Reconciliation bill makes key improvements + who to watch

By GottaLaff

(click on image to enlarge)

Greg Sargent always has a great way of concisely recapping events:

Everyone is wondering whether any single bloc of House Dems — the Hispanic caucus, the progressives, the moderates — will be willing to sink the bill. Dems had come to fear that the Hispanic caucus might end up doing just that. But Gutierrez and ULAC seem to put that possibility to rest — and that this constituency is close to locked down.

* The Speaker’s office is circulating talking points among surrogates, telling them how to explain how the reconciliation fix has improved the bill. Check them out right here for a preview of what you’ll be hearing in the days ahead.

I screen grabbed a portion of the talking points above.

Meantime, CBS has their own list of Democrats they say we should watch. Generally, it includes the obvious suspects:

Vulnerable Democrats

Anti-abortion Democrats (as in guess who)

Blue Dogs

Congressional Hispanic Caucus members

Retirees

And... Republican Rep. Rep. Anh "Joseph" Cao

Here's who I watch: The GOP going bonkers trying to smear and scare, because they know that health care reform will happen. And when it does, or at least after awhile, the Dems will get kudos, President Obama will have himself a major victory, and the Rushpublics will look like the mean old negative whiners that they are.