The Obama administration remains in talks with Maine Republican Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins even though both did not vote for Saturday's motion to proceed, according to White House official Linda Douglass.  

Douglass, who is the communications director for the White House office for Health Reform, confirmed reports that the administration is still seeking the two centrist senators' votes for final cloture on the healthcare reform. In an interview on the liberal Bill Press radio show, Douglass heaped praise upon Snowe and Collins.

"Senator Snowe has been very constructive throughout this discussion. She's very thoughtful about this issue," she said. "She has great concerns about her constituents in Maine as does Sen. Collins."

[snip]

Snowe on Saturday said that she spoke on the phone with President Barack Obama personally last week about her stance on healthcare reform legislation. The New York Times reported that Collins received a visit from Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, a former senator from Colorado, about her vote on the bill.

Throughout the debate, Snowe has opposed the government-run public healthcare option as is it written in the legislation. She has indicated that she would support a "trigger" induced public option that would come into effect should health insurance companies fail to meet certain performance benchmarks.

AP-GfK Poll: Debt turning shoppers into Scrooges by Jeannine Aversa, Ap Economics Writer

WASHINGTON - A lot more Americans are feeling stressed out by debt this holiday season, raising the glum likelihood they'll behave like Scrooge rather than Santa.

In fact, fully 93 percent say they'll spend less or about the same as last year, according to an Associated Press-GfK poll. Half of all those polled say they're suffering at least some debt-related stress, and 22 percent say they're feeling it greatly or quite a bit. That second figure is up from 17 percent just last spring, despite all the talk about economic recovery.

Most people -- 80 percent -- say they'll use mostly cash to pay for their holiday shopping, and that generally means buying less.

Sure, this is a downer for retailers and banks.

But what the persnickity hell? How are consumers at stingy fault here? Scrooge was a wealthy miser, as greedy about his wallet as his heart. This (fiendish!) example from the article is cutting back on her spending:

Her husband, Robert, had been working two-full time jobs, as a mechanic at a garage and at an auto parts store. Recently his retail job was cut back to part time. "We don't have as much as we had last year," McGavin laments. They don't have health insurance and have racked up major medical bills.

Heaven forfend the banks dial back their holiday predation, esp. after that bailout orgy coming on top of their Bush era orgy!

I know I'm not alone in believing that the holidays aren't about scoring the highest debt in a crazed shopping spree. They're not even about that red faced squalling baby pooping his big diaper for a solid month as a kind of bratty Advent.

(I refer, of course, to Bill O'Reilly.)

They're about taking a vacation from all that.

How about getting some much needed time to spend with people you'd love to see more often? Or, sending regrets to those you've seen way too much and are headed towards you like zombies attempting to dump fine regiftables on you, (eg, that Baha Men commemorative Who Let the Dogs Out mug the regifter just KNEW you had to have.)

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