The filibuster saga in which retiring Republican Sen. Jim Bunning of Kentucky refuses to lift a block on a bill extending unemployment benefits and funding infrastructure projects reached an entirely new level on Monday.

The controversy threatens to spill over from a legislative spat involving a bitter lawmaker nearing the end of his political life to a scandal that may yet engulf the entire Republican party only months before midterm election that they are supposed to dominate. While Bunning raises the stakes and refuses to back down, Democrats are beginning to attack - and the GOP is oddly silent.

Bunning Gives Middle Finger Fastball To Jobless Americans As Bluegrass-Gate Prepares To ExplodeBunning’s filibuster of a relatively small and bipartisan bill meant to extend expiring (since expired) unemployment benefits for jobless Americans and fund highway construction projects was already a brewing Capitol Hill story. With voters disgusted with governmental gridlock from President Obama down to Congress (especially Congress) and the White House and congressional Democrats seeking to paint GOP obstructionism as a big reason for the mess, the Bunning filibuster was lined up to make a splash unless the outgoing Kentucky conservative lifted his block. Bunning has angrily refused to do so, causing unemployment aid to lapse and 2,000 federal workers to be furloughed for at least a week.

Public ad political pressure has been growing for Bunning to break the filibuster and allow the bill to be voted on some time this week. The story has become a media sensation, and Bunning is feeling the heat - and giving the press hell.

ABC News congressional reporter Jonathan Karl and his producer approached Bunning on Monday for comments on the situation. That’s when the fireworks began…

After initially walking away from the crew and then flashing his middle finger above his head,the senator got into a confrontation with Karl and angrily shouted at the reporter not to follow him onto an elevator.“Excuse me!  This is a Senators only elevator!,” snarled the lawmaker responsible for shutting off aid to unemployed Americans and their families in the middle of economic stagnation as well as giving thousands of workers an unwelcome week off without pay.

An angry Senator Jim Bunning refused to answer questions from ABC News about his decision to block a bill extending unemployment benefits. 

The exchange took place as Senator Bunning was getting into an elevator in the Hart Senate Office Building.

“Excuse me!  This is a Senators only elevator!” Bunning thundered. 

I tried again to ask his reasons for blocking the bill, Bunning said he already explained his reasons last Thursday, when he said he wanted the $10 billion cost of the bill to be paid for, rather than simply adding to the national debt.

“Excuse me!” he yelled.  “I’ve got to go to the floor!” 

As the doors closed, I asked Bunning if he is concerned about those losing their benefits.

He did not answer.  This is all on-camera.

Senator Bunning was even more expressive before the cameras arrived, using a little sign language.

When Senate producer Z. Byron Wolf spotted Bunning exiting his office, Bunning said, “I’m not talking to anybody.”  When Wolf asked him to stay and talk to our cameras, Bunning walked toward the elevator and shot the middle finger over his head.

After weeks in which it looked like John McCain could be in serious trouble in his Republican primary battle with former Congressman J.D. Hayworth, the Washington veteran and 2008 GOP presidential nominee may have received a significant break from the very group that appeared poised to sink his reelection bid.

Arizona Tea Party organizations joined together on Monday and released a statement in which they said they would not be endorsing a specific candidate in the primary fight between McCain and Hayworth and scolded both candidates for lacking ironclad conservative credentials, noting that their “records during their many years in Washington leave much to be desired…”

“The Tea Party is a non-partisan, grassroots movement that stands for limited government, free markets, and fiscal responsibility. Both McCain and Hayworth’s records during their many years in Washington leave much to be desired on these issues,” said Robert Mayer, co-founder of the Tucson Tea Party. “It is their job to hold themselves up to these values and fight for our votes.”

Other tea party organizers across the state agreed that the local organizations should not endorse so early if at all.

“It is not appropriate to make an endorsement in this race at the drop of a hat, as some other groups are doing,” said Kelly Townsend, organizer of the Greater Phoenix Tea Party. “The movement must stand for ideas, and do everything possible to provide information to people so that they can make the best personal decisions.”

Roger Boone, organizer of the Flagstaff Tea Party, added, “The Tea Party should not endorse individual politicians, as their future actions may reflect poorly on our organization. We encourage our members to endorse and vote for whomever they choose, but as a group we will not endorse officially.”

“We stand for principles and ideas, not for politicians or parties,” said Patrick Beck, organizer of the Mohave County Tea Party. “Our mission is to promote constitutional government and fiscal responsibility, and to inform people so that they can make their own decisions.”

This news is a potentially devastating blow to Hayworth, a Tea Party favorite who had been gaining significant momentum in the race and seemed on the verge of catching McCain in the polls as he consolidated support from a huge chunk of a conservative Republican base energized by the Tea Party movement and the possibility of gains in Congress. The potential for the highly organized and powerful grass roots Tea Party machine throwing its full weight against McCain could have sealed the fate of the one-time “maverick” lawmaker.

But as McCain shifted considerably to the right in his rhetoric opposing President Obama’s legislative agenda and Democrats in Congress, conservatives became more reluctant to abandon the highly electable Senate veteran. Also important in the Tea Party’s wariness were several hits scored on Hayworth’s record by the McCain campaign, forcing the challenger to back away from previous comments favorable to Tea Party ideals, such as the suggestion that President Obama was not born in Hawaii and is an illegitimate president.

Republicans have consistently attacked President Obama and Democrats for their criticism that the GOP is unnecessarily obstructing the natural flow of government and is a “party of no” intent on destroying the president agenda rather than performing the tasks they have been charged with as lawmakers and doing what is best for the nation  as a whole. Two new developments could burst the GOP’s argument and give new ammunition to the administration and congressional Democrats as the midterms rapidly approach and Democrats seize every opportunity to hammer a super-confident Republican minority.

The Associated Press has reported that the use of the filibuster, the arcane tool of the U.S. Senate used by the minority party to force bills to pass with a three-fifths, rather than simple, majority vote, is being utilized by Senate Republicans at a record pace. What has been a provision saved for relatively few votes is now being used by the GOP to impeded almost every aspect of President Obama’s agenda and to generally render useless the 58-seat - plus two Democratic-leaning independents - Democratic majority.

The filibuster — tool of obstruction in the U.S. Senate — is alternately blamed and praised for wilting President Barack Obama’s ambitious agenda. Some even say it’s made the nation ungovernable.Maybe, maybe not. Obama’s term still has three years to run.

More certain, however: Opposition Republicans are using the delaying tactic at a record-setting pace.

“The numbers are astonishing in this Congress,” says Jim Riddlesperger, political science professor at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth.

The filibuster, using seemingly endless debate to block legislative action, has become entrenched like a dandelion tap root in the midst of the shrill partisanship gripping Washington.

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The frequency of filibusters — plus threats to use them — are measured by the number of times the upper chamber votes on cloture. Such votes test the majority’s ability to hold together 60 members to break a filibuster.

Last year, the first of the 111th Congress, there were a record 112 cloture votes. In the first two months of 2010, the number already exceeds 40.

That means, with 10 months left to run in the 111th Congress, Republicans have turned to the filibuster or threatened its use at a pace that will more than triple the old record. The 104th Congress in 1995-96 — when Republicans held a 53-47 majority — required 50 cloture votes.

The filibuster as a tool of the Senate is also playing an important role in the debate over health care reform. Democrats and the White House are preparing to use reconciliation to bypass a certain GOP filibuster in the Senate and pass health care legislation with a simple majority of at least 51 votes.

Reconciliation is opposed by a majority of the country and Democrats have come under fire from Republicans railing against its use as extraordinary and a deviation from normal Senate rules, despite its frequent use by both parties in Congress over recent years. This is an argument that could be countered by the White House and Democrats with the record pace of GOP filibusters, a piece of data that could be used to explain how the minority is forcing the hand of the administration and Senate Democrats in using means to freeze out Republicans from the health care vote.

Another controversy impacting Republicans lawmakers is the decision by retiring GOP Sen. Jim Bunning of Kentucky to block passage of a bill that includes an extension of unemployment benefits as  well as funds for highway and infrastructure projects. The move has caused 2,000 government transportation workers to be furloughed for the rest of the week.

Two thousand federal transportation workers will be furloughed without pay on Monday, and the Obama administration said they have a Kentucky senator to blame for it.

Federal reimbursements to states for highway programs will also be halted, the Transportation Department said in a statement late Sunday. The reimbursements amount to about $190 million a day, according to the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

The furloughs and freeze on payments were the result of a decision last week by Republican Sen. Jim Bunning to block passage of legislation that would have extended federal highway and transit programs, the department said. Those programs expired at midnight Sunday.

The extension of transportation programs was part of a larger package of government programs that also expired Sunday, including unemployment benefits for about 400,000 Americans.

Bunning objected to the $10 billion measure, saying it would add to the budget deficit. He didn’t immediately respond to a request Sunday for comment.

The impasse has provided the administration with an opening to excoriate Republicans for allowing popular programs to run out, even if only for a short time.

“As American families are struggling in tough economic times, I am keenly disappointed that political games are putting a stop to important construction projects around the country,” Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said in a statement.

As Americans continue to express record anger and growing frustration with Washington gridlock,  Republicans face a challenge to frame their steadfast opposition to the Obama agenda as constructive rather than a matter of partisan obstruction and the realization of the “party of no” moniker.

While voters are opposed to items such as the president’s health care plan and other legislative efforts back by the White House and Democrats, the gridlock and partisanship on Capitol Hill has consistently been the number one driver of the rage being directed at lawmakers and the government. Democrats could very well use that anger to their advantage in this tough election year and highlight blatant examples such as the Bunning filibuster to convince voters that the GOP has now answers. But that depends on whether Democrats can get their own caucus to unite on issues where they can potentially move forward, such as health care.

President Obama, White House officials and Democrats in Congress almost immediately began a push for an “up-or-down vote” on a health care bill as the next step in what has been a nearly year-long fight. The path to that final vote remains murky, however, as Democrats face internal strife between both the House and Senate on what “fixes” are necessary to pass a bill, and also disagreements between conservative Democrats over controversial items like abortion and the potential use of reconciliation that threatens the already slim margin House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has to work with.

The White House on Sunday addressed the confusion over how Democrats will proceed on legislation in Congress, with an aide to President Obama indicating that the administration is preparing a strategy to soften the image of a majority vote in the Senate as common-pace and noting that Democrats are  “not changing any rules.”

The goal of the White House is to achieve a “simple up-or-down vote on whether or not we want to fix these problems.”

Increasingly, the White House appears to favor having the House pass a version of the measure that cleared the Senate with 60 votes in December. The Senate would then pass changes to the bill to satisfy some demands of House Democrats. That Senate vote would take place under a parliamentary procedure known as reconciliation, which requires 51 votes rather than 60.

It remains unclear whether Democrats have enough votes within their ranks for this strategy to work. At the same time, it is only “one option” the president is considering, a senior White House official said Sunday.

Still, DeParle suggested Obama could endorse that option in the next few days. “Health-care reform has already passed both the House and the Senate with not only a majority in the Senate but a supermajority. And we’re not talking about changing any rules here,” DeParle, the director of the White House Office of Health Reform, said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” She added: “All the president is talking about is: Do we need to address this problem, and does it make sense to have a simple up-or-down vote on whether or not we want to fix these problems?”

The White House also insisted that they believe there are enough Democratic votes in Congress to pass the president’s bill and to make it through the Senate on a majority vote.

“I believe that we will have the votes to pass this in Congress,” DeParle said. Pressed on whether the votes are in hand, she replied: “The president will have more to say about that later this week, and he’s working with the Congress on how best to address that.”

At the center of the balancing act by Democrats to retain enough votes to pass a bill is House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. She appeared on ABC on Sunday and also said that Dems will have the votes to pass the Obama health care bill, although there are caveats.

Pelosi hinted that the Senate may need to detail the “fixes” the president and Senate Democrats indicated they would attach to the Senate bill already passed by that chamber in order to make it more appealing to the House.While the Senate would be the final stop for whatever health care legislation is agreed upon and the House would need to pass a bill first, Pelosi said she needs clarification on what will be in the package before she can deliver the necessary votes from her caucus.

Well let me say I have this in three — just so you know how we sequence this. First we zero in on what the policy will be. And that is what we’ll be doing — following the president’s summit yesterday.

Secondly, we’ll see what the Senate can do. What is the substance? And what is the Senate prepared to do? And then we’ll go to the third step as to what my — my members will vote for. But we have a very diverse party. But we all agree that the present system is unsustainable. It’s unsustainable.

And in what could be a foreshadowing of Democratic talking points to rebut GOP criticism that the White House and congressional Dems are “ramming through” health care without bipartisan support, Pelosi said that “whether we get Republican votes or not”- the health care bill is a “bipartisan” package with “over a hundred Republican amendments.”

Since then we’ve had hundreds of hours of meetings, and hearings, and mark ups of bills — well over a hundred Republican amendments are in this bill — the — the House and Senate bills. And what the president put forth – we’ll see some of what was said yesterday. So those who were making constructive contributions can be accommodated. Whether we get Republican votes or not — the bill definitely has bipartisan provisions in it. But if they have a good idea that works for the American people, whether they’re in the vote for the bill or not, we want it in the bill.

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President Obama put the finishing touches on his often grueling seven-and-a-half hour health care summit on Thursday by giving Republican a challenge that he hopes will produce a bipartisan health care bill, but warning that he and congressional Democrats are prepared to move forward alone if the minority party fails to compromise on their demands. His comments did more to clearly explain the path forward on health care - with or without Republicans - than any other statements in the nearly eight hours of discussion.

The president ended the unprecedented and occasionally gripping event by calling on Republican in Congress to “do a little soul-searching” and decide if the concessions outlined by Obama at the marathon summit would be enough to get bipartisan votes for health care reform. Otherwise, the president declared, “we’ve got to go ahead and some make decisions.”

Obama’s remarks were a thinly veiled hint that reconciliation would be on the table if Republicans still refused to play ball on health care without giving in to their demand that both the White House and Democrats scrap the current Senate health care bill that the president’s new blueprint would be grafted onto. The president dismissed concerns about the potential use of the arcane Senate rule that allows measures to be passed with a simple majority vote, saying “that’s what elections are for.”

But while speculation before the summit was that the GOP had just one day to decide, the president’s closing statement gave a longer timetable of “a month’s time or a few weeks’ time or six weeks’ time” before bipartisan efforts would be pulled off the table. “We cannot have another year-long debate about this,” the president said on Thursday.

The concern, I think, that a lot of the colleagues both in the House and the Senate on the Democratic side have is that after a year- and-a-half, or more appropriately after five decades of dealing with this issue, starting over, they suspect, means not doing much, or doing the proposal that John Boehner or other Republicans find acceptable.

And that it’s not possible for our Republican colleagues to move in the direction of, for example, covering more than 3 million people. It’s not possible to move more robustly in the direction of dealing with the preexisting condition in a realistic way. It’s not possible to make sure that we get people out of a high-risk pool and get them into a situation where, as Tom Harkin put it, healthy people, young people, rich people, poor people, old people, the sick, everybody is part of a system that works. That, I think, is the concern.

Having said that, what I’d like to propose is that I’ve put on the table now some things that I didn’t come in here saying I supported, but that I was willing to work with potential Republican sponsors on. I’d like the Republicans to do a little soul-searching and find out are there some things that you’d be willing to embrace that get to this core problem of 30 million people without health insurance and dealing seriously with the preexisting condition issue.

I don’t know, frankly, whether we can close that gap. And if we can’t close that gap, then I suspect Mitch McConnell and Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi and John Boehner are going to have a lot of arguments about procedures in Congress about moving forward.

I will tell you this, that when I talk to the parents of children who don’t have health care because they’ve got diabetes or they’ve got some chronic heart disease; when I talk to small business people who are laying people of because they just got their insurance premium, they don’t want us to wait. They can’t afford another five decades.

And the truth of the matter is that politically speaking, there may not be any reason for Republicans to want to do anything. I mean, we can debate what our various constituencies think. I know that — I don’t need a poll to know that most of Republican voters are opposed to this bill and might be opposed to the kind of compromise we could craft. It would be very hard for you politically to do this.

But I thought it was worthwhile for us to make this effort. We’ve got a lot of other things to do. I don’t think, Tom, that we’re going to have another one of these because people don’t have seven, eight hours a day to work some of these things through.

What I do know is this. If we saw movement, significant movement, not — not just gestures, then you wouldn’t need to start over because essentially everybody here knows what the issues are. And procedurally, it could get done fairly quickly.

We cannot have another year-long debate about this. So the question that I’m going to ask myself and I ask of all of you is, is there enough serious effort that in a month’s time or a few weeks’ time or six weeks’ time we could actually resolve something?

And if we can’t, then I think we’ve got to go ahead and some make decisions, and then that’s what elections are for. We have honest disagreements about — about the vision for the country and we’ll go ahead and test those out over the next several months till November. All right?

The ghosts of the 2008 presidential election were rekindled in the midst of 2010’s occasionally fractious health care reform summit as the current president and his last election foe ignited old campaign disagreements that temporarily turned Blair House into a presidential debate hall for an election decided well over one year ago.

Arizona Sen. John McCain, the Republican Party’s 2008 presidential nominee, and former campaign foe President Obama butted heads once more at the health care summit on Thursday, with the president at one point sternly reminding the agitated  McCain that “the election’s over.”

McCain used his question time at the event to lambaste Obama for everything from a broken campaign promise to televise health care negotiations (a charge leveled at a televised health care negotiation…) to “unsavory” special deals included in the Senate version of reform that the president wants to merge with his own outline for reform.

“Both of us during the campaign promised change in Washington,” McCain said. “In fact, eight times (as a candidate) you said that negotiations on health care reform would be broadcast on C-SPAN cameras. I’m glad that more than a year later they are, here. Unfortunately, this product was not produced in that fashion, it was produced behind closed doors.”

McCain continued saying the American people “want us to go back to the beginning. They want us not to do this kind of legislation. They want us to sit down together and do what’s best for all Americans, not just for some people who live in Florida or who happen to live in other favored states. They want a uniform treatment of all Americans.” He suggested  “the special deals for the special interests and favored few” should be removed from the bill.

“Let me just make this point, John, because we’re not campaigning anymore,” the president said. “The election’s over.”

“I am reminded of that every day,” McCain said, forcing a smile.

“We can spend the remainder of the time with our respective talking points going back and forth,” the president continued. “We were supposed to be talking about insurance.”

Continued the president: “My concern is that if we do that we’re essentially back on Fox News or MSNBC on the split screen just arguing back and forth. So my hope would be we actually focus on the issues of how we actually get a bill done.”

The president later said to McCain that he did not want endless debate about legislative process” but rather “how we’re going to help the American people at this point.”

Potentially fueling McCain’s criticism of Obama, some of the harshest from any Republican at the summit, is his surprisingly tight primary battle with conservative GOP candidate J.D Hayworth.  McCain has been losing support from the party’s conservative base and the new Tea Party movement over accusations that he has not embraced conservative ideals and that his moderate record in Washington is not in line with the conservative base. Hayworth has been rising rapidly in the polls ever since he announced his challenge to McCain.

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White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs made the rounds of morning shows before the highly anticipated summit, telling ABC that there are enough votes in Congress to pass President Obama’s health care blueprint but that today’s event should not be viewed as “Kabuki theater” and that the president is greatly interested in sitting down with GOP leaders to ” talk about good issues.”

Gibbs said the White House is hopeful that both sides of the political aisle will “put aside our talking points” and concentrate on finding “common ground” within the fractious health care debate.

“I think there are the votes to pass health care reform because the American people know that the course we’re on is not sustainable,” Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said on “Good Morning America” today.

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“I think the result and the product that comes out today is based on the willingness of each of the participants to come and talk through these issues, to put aside this notion of Kabuki theater, put aside this notion of six-hour photo ops and instead come and let’s discuss in earnest good ideas on health care,” Gibbs said. “I think that’s what the American people want. … Let’s just sit down there and talk about good issues.”

Gibbs said the president wants to hear from Republicans their ideas on cutting costs for middle class Americans, how to prevent health insurance companies from discriminating against patients based on their pre-existing conditions, and rein in health care costs to avoid crushing the federal budget.

“We hope that all the participants are focused on coming in there today, putting aside our talking points, sitting down and talking directly to each other, and finding the common ground that the American people so desperately want us to find,” Gibbs said.

“Today’s a great opportunity for each side to listen on issues of cost and competition and come to an agreement,” he added.

Speaker Pelosi released remarks she will be making at the beginning of today’s event that seeks to put any health reform efforts to come out of the meeting through “the Triple-A test”; “Affordability for the middle class; Accessibility for all Americans; Accountability for the insurance industry.”

“[I]naction and incrementalism are simply unacceptable. As the President has said many times, health care reform is entitlement reform – and its success will help ensure a more secure fiscal future. We also know that health care reform is about our economy. Right now, health care costs are weighing down businesses as they compete here at home and around the world. This bill is about: Innovation and competitiveness; Prevention and wellness; A higher quality of care and a healthier America. Health care reform is about jobs – and the President’s proposal could create 4 million jobs over the life of the bill; 400,000 jobs this year. As we go forward, our reform efforts must pass the Triple-A test, reaching our three key goals: Affordability for the middle class; Accessibility for all Americans; Accountability for the insurance industry. Let’s get to work to achieve our goal of affordable and accessible health care for all.”

TV: The event will be covered in it’s entirety on C-SPAN 3, but almost all of the meeting will be shown by CNN, Fox News and MSNBC in roadblock cable coverage that will ensure many Americans will get to see the event live (bad news for the GOP).

You can also watch online at WhiteHouse.gov

Guest List:

In addition to President Obama, Vice President Biden, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and a few others from the White House, the following is the full list of the lawmakers who will be attending the summit. (Still not clear if Bary Stupak will accept John Boehner’s invite and show up).

Democratic Senators
Harry Reid
Richard Durbin
Max Baucus
Tom Harkin
Christopher Dodd
Chuck Schumer
Patty Murray
Jay Rockefeller
Kent Conrad
Ron Wyden

Republican Senators
Mitch McConnell
Jon Kyl
Mike Enzi
Chuck Grassley
Lamar Alexander
John McCain
Tom Coburn
John Barrasso

Democratic House members
Nancy Pelosi
Steny Hoyer
James Clyburn
Charles Rangel
Henry Waxman
George Miller
John Dingell
Xavier Becerra
Louise Slaughter
Rob Andrews
Jim Cooper

Republican House members
John Boehner
Eric Cantor
Dave Camp
Joe Barton
John Kline
Charles Boustany
Marsha Blackburn
Peter Roskam
Paul Ryan

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The expectations for Thursday’s televised bipartisan health care summit cannot get any lower. What was at first hailed as a breakthrough to Washington gridlock when President Obama announced the event has devolved into a seemingly contrived political exercise, with the White House already having a health care blueprint they say will be put in place after the meeting and Republicans grabbing every opportunity to criticize the president for the format, guest list, table size…anything to score political points.

What is each side trying to accomplish on Thursday, and how will their strategies play out on live TV? See below…

President Obama: He won;t get to use the inherent authority and visual presence of his position as commander in chief thanks to Republicans complaints over seating arrangements,  but there will be little question who will be in charge at Blair House. The president gets to open the meeting with prepared remarks as well as introduce two of the four pre-selected topics that will make up the bulk of the event. This is an opportunity for the president and the White House to frame their health care agenda in the starkest of terms against whatever the GOP brings to the table; which could very well be nothing. Their goal is to capture Republicans in an "a-ha" moment, insisting that the GOP must present a plan that covers at least 30 million uninsured Americans or there won’t be a deal. That Republican health care plan does not exist, so the president is looking more to position himself going forward than in dealing with Republicans wary of the entire event and highly negative towards any compromise with the White House. There will be a health care plan that emerges from Thursday, but questions remain whether it will be the president’s outline released by the White House on Monday or, as some reports suggest, a scaled-back bill including more tax cuts is in the works intended to garner more moderate votes in Congress, possibly even a Republican or two.

Democrats:  While the symbolic leader of the Democratic Party will be presiding over Thursday’s meeting, congressional Democrats will not be in any favorable position for the event or in the health care debate overall. After almost a year of being allowed nearly full control on cobbling together health care legislation that can pass both houses of Congress - and failing - the Democratic leadership that will be present on Thursday has seen their role diminished to an intermediary between the White House and Democratic gadflys like Bart Stupak. Both Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi understand that a health care bill must be passed on threat of political disaster after the drawn-ot fight that has so damaged the party. Outside of the liberal base, there is an increasing appetite for compromise and a willingness, as seen in the Senate jobs bill passed earlier this week, to scale back legislative goals in order to cement centrist votes from both parties and present an image of accomplishment to frustrated voters.  Besides potential roadblocks like Stupak and abortion, there is little doubt that Democrats in Congress are prepared to follow the president’s lead.

Republicans: This is about revenge for Baltimore for the GOP. Despite attacking President Obama repeatedly over the past year for failing to embrace transparency in the health care debate, such as refusing to allow C-SPAN cameras to cover negotiations just like what will occur on Thursday, Republicans have reacted with sustained skepticism and hostility when the White House embraced their demands and put together a bipartisan event on live television. Republicans are wary of another Baltimore-style trap, where the president controls the camera and rises above the partisan squabbling that has damaged both parties. Republican lawmakers are pointing to the president’s refusal to scrap entirely the health care bills currently in Congress and used as a framework for future negotiations and start from scratch as a reason for their skepticism over the summit and why they hold such low expectations. As an even riskier gamble, Republicans will not be bringing a comprehensive health care outline to Thursday’s meeting, relying instead on a combination of their House plan from last July and individual chunks of legislation they want adopted in lieu of a larger bill.