Taegan Goddard's Political Wire

November 23, 2009

That Was the Easy Vote

The party line vote in the U.S. Senate over the weekend was actually the easiest part of the health care reform effort. The debate over the next month will feature the best and worst of politics. It will be very exciting to watch.

Because Democrats have "little maneuvering room" to get a bill through, the New York Times notes White House and their Congressional allies "are stepping up overtures to select Senate Republicans -- especially Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins -- in hopes of winning their ultimate support."

McClatchy notes many lawmakers already consider the bill "a golden opportunity to win long-sought projects and local aid for their constituents."

Of course, as the New York Daily News reports, Republicans are also plotting to kill the bill "with stall tactics and a blizzard of amendments aimed at picking off centrist Democrats."

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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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