Rick Klein has a rundown of various responses to the President’s health care bill. Those who predict House Democrats will fall in line and switch their votes believe they will do so in order to give Obama a “win.” In order to do that, however, these Democrats will have to be convinced that the President’s bill is more popular than the House bill they voted against, and it’s not going to cost them their seats.

I think Ruth Marcus has the math, and the conventional wisdom among Democratic House members, about right. Color me skeptical.

In a conference call focused closely on the possibility of moving health care through reconciliation, Arlen Specter invoked Justice Jackson’s comment to justify his support for putting health care through the reconciliation process.

The Bush administration thrived on secrecy; Obama promised more transparency, but has yet to really deliver. What’s more, when information does come out, it seems that accountability is nearly impossible to get: the torture memos were released, but there will be no trials. We ask Daniel Ellsberg, one of the world’s most famous whistleblowers, and blogger Glenn Greenwald of Salon.com if there’s anything the people can do to take the power back.

The Senate just passed its $15 billion dollar jobs bill by a count of 70-28 (roll call will be here eventually), getting some Republicans to break its way after the cloture vote passed. $15 billion is actually a misleading number – the extension of the Highway Trust Fund would add $20 billion for infrastructure projects, but because of the way it’s financed, through a fund shift, it doesn’t count as an expense – but $35 billion isn’t exactly robust.

Keeping with her vow to pass popular individual elements to improve health care while the process for the comprehensive bill works itself out, Nancy Pelosi will bring to the floor today a bill to end the health insurance industry’s anti-trust exemption, part of the McCarran-Ferguson Act of 1945. A similar version of this legislation, which included providers of medical malpractice insurance, passed the House inside their health care bill last year. The vote in the House will happen later today.

My takeaway of the first of two hearings on Toyota’s unintended acceleration problem (the other will be at 11:00 a.m. EST today) is that Toyota has locked away the answers in Japan. By design.

Senate majority leader Harry Reid appointed three Senate Democrats to the Bowles-Simpson deficit commission created by executive order: Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad, Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, and Minority Whip Dick Durbin. If Republicans actually comply with this commission, you can bet that Ranking Member of the Budget Committee Judd Gregg will get a spot. So maybe this is the Conrad-Gregg Commission after all.

• Lack of bipartisanship isn’t Obama’s fault?
• A preview of the dog and pony health care summit.
• Guess they weren’t getting enough blank checks.
• GOP’s future is dying off.
• Not wingnutty enough for Texas teabaggers.
• Democrats should be hammering this all week.

Funny how yesterday of all days Harry Reid, Democrat from Nevada, get’s tarred with being a potential abuser.

Lily Tomlin on The Merv Griffin Show portraying “an employee of one of America’s most beloved institutions — The Telephone Company.”