to account for his actions. If he can show that he did no wrong, he must do so fully and immediately. If not, he should resign.” A very good week for Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y.: “I was encouraged by many major political figures in New York to look closely at running for Senate,” Mortimer B. Zuckerman tells the Daily News. “However, at this time, it is very difficult to see how I can devote the necessary time to either a campaign, or to working in Washington, if I were to win.” Before we leave New York…. “New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's top political strategist, Kevin Sheekey, will exit City Hall and return to the company the mayor founded, fueling speculation that Mr. Bloomberg is laying the groundwork for a potential White House bid,” Michael Howard Saul reports in The Wall Street Journal. “Mr. Bloomberg tapped Howard Wolfson, a nationally known Democratic strategist who served as a senior aide on Hillary Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign, to take over Mr. Sheekey's duties this spring as deputy mayor for government affairs. Mr. Wolfson accepted the promotion Monday, his first day on the job as a senior aide.” In Texas — not even close: “Kay Bailey Hutchison had many reasons to believe she'd beat Rick Perry for governor. But the anti-Washington wave swept them all away,” Wayne Slater reports in The Dallas Morning News. “Late Tuesday, she lost her bid to force Perry into runoff amid the whipsaw politics of a Tea Party movement able unable to knock off even a popular incumbent. … In any other election season, Hutchison's experience and skill bringing federal money to Texas would have been selling points. But not this year.” (And who thinks Hutchison will make good on her promise to resign post-primary?) Answering what’s next for Perry: “I’m really interested in who’s going to be the next president,” Perry told Politico’s Jonathan Martin Monday: “I have no interest in it being me in any form or fashion.” Writes Martin: “Gov. Rick Perry’s 21-point thrashing of Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison in Tuesday’s GOP gubernatorial primary offers the most vivid illustration yet of the potency of an anti-Washington message in an already volatile political environment.” The AP’s Liz Sidoti: “Winners: Texas Gov. Rick Perry and ‘tea party’ anger. Losers: Texas Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison and anybody else tied to Washington.” The Democratic nod went to former Houston mayor Bill White: “White told supporters in Houston he expects Perry to try to ‘perpetuate’ himself with politics of division and distraction to avoid talking about Texas issues, such as high unemployment, state government growth and unfunded mandates for local governments,” the Houston Chronicle’s R.G. Ratcliffe reports. Nathan Daschle, executive director of the Democratic Governors Association, in a memo looking toward the fall: “In a toxic climate for incumbents, former Houston Mayor Bill White will run as an outsider who can bring people together. …The Democratic Governors Association is expanding the playing field deep into Republican territory in this election cycle.” In Arkansas — suddenly the marquee matchup for Democratic intramurals: “In the 36 hours after Bill Halter announced he would challenge Sen. Blanche Lincoln in the Democratic primary, the Arkansas lieutenant governor was embraced by a coalition of progressive groups that raised more than $1 million to support his campaign and are promising to spend millions more in independent expenditures on his behalf,” Roll Call’s John McArdle reports. The New Republic’s Noam Scheiber is the latest to profile White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel. One telling sequence: “Last summer, as public support for health care reform began to recede, the president convened a series of meetings demanding to know why Democrats were losing the communications war. For his part, Axelrod argued that the administration lacked a compelling bad guy, having cut deals and observed cease-fires with industry lobbies to help ease the bill through Congress. ‘Axelrod would say, “We don’t have an enemy. During the campaign, we fought against insurance companies. Now we don’t have one,” ‘ recalls one administration official. Emanuel would invariably counter that the deals were essential to holding the package together. Jeopardize the deals, and you risked jeopardizing the whole project.” “From the very beginning, Emanuel had a clean, elegant theory for how to guide a health care bill through Congress. He’d closely studied each previous failure from Harry Truman to Bill Clinton and concluded that time was their biggest enemy. Because remaking the health care system is such a complex task, it necessarily requires complex legislation. And there hasn’t been a 1,000-page-plus bill in history that didn’t start to stink after several months. It’s just too easy for opponents to cull a few smelly details. So Emanuel placed a premium on speed…:” With the latest climate-change bill on its way, Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., met with one of his nemeses: T. Boone Pickens, Politico’s Kenneth P. Vogel reports. “In an effort to build support for the climate change legislation he’s crafting with Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Kerry last month met quietly in his Washington office with the two lawmakers and T. Boone Pickens, the Texas oilman behind the Swift Boat attack ads that helped sink Kerry’s 2004 presidential bid. The previously unreported session, which Kerry initiated, did not yield any concrete plans, but did find areas of agreement between the two former adversaries on the need for alternative energy sources.” “Don’t ask, don’t tell” repeal gets a bill: “Independent Senator Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut on Wednesday will introduce the Senate’s first ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ repeal bill along with eleven Democratic cosponsors including Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan, who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee, but no Republicans,” Kerry Eleveld reports for The Advocate. Meet the Spending Limit Amendment to the Constitution: “This amendment would limit spending to one-fifth of the economy (our historical spending average since World War II). The limit could only be waived by a declaration of war or by a two-thirds congressional vote,” Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, and Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind., write in a Wall Street Journal op-ed. “As with other constitutional amendments, Congress would be given the authority to enforce and implement it. But for the first time, the federal government would have a limit on its size and scope. The Spending Limit Amendment does not promise a particular spending plan about what programs to restrain and by how much. Rather, it puts a legal constraint on lawmakers present and future.”
The Kicker: “For all the courage and testicular virility you think you have, if I did the things they said I did, and I did wrong things like they want you to believe I did, I’d be nowhere near this event.” — Former Gov. Rod Blagojevich, D-Ill., lecturing on ethics in government at Northwestern University. “I saw where it's been a few weeks of unfair, non-stop criticism, people who don't know the real story. And I just say, Jay, welcome to my world.” — Former Gov. Sarah Palin, R-Alaska, to Jay Leno, back on “The Tonight Show.” 
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