Thursday Morning Open Thread

Good morning.

The President is back from St. Louis and continuing his push to get the votes in House to pass the Senate health care bill. Today, he's got meetings with the Congressional Black Caucus, then members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus to "talk" about the legislation. David Dayen's latest whip count finds 191 yes votes and 195 no votes.

People at the White House have indicated they'd like a House vote by March 18th, one week from today. That's when Obama leaves on a trip to Asia. But, Congress doesn't start its Easter recess ("district work period") until the Friday after that (3/26).

Meanwhile, Senators continue to work on financial reform. But, I fear (and expect) their definition of what reform is will be far different than what is needed. People on the Hill are tone deaf to how much people hate the banks, among other things. I was on the Hill yesterday for the progressive media summit. The place is crawling with lobbyists. They travel in packs. Only institutions with lots of money can send packs of lobbyists to the Hill consistently. And, some of those institutions only exist because the taxpayers saved them.

Anyway, let's get threading the news...