United Liberty

Once again politics shows us what it has in common with the world’s oldest profession:

Staffers on Capitol Hill were calling it the Louisiana Purchase.

On the eve of Saturday’s showdown in the Senate over health-care reform, Democratic leaders still hadn’t secured the support of Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.), one of the 60 votes needed to keep the legislation alive. The wavering lawmaker was offered a sweetener: at least $100 million in extra federal money for her home state.

And so it came to pass that Landrieu walked onto the Senate floor midafternoon Saturday to announce her aye vote — and to trumpet the financial “fix” she had arranged for Louisiana. “I am not going to be defensive,” she declared. “And it’s not a $100 million fix. It’s a $300 million fix.”

Nice to see you set the price high when you sold yourself Mary.

Oh wait, this is Washington, they don’t call it bribery, they call it “leverage”:

Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) said Friday night that she’s “leaning towards” voting to start debate on the health care bill – which would leave Democrats just a single vote shy of clearing a critical test for the reform package on Saturday.

Asked outside the Capitol if she’s made up her mind on starting the debate, Landrieu said she planned to announce her intentions Saturday but told POLITICO, “I’m leaning towards it.”

That would mean Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s hopes for a successful vote hinge on one senator: Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.), who remained mum about her intentions as the clock ticked down to the critical vote.

Lincoln told POLITICO Friday afternoon that she has no timetable to make her decision ahead of the vote, scheduled for 8 p.m. “I was told I have time to make my decision,” Lincoln said.

And Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) announced he would vote yes on going ahead with debate, even though he is calling for significant amendments to the bill on the floor.

Democrats from the White House to Capitol Hill projected confidence that Reid would have the 60 votes needed to start debate on health reform, despite the reservations expressed by senators on various details in the bill.

But with barely 24 hours left before the Saturday vote, no issue had emerged to immediately derail the $848 billion package, and Reid’s No. 2, Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, told reporters, “We will proceed with this bill.”

At this point it’s down to one vote.

The first procedural vote on Obama in the Senate will come tomorrow as Democrats try to win 60 votes to begin debate:

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Thursday that the first crucial vote on an $848 billion health care overhaul package would probably happen Saturday.

That procedural vote will decide whether to bring that bill to the Senate floor and begin debate, and its approval relies on the votes of three wavering moderate Democrats. Republicans are expected to rally all 40 of their senators to block the legislation from advancing, requiring Reid, D-Nev., to keep all 60 members of his Democratic caucus in line.

Reid has refused to say whether he had commitments from them.

Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA), who is not up for re-election next year, says she’s still reading the bill and hasn’t come to a decision. However, there is a $100 million bribe to win her support tucked neatly in the bill on page 432.

Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE), who is up for re-election in 2012, will support his party on the procedural vote but is on the fence on the bill.

The only other member of the Democratic caucus really up in the air is Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-AR), who is up for re-election next year, and is considered to be vulnerable. A new Zogby polls shows a vote in favor of ObamaCare could mean the end of her career:

Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) criticized the government-run option in an interview on NPR, explaing that it would bankrupt the country if passed (audio is below):

Asked about polls showing public support for a government plan, Landrieu said the questions should be phrased differently.

“I think if you asked, do you want a public option but it would force the government to go bankrupt, people would say no,” she said.Landrieu suggested co-ops as a possible compromise.

Thirty Democratic Senators have pledged to only vote for a bill including a public option. Landrieu, obviously, is not one of them.

That is one less vote for the public option in the Senate. If all Republicans hold (looking at you, Senators Snowe and Collins), there is no way the “public option” can pass. However, that changes if Democrats elect to go with reconciliation as a way to get around a cloture vote.