Today is the Massachusetts election that's being watched around the country. Politico summarizes the pressure being felt by the democrats...
Ever since health care reform flamed out in the 1990s, Democrats thought lots of things might derail their longtime dream this time around. Losing a Senate seat in liberal Massachusetts was not on the list.
But that is the harsh reality sinking in among Democrats -- that a Republican victory could spell the end of health reform because there is no good option to rescue the plan from this latest brush with political death.Publicly, the White House and top Democrats held firm to their stance that health care reform will pass this year. And Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Monday that Democrats will need to figure out a way to proceed if Republican Scott Brown wins, "but that doesn't mean we won't have a health care bill.""Let's remove all doubt that we will have health care one way or another," Pelosi told reporters in San Francisco.But privately, Democrats are getting cold feet about pushing ahead full bore on health care. Moderate Democrats who have long been skeptical of the administration's focus on the issue could begin to peel away in the face of a convincing loss for Democrat Martha Coakley, dealing a fatal blow to legislation that had no room for error in either chamber.
Read the full story here.
