Holding Firm

I don't know if the progressives will hold, but it's certainly in their - and hopefully our - interests for them to do so. Villagers respect power, but they're also very very slow to recognize when it shifts. As I wrote yesterday, for quite some time "House progressives will block any bill without public option" has been a much more plausible story than "Max Baucus and Chuck Grassley write a health care bill that Republicans will support." It's only now that the Villagers are waking up to this fact, and as they do they'll slowly start calling Anthony Weiner instead of Kent Conrad. And if the progressives do hold firm, they'll be calling them about the next legislative battle, too.