Taegan Goddard's Political Wire

November 20, 2009

Senators to Watch

With Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE) announcing today that he would vote on Saturday night to bring the health care reform bill up for debate, attention turns to four others whose votes may indicate the ultimate success or failure of the bill.

• Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) -- According to Politico, she's already told Reid how she'll vote but she hasn't made her intentions public yet. A new poll shows her vote may be critical to her re-election prospects next year.
• Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) -- She's voiced opposition to the public option, but Bloomberg notes there was a $100 million addition to the bill to win her support
• Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) -- We've already documented his threats to block the public option, but he's stated publicly he'll at least vote to bring the bill to the Senate floor.
• Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) -- She was the only Republican senator to vote the bill out of the Senate Finance Committee, but she's also voiced opposition to the public option.

The Saturday vote is mostly political theater at this point -- even reluctant Democrats know they must at least bring the bill to the floor for debate -- but it's not clear how each of the four will actually vote.

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Taegan D. Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites.

Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.

Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country, including the Washington Post, USA Today, Boston Globe, San Francisco Chronicle, Chicago Tribune, Philadelphia Inquirer and Christian Science Monitor.

Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.

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