Over the weekend South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, discussing the Christmas Eve health care reform deal, told CNN that President Obama's campaign slogan has become empty, replaced by the sleaze we locals call politics. “You know, change you can believe in,” Graham said on CNN's State of the Union, “after this health care bill debacle, [that] has now becoming an empty slogan. And it's really been replaced by seedy Chicago politics, when you think about it, backroom deals that amount to bribes.” It echoed accusations made by Sen. John McCain last week on the morning of the bill's passage, who called it "an exercise in sleazy Chicago-style sausage making." more ›

With U.S. Senators getting down to the nitty-gritty of the health care bill in front of them, we knew compromises were going to be in order to get the bill hammered out to a passable form. Sure enough, two major steps were taken yesterday that might help the bill pass down the road. The more important of the two was an agreement relating to the public option - the government-run health plan proposed as part of the bill - though specifics about the bill were hard to come by as Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) wasn't exactly forthcoming about details. (The initial mystery surrounding the agreement even prompted our own Sen. Dick Durbin to tell the New York Times late yesterday, “I have no idea," when asked if an agreement had been reached.) While the new deal doesn't take the public option completely off the table, it does make it a last resort of sorts. As for the details that are known, the L.A. Times reports: more ›