Eve (nyceve) Gittelson

In a conference call with political bloggers, Senator Arlen Specter (Still-Fresh D-PA) reported that in a recent gathering of the Senate Democratic caucus, he suggested his colleagues pledge to stick with the party on a cloture vote when the merged health care reform bill came to the floor. Much to Specter’s surprise, according to him, [...]

Several months ago, I helped persuade encourage Jerry Nadler to take the whip count pledge.  So I’m particularly thrilled to see that’s he’s standing firm as iron these days. From the way he’s talking, he’s a changed man–delighted he took the pledge, and knowing full well the critical nature of the pledge project. And for anyone with lingering doubts that the path to securing the public option runs [...]

Susie Madrack at Suburban Guerilla received the following email about a Facebook death announcement. It arrived via an old friend. My commentary. This is Murder by Spreadsheet writ large. Late this afternoon I was gobsmacked by a Facebook announcement that a high school friend had died. I tracked down the story, and it is an absolute textbook example [...]

Karen Ignagni the CEO of AHIP, held a conference call with members of the press this morning. I am persona non grata with AHIP, but perhaps Jane got by the AHIP screeners (remind you of the George Bush towh hall meetings?), and will be able to give us her impressions of what transpired. Before the call, AHIP [...]

WTF, Jerry? Just got off the phone with Ilan Kayatsky, Congressman Jerold Nadler’s press secretary. I can report that Ilan’s a very pleasant fellow and did his utmost to answer the question, "will Mr. Nadler commit to voting against any healthcare reform bill that does not contain a strong public option available to all Americans on [...]

Ryan Grim at the Huffington Post is reporting that in a closed door meeting of the Senate Finance Committee, John Kerry proposed including a ten-year trigger in the healthcare bill.  In a closed-door meeting of Senate Finance Committee Democratic members and their staff Wednesday evening, Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) suggested that the committee bill include [...]

The special interests, all aligned against the urgent needs of the American people, are spending $1.4 million a day so that they will prevail and we won’t.