Stopping Obamacare in the House

It seems very likely that if Obamacare is going to be stopped, it will have to happen in the House. And that means turning some of supporters the deeply unpopular bill into opponents with at least enough spine to tell Nancy Pelosi and the president "No."

Thus the two lists below. The first list is of all the so-called "Blue Dogs," the alleged "moderate Democrats" in the House. Many refused to vote for Obamacare the first time around, and they need to be bucked up and made to understand that their hopes of re-election depend upon continuing to stand against the government takeover of American health care and the massive cuts to Medicare on which the takeover is premised.

The second list are the Democrats who voted for the bill in the fall but who hail from swing districts. These are the House members identified by the National Republican Congressional Committee's ReverseTheVote.org effort. The last thing they want are phone calls and e-mails from voters pledging to throw time and money at their opponents if Obamacare passes.

The Congressional switchboard works for them all --202-225-3121, but direct calls to their offices and especially their district offices are even more effective. E-mails work as well, but many of their number won't accept e-mails unless a district zip code is used, which means a little work for the dedicated anti-Obamacare activist. (Just use the zip code of their district office address if you want to communicate despite their filter.)

What matters is a wall of calls between now and the last-ditch effort to push the bill through. Some of the pro-life Demcrats led by Bart Stupak will stay strong and refuse to support the Senate bill with its public funding of abortion, but some will fold. Perhaps a Member or two will vote no as well because there is no "public option" by that name and they realize if they don't get it now they'll never get it.

But it will be a very close thing either way. Never have your calls and e-mails mattered more.

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