From NBC's Luke Russert
Just how bad has the partisan environment become in Washington?

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer offered a resolution to honor the University of Maryland for making the NCAA Tournament and for having the ACC Player of the Year, as well as the Coach of the Year on the same team.

Well, California Rep. John Campbell (R) spoke against the measure because last year, Hoyer apparently pulled a resolution from the floor honoring the University of California Irvine's Men's Volleyball team for winning the 2009 national championship.

Campbell made a point of saying Maryland wasn't that special because they didn't win a national title and have only made the tournament. He then laid into the Terps for having an 8% graduation rate.

Campbell went on to ask for a recorded vote on the measure, which almost never happens. The vote started around 6:00 pm ET.

NOTE: Members offer resolutions honoring all sorts of things. Both sides honor universities, sports team, public figures, ethnic groups, social service organization, etc. Rarely are they challenged.

From NBC's Mark Murray
If Americans are divided about how their congressman should vote on the health-care bill, the same can't be said for their views on Congress.

According to the new NBC/WSJ poll, whose full results will be released beginning at 6:30 pm ET, only 17% approve of Congress' job.

What's more, given the opportunity, half (50%) say they would vote to defeat every single member of Congress, including their own representative.

Asked if they would still vote to replace every single member of Congress if that resulted in Democrats still controlling Congress, nearly three-quarters (72%) said yes.

And asked if they would still vote to replace every member if that resulted in Republicans controlling Congress, a virtually identical number (73%) said yes.

From NBC's Duncan McKenna
In a speech this morning commemorating the 25th anniversary of the first dot com Web site, former President Bill Clinton said he worried America is no longer competitive in the international health-care community.

Compared to other countries our costs are astounding, he said. 

"We pay too much and get too little," Clinton said. 

He cited that Americans spend 17% of their income on health care compared to the 10% Canadians spend creating a $1-trillion difference.

He joked about his own health problems: "We are great at some things... great at solving heart problems, or else someone else would be giving this speech right now."

Introduced as the "first Internet president," Clinton spoke about the extraordinary growth the Web experienced during his presidency. "In January of 1993... there were only 50 Web sites," he said. Today, there are more than a trillion communications that occur over the Internet daily.

Clinton discussed the decisions his administration faced. "This was going to be the most dominant mode of communication in the 21st Century," he said, adding, "It would shape business; it would shape politics; it would shape interpersonal relations; it would shape education. It would enable -- if done right, for people to build a better world and if done wrong; it would enable terrorists to pull off operations a long way from home in defiance of international rules and regulations."

He also addressed how the internet has affected growth in global health care, the promotion of free speech, growth of international commerce, and the expansion of social media. He described the modern world as the most interdependent in history "largely because of the sharing of information and the tearing down of borders."

When speaking on how it has affected the operation of his specific organizations, Clinton said, "I don't know what I would do without it."

He cited the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund was able to raise $22 million from 200,000 people who used the Internet to donate. He ended his speech discussing the need for climate-change reform saying, "We have reached the alternative exhaustion stage."

When asked about his favorite Web sites, Clinton mentioned  he likes political blogs because they don't pretend to be balanced. Then he took a jab at Fox News saying, "That's why I watch FOX News, because they don't pretend to be biased. They say fair and balanced, but you know its tongue-in-cheek."

Clinton was also asked what his favorite electronic device was. Candidly, he said he avoids the BlackBerry, because he can be an obsessive person. Joking he did not want to be like another former president.

"You know George Bush the elder?" Clinton said. "He lives on it -- he is constantly doing email. He might as well be a teenager in high school."

From NBC's Courtney Kube
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton knocked down the idea that U.S.-Israeli relations are at their worst point in 35 years today.

"Oh, I don't buy that," she said. "I have been around, not that long, but a long time. We have an absolute commitment to Israel's security, we have a close unshakable bond between the United States and Israel."

Appearing just one week after Vice President Biden was blind-sided during a trip to Israel when the Israelis announced a new housing development in East Jerusalem, Clinton said that both nations are "committed to a two-state solution, but that doesn't mean we are going to agree on everything."

Clinton repeated her "dismay and disappointment" that the Israelis approved the housing development, and said the U.S. is still waiting for an official response from the Israeli government.

"We have a close, unshakable bond between the United States and Israel," Clinton said, "and between the American and Israeli people who share common values and a commitment to a democratic future for the world."

From NBC's Kelly O'Donnell
The top Republican in the House says he is prepared to try and force a vote on a resolution on that would require the House to take a direct vote on the Senate version of health-care reform.

Republicans are looking for a way to block Democrats use of a procedural tactic known as "Deem and Pass."

The text of the House GOP measure follows:

RESOLUTION

Ensuring an up-or-down vote on certain health care legislation.

Resolved, That the Committee on Rules may not report a rule or order that provides for disposition of the Senate amendments to H.R. 3590, an Act entitled The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, unless such rule or order provides for-

(1) at least one hour of debate, equally divided and controlled by the Majority Leader and the Minority Leader, or their designees; and

(2) a requirement that the Speaker put the question on disposition of the Senate amendments and that the yeas and nays be considered as ordered thereon.

From NBC's Domenico Montanaro
This is a pretty funny compilation of local newscasters' dead-pan reactions to Arizona Senate candidate J.D. Hayworth suggesting that Massachusetts' allowance of same-sex marriage would lead to people marrying horses:

To be clear, First Read went and looked up the 2003 Goodridge Massachusetts court decision that legalized same-sex marriage in Massachsetts.

It clearly specifies "people" and "persons":

"This court concluded that barring an individual from the protections, benefits, and obligations of civil marriage solely because that person would marry a person of the same sex violated the Massachusetts Constitution in that such a marriage ban did not meet the rational basis test for either due process or equal protection, where the Commonwealth failed to identify any constitutionally adequate reason for denying civil marriage to same-sex couples. [327-342] GREANEY, J., concurring; SPINA, J., SOSMAN, J., CORDY, J., dissenting.

"This court reformulated the common-law definition of civil marriage to mean the voluntary union of two persons as spouses, to the exclusion of all others...."

From NBC's Ali Weinberg
In support of the "deem and pass" strategy for health care reform now being floated in the House, both liberal and conservative bloggers employ arguments seen before, most recently in the debate over whether to use reconciliation to pass fixes to the Senate bill. Liberal bloggers invoke a defense used on both sides of the aisle: "the opposition has done it too." In order to skirt that debate, conservatives assert that a bill of this size and scope should only be passed through a roll call vote, just like School House Rock says.

NRO's Jim Geraghty posts House Majority Whip James Clyburn's denial on Fox News that the health care bill is too big to pass through parliamentary maneuvering. Responding to an anchor's "skepticism" that "you're talking about a trillion dollar bill," Clyburn says, "let's get away from the trillion dollar bill. Remember, we're still talking about the bill that was passed by the Senate. And last time I checked the score on the Senate bill was, like, $850 billion."

Writes Geraghty, "So we're only enacting a $850 billion bill without a vote in the House. I think for a bill this huge and with such enormous ramifications, the Speaker shouldn't be allowed to use any maneuvers that the little guy below [a picture of the bill from School House ROck] didn't sing about."

Brian Darling at Red State writes that deem/pass is "a very complicated procedure being used to pull a fast one on the American people," citing, again, the bill's size.

"I eagerly await the left pointing to a precedent where a bill is deemed to have passed without a direct vote that effects 1/6th of the U.S. economy.  I also await a precedent where the House used a vote on a budget reconciliation measure to deem as passed another piece of legislation.  This process is so complicated that the President has to sign the ObamaCare bill before he signs the reconciliation measure into law, for this trick to work."

Washingon Monthly's Steve Benen criticizes Republicans for condemning the strategy while having used it in the past: "While the deem-and-pass approach used to be rare, its use became far more common 15 years ago -- right after Republicans took over Congress. Don Wolfensberger, former chief of staff for the House Rules Committee under Republicans, explained in a column a few years ago, 'When Republicans took power in 1995, they soon lost their aversion to self-executing rules and proceeded to set new records under Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.).' It's a familiar pattern -- Republicans open doors, and then whine incessantly when Democrats walk through them." 

Daily Kos' David Waldman's defense of the procedure revolves around the headlines (also noted by First Read) suggesting that the House may try to pass a bill without actually voting on it.

"Could the House signal its agreement to the Senate bill with its vote on a bill establishing National Unicorn Day? Yes it could, so long as the procedure is agreed to by a majority of the House beforehand,  the yeas and nays are recorded on the Journal, and the text of the Senate bill itself remains unchanged in the action," Waldman writes. "And that's exactly what happens here. It's no different in that sense than when the Senate agrees by unanimous consent to a House-passed bill."

MyDD's Jonathan Singer uses legal precedent to dispute former Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Michael McConnell's assertion in the Wall Street Journal op-ed section that in order for a bill to become law, "'it shall have passed the House of Representatives and the Senate' and be 'presented to the President of the United States' for signature or veto.'"

Singer writes, "not all that long ago, a group of Congressmen filed suit in federal district court to have declared invalid the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005, which, as a result of an error by a clerk, was not actually passed in the same form by both the House and Senate -- then under Republican control. Citing the 1892 Supreme Court decision in Marshall Field v. Clark, the federal district court for the Eastern District of Michigan threw out the Congressmen's challenge... the court held, following more than a century of Supreme Court precedent, that individual Members of Congress have no valid federal claim where a bill has been certified as passed by both the Speaker of the House and the President of the Senate, and then signed into law by the President of the United States."

From NBC's Ali Weinberg
DNC Chairman Tim Kaine said that while passing health care is a "heavy lift," he believes that the fears and complaints of the American public will disspiate once the bill is passed and its policies are implemented.

Speaking to reporters outside the White House after a closed-press lunch meeting with President Obama, Kaine denied that multiple delays in passing the bill indicated it should be scrapped. "If it were easy somebody else would have done it," he said.

When asked whether debate over the bill's merits would end with its passage, Kaine said that "there are some immediate deliverables" that the public would appreciate. He added that passing the bill would help clarify some of the bill's misconceptions. "They'll wonder gosh, is there a death panel? No. It didn't exist, it never existed," he said.

Kaine was also asked about a statement by Virginia attorney general Ken Cuccinelli, caught on tape, that seemed to depict Cuccinelli as open to legally challenging President Obama's citizenship--an interpretation that Cucinelli's office denied to NBC.

"I scratch my head in amazement that somebody of that altitude would say something like that," Kaine said.

From NBC's Domenico Montanaro
Mitt Romney dove into that competitive South Carolina Republican gubernatorial primary by endorsing state Rep. Nikki Haley.

"Ann and I got to know Nikki Haley during my campaign for president and came away enormously impressed with her as a person of character and as the spokesperson for a new generation of leadership for South Carolina," Romney said in a statement released by his PAC. "She has a proven conservative record of fighting wasteful spending and advocating for smaller, more efficient government. I'm honored to call her my friend and prouder still to endorse her campaign for governor."

His PAC is also donating the maximum $3,500 primary election contribution to her campaign, and Romney will campaign with her April 1.

The frontrunners in the race are considered state Attorney General Henry McMaster and Rep. Gresham Barrett with Haley and Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer behind them. Haley is liked by the right. Red State endorsed her, and some would argue that Romney needs the endorsement of a bonafide conservative in South Carolina if he wants to win the 2012 Republican presidential nomination. As we've pointed out every time we write about Republicans and South Carolina -- no Republican has won the GOP presidential nomination without winning the Palmetto State since 1980, the first time that primary mattered.

"I think it will be helpful to her," a South Carolina Republican operative tells First Read. "It should open some doors on the money front."

As to what it could mean -- or not mean -- for Romney in 2012, the operative added, "Honestly, I don't think it will matter much. 2012 is a brand new race."

AP notes, "Her competitors already have picked up endorsements from 2008 presidential hopefuls. GOP nominee and Arizona Sen. John McCain is backing ... McMaster; former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson is endorsing ... Barrett and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee has helped ... Bauer raise money."

The Atlantic's Marc Ambinder's take: "Romney's Mormon religion is viewed with suspicion by a healthy chunk of the Republican primary electorate in South Carolina, so there's little downside potential....but huge upside potential, if Haley wins, becomes popular, and decides to endorse Romney back."

Ben Smith writes, "Mitt Romney broke with his local operation today and endorsed State Senator Nikki Haley for the Republican nomination for governor. ... Haley, a relative outsider -- though she was a Sanford ally -- and a woman of South Asian descent is seen by many as a talented politician and the face of the Republican future. But she's also facing a tough field of rivals, including Rep. Gresham Barrett, whose consultant, Warren Tompkins, ran Romney's state campaign."

The Mormon issue, by the way, is real. In South Carolina, at a Thompson rally the night before he dropped out of the primary race, a female Thompson supporter, told First Read, "I like him [Romney]." But then after a pause, she added, "But I'm not going to vote for a Mormon."

From NBC's Domenico Montanaro and Mark Murray
President Obama called on members of Congress to have "courage" at his event yesterday. And it's hard to say that Rep. Tom Perriello, one of the most vulnerable Democratic members in the House, doesn't have lots of it. (Whether or not that helps him in his reelection bid is another story.)

Today, he put out a statement saying that he is OK with the Senate abortion language.

"As health care experts and pro-life leaders agree, the abortion language in the Senate bill upholds the Hyde Amendment standard. The Senate health care bill prevents federal taxpayer dollars from funding abortions, as the Catholic Hospital Association and legal experts have recently stated and as my own research has confirmed.

First Read has previously fact-checked whether or not the Senate bill directly subsidizes abortion. Our conclusion: "[W]ill the federal government directly subsidize and pay for abortion coverage? Not if you read the fine print."

Here's Perriello's full statement:

Since the beginning of the debate on health care reform, I have maintained a pledge that I would not support any health care reform bill that includes federal funding for abortion, and I stand by that pledge today. The original House bill language (Capps Amendment) did not meet this standard, and so I opposed that language. I voted for the Stupak Amendment—the only alternative offered at the time—because it ensured no federal funding of abortions, even though it also went beyond the current federal standard (Hyde Amendment) to prevent Americans from purchasing private insurance with their own dollars.

"As health care experts and pro-life leaders agree, the abortion language in the Senate bill upholds the Hyde Amendment standard. The Senate health care bill prevents federal taxpayer dollars from funding abortions, as the Catholic Hospital Association and legal experts have recently stated and as my own research has confirmed.

"Furthermore, several key yet unadvertised provisions of the bill are likely to reduce the number of abortions in this country in ways that move beyond politics toward a real impact on the culture of life in our country, such as those that provide $250 million for programs to support vulnerable pregnant women and increase the adoption tax credit, also making it refundable, so that lower income families can access it fully.

"I have tended to avoid the labels pro-life and pro-choice—often drawing ire from both sides of this debate—because I believe those labels serve to end debate rather than start us on a path towards solutions. I understand why many pro-choice groups consider the Senate language a major setback, but I made this pledge to the people I represent. Mired as we are in the issue of taxpayer dollars in this debate, we have not been discussing how this bill can reduce abortions. My hope is that, after this debate in the health care bill, lawmakers will come together to support a culture of life in their policy-making, including improving pre- and post-natal care.

"I have plenty of serious problems with the Senate bill and, until I see the final language, I cannot take a position on final passage. But the existing language on abortion in the current Senate bill meets the pledge I made to ensure no federal funding for abortion in this health care bill."

From NBC's Domenico Montanaro
The Washington Post's Howard Kurtz reports that President Obama is going on Fox tomorrow. He'll be on the 6:00 pm ET newscast "Special Report."

Kurtz writes:

"This would be unremarkable -- the president is constantly on TV -- except for last year's White House campaign attacking Fox News as an arm of the Republican Party. Fox executives insisted there is an important distinction between its news operation and opinionated hosts such as Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity. In sitting down with Baier, Obama -- who cordially greeted Fox News Chairman Roger Ailes at a White House Christmas party -- seems to be accepting that distinction."

From NBC's Mark Murray
Here are the first findings we're teasing from our new NBC/WSJ poll, which is released in full beginning at 6:30 pm ET: Americans are essentially divided about how their congressman should vote on the health-care bill.

According to the poll, if their congressman votes with Republicans to defeat the bill, 34% say they would be less likely to re-elect that member, 31% say they would be more likely to vote for him/her, and 34% say it makes no difference.

However, if their congressman votes with Democrats to pass the legislation, 36% say they would be less likely to re-elect that member, 28% say they would be more likely to vote for him/her, and 34% say it makes no difference.

Translation: "There is no easy place right now in the health-care debate," says Republican pollster Bill McInturff, who conducted the NBC/WSJ survey with Democratic pollster Peter Hart.

Hart adds, "It would be nice if there was consensus. There really isn't." 

From NBC's Domenico Montanaro and Ken Strickland
There have been lots of stories today on the latest legislative tactic Democratic leaders are considering using to try and pass the Senate health-care bill through the House.

This has a variety of names, including its technical one -- the "Self-Executing Rule," the more colloquial "Deem and Pass," or by what Republicans are calling "The Slaughter Rule." (This is named after New York Congresswoman Louise Slaughter, the chairwoman of the House Rules Committee.)

Some stories have implied that there would not be a vote. For example, the Washington Post had this headline today: "House may try to pass Senate health-care bill without voting on it."

This is true in the sense that there would not be a DIRECT vote. But the health-care bill would be voted on INDIRECTLY, tucked into what's known as "the rule." The rule essentially outlines the rules for an upcoming vote -- in this case, it would be the vote on the package of reconciliation fixes.

By passing "the rule," the House also would "deem" the Senate bill passed (with a "hereby" statement. "We hereby deem..."). The House would then vote on the package of reconciliation fixes. But the Senate health-care bill would be considered passed even if they never vote on the reconciliation fixes.

The "rule" can be written several different ways to include passage of the Senate bill. Though no decisions have been made -- including whether or not the rule will be used -- there are two scenarios most often discussed, according to a Democratic aide knee-deep in the process.

Scenario No. 1: The Senate bill is deemed passed with the passage of the House Rule for debate. So once the House passed the rules for debating the reconciliation package, the Senate bill could immediately be sent to president for his signature.

Scenario No. 2: The Senate bill is deemed passed with the House's passage of the reconciliation bill. Since the vote on "the rule" happens before the vote on reconciliation, this would delay the bill being sent to Obama.

Under any scenario, the aide says, the bill must be signed by the president before the Senate takes up the reconciliation.
 
What's the advantage for Democrats?
Why are Democrats considering this even though there will still be a roll-call vote?

There are a number of House Democrats -- either vulnerable in their reelection bids or who don't like the Senate bill -- who want to avoid a DIRECT vote on the health reform bill. They feel this indirect vote -- even though it includes the health-care bill -- gives them a measure of cover politically.

A little history
"Deem and Pass" has been used often and by both parties. Democrats point out that Republicans used it quite a bit in the 1990s, in fact -- though not for something quite as large as this.

In this Congress, Democrats used "Deem and Pass" for raising the debt ceiling, which was tucked into the PayGo bill.

From NBC's Pete Williams
A New Jersey appeals court today gave a tactical boost to an effort, led by a Tea Party group in the state, to recall Sen. Robert Menendez.

The court ruled against New Jersey's secretary of state, who refused to let the group circulate petitions to get a recall measure on the ballot. The secretary of state said recalling a U.S. senator would violate the U.S. Constitution and therefore refused to let the group proceed with its petitions.

But the court said New Jersey law explicitly gives voters "the power to recall ... any United States senator or representative elected from this state." For that reason, the court said, in an unsigned unanimous opinion, the secretary of state must accept the petition.

As for the larger question, of whether such an effort would violate the federal Constitution, the court said it was expressing no opinion. "We should not be understood as passing on the ultimate validity of the recall process regarding a United States Senator or any other underlying issue," today's decision said.

The court put the effect of today's ruling on hold to give the state and Menendez the opportunity to appeal.

The White House and Dem leaders are arm-twisting everyone... If process is a problem for Dems, then why is Pelosi opting for the "deem and pass" or so-called "Slaughter Rule" to pass the Senate bill?... NBC/WSJ poll comes out tonight… Breaking down the 37 House Democrats who voted against the House bill last year… Politico writes that big Dem donors aren't giving big bucks to the DNC… And "Daily Rundown" interviews Marjorie Margolies (who lost her congressional seat after voting for Clinton's budget in '93), while "Andrea Mitchell Reports" has Homeland Security Secretary Napolitano.

From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, Domenico Montanaro, and Ali Weinberg
*** Arm-twisting everyone: President Obama's shout-outs yesterday to Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D) -- plus that Air Force One ride -- pretty much summed up where things stand on health care right now. The White House and Democratic congressional leaders are arm-twisting everyone, regardless of ideology. During Obama's remarks yesterday in Ohio, after he mentioned Kucinich's name, an audience member yelled, "Vote yes!" Obama interjected, "Did you hear that, Dennis? Go ahead, say it again." Meanwhile, the AP reports that Obama has recently met, one-on-one, with two rookie House members who voted against the House health-care bill last November: Florida's Suzanne Kosmas and New York's Scott Murphy. Obama's most fascinating line yesterday was his talk about the "courage" needed to pass the bill, which was a message to his own party. "We need courage," he said. "You know, in the end, this debate is about far more than politics. It comes down to what kind of country do we want to be." 

*** The politics of process: A while back, we noted how successful the Republican Party has been in using process -- the sweetheart deals, reconciliation, the lack of C-Span cameras -- as a weapon in the health-care debate. Well, Obama's chief pollster, Joel Benenson, has released a memo noting that process has been a mess for Democrats. "Independents' concerns about health care reform are not about specific provisions in the bills passed by the Senate or House, but instead reflect concerns about reforms' stagnation and the backroom deal-cutting, particularly those that benefit the constituents of key swing senators or special interests, such as the pharmaceutical industry," he writes. But if process is the problem, then why does House Speaker Nancy Pelosi prefer using "deem and pass" or the so-called "Slaughter Rule" to pass the Senate bill? Do House Democrats really believe they can somehow "hide" their vote for the Senate bill? 

*** Deem and pass: The Washington Post's Ezra Klein explains "deem and pass" and the politics behind it. "Rather than passing the Senate bill and then passing the fixes, the House will pass the fixes under a rule that says the House 'deems' the Senate bill passed after the House passes the fixes. The virtue of this, for Pelosi's members, is that they don't actually vote on the Senate bill. They only vote on the reconciliation package. But their vote on the reconciliation package functions as a vote on the Senate bill… It's a circuitous strategy born of necessity. Pelosi doesn't have votes for the Senate bill without the reconciliation package." John Boehner and Mitch McConnell pen a Wall Street Journal op-ed criticizing that move. "This bill is so toxic that House Democrats are concocting a scheme by which they would pass it but spare themselves the embarrassment of actually voting for it… No legislative sleight-of-hand can make this bill more palatable."

*** NBC/WSJ poll day! What are Americans' thoughts on the health-care debate? Would they be more likely to vote for a member of Congress who supports/opposes health care? How do they view Obama on the subject? What about congressional Republicans? For the answers to these questions and more, tune into NBC Nightly News, or click on to MSNBC.com, beginning at 6:30 pm ET for the latest results from our NBC/WSJ poll.

*** Breaking down the vote: Yesterday, we took a look at the handful of House Dems -- who voted yes and no for last year's House health-care bill -- who are running for governor or the Senate this year. Today, we break down the 37 House Dems who voted against that legislation into two groups: those who represent districts that Obama won in 2008, and those who represent districts that McCain won. Of those 37, eight represent districts Obama carried: Adler (NJ), Baird (WA), Barrow (GA), Artur Davis (AL), Kissell (NC), Kucinich (OH), Scott Murphy (NY), and Nye (VA).

And 29 of the them represent districts McCain won: Altmire (PA), Boccieri (OH), Boren (OK), Boucher (VA), Boyd (FL), Bright (AL), Chandler (KY), Childers (MS), Lincoln Davis (TN), Edwards (TX), Gordon (TN), Herseth Sandlin (SD), Holden (PA), Kosmas (FL), Kratovil (MD), Markey (CO), Marshall (GA), Matheson (UT), McIntyre (NC), McMahon (NY), Melancon (LA), Minnick (ID), Peterson (MN), Ross (AR), Shuler (NC), Skelton (MO), Tanner (TN), Taylor (MS), and Teague (NM). 

*** Other health care odds and ends: AFSCME and Americans United for Change are up with a closing TV ad pushing for health-care reform. The ad's buy is $200,000 and it will air on cable (to influence lawmakers and opinion) and also on CBS during the first round of the NCAA tournament… The Chamber of Commerce says it polled ten key Democratic congressional districts (AZ-8, CO-4, FL-2, NC-8, NV-3, NY-24, OH-1, PA-4, TX-17, and VA-2) and found support for the health-care measure in the mid-to-low 30s; a GOP polling firm conducted the survey… And the NRSC is up with a Web ad targeting Indiana Democratic Rep. (and Senate hopeful) Brad Ellsworth, who hasn't yet decided if he will vote for the health-care bill; Ellsworth voted for the House bill last year.

*** DNC concerns? President Obama doesn't have many notable events on his schedule today, keeping it relatively free (it seems) to arm-twist various House Democrats on health care. But he has lunch with DNC Chairman Tim Kaine at noon ET, and we wonder if this Politico story will be a topic of conversation. "According to an analysis by POLITICO, only 15 — or just 10 percent — of the 150 biggest fundraisers for the Obama campaign gave the maximum $30,400 to the DNC last year... To be sure, the DNC's fundraising is humming along at a record pace, bringing in about $30 million more than it did in 2005, the last midterm election season, and giving the committee a small (less than $1 million) but rare cash advantage over the Republican National Committee. Still, the committee lags behind the records set by Republicans when they controlled both the White House and Congress." This perception of the DNC is a growing one among activists who aren't sure if OFA and the DNC are working hand-in-hand.

*** Programming notes: MSNBC's "Daily Rundown" interviews Marjorie Margolies (who lost her congressional seat after voting for Clinton's budget in '93). And MSNBC's "Andrea Mitchell Reports," which airs beginning at 1:00 pm ET, speaks with Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano.

*** Midterm news: In California, GOP gubernatorial hopefuls Meg Whitman and Steve Poizner debated last night… In Colorado, the state's caucuses begin tonight, "with thousands of people headed to neighborhood precinct caucuses to begin the process of nominating their parties' candidates"… And in Pennsylvania, after we noted two polls showing Arlen Specter (D) leading Pat Toomey, the Toomey campaign pointed to a Susquehanna poll showing Toomey ahead by six points, 42%-36%.

Countdown to CA filing deadline: 1 day
Countdown to IA, UT filing deadlines: 3 days
Countdown to IN, NC, and OH primaries: 49 days
Countdown to NE and WV primaries: 56 days
Countdown to AR, KY, OR and PA primaries: 63 days
Countdown to Election Day 2010: 231 days

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The AP looks at President Obama's focus on the big picture or the Long View: "It's a high-minded notion that elected leaders love to invoke, both privately and publicly. It makes politicians seem above the dirtiest aspects of campaigning and governing. They rarely adhere to it. With all of the House and a third of the Senate going before the voters every two years, and a media environment that moves by the minute, the long view can get pretty short. Scoring a point -- now -- can itself feel like a do-or-die achievement in the long slog to pass prized legislation or survive re-election."
 
"But for Obama, it's been a crucial prescription he reaches for when times get tough, whether during his come-from-behind White House bid, the recent imbroglio over chief of staff Rahm Emanuel or policy setbacks in his often embattled presidency. Now, with the fate of his health care overhaul likely to be known by the end of this week or soon after, the outcome -- either way -- will test his loyalty to the long view as much as anything that has come before."

The New York Times on Obama stumping for health-care reform yesterday in Ohio: "Declaring that 'every argument has been made' on his health care overhaul, President Obama sought to seal the deal with Congress and the American people Monday by focusing on a single patient: a self-employed cleaning woman who dropped her costly insurance plan and just discovered she has leukemia."

Politics Daily's Jill Lawrence has this advice to liberals still trying to insert the public option into reconciliation: "The public health insurance option is dead, get over it."

"Newly released documents from a major insurer detail how certain hospitals and doctors are paid dramatically more than others for the same types of services, sometimes as much as three times higher," the Boston Globe says. "The vast inequalities emerged in documents filed by Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Inc., the second largest health insurer in Massachusetts, before the start today of state hearings investigating why health care costs are rising so rapidly."

"Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stoked the growing feud with the U.S. on Monday, refusing to back off on Israel's plans to build in East Jerusalem," the New York Daily News writes. "'The building in Jerusalem, and in all other places, will continue in the same way as has been customary over the last 42 years,' he told a meeting of his Likud Party called to address the diplomatic crisis with Israel's closest ally." 
 
The New York Post: "Israel's ambassador to Washington warned that American-Israeli relations have plunged to a 35-year low." Michael Oren said, "Israel's ties with the United States are in their worst crisis since 1975 ... a crisis of historic proportions," Oren told Foreign Ministry officials in an emergency briefing, Israeli media reported."

The Washington Post: "While public attention is focused on a new arms-control treaty between Russia and the United States, the slow, dull work of keeping nuclear warheads and weapons-grade uranium and plutonium protected from terrorists goes on almost unnoticed. But two new reports have shed light on the subject. A fascinating study on China's system of securing its nuclear weapons was published last week. Two days earlier, an update on the multiyear U.S. effort to secure Russian nuclear sites, and those of other countries, was presented to the House Appropriations subcommittee on energy and water, which has jurisdiction over funding for the U.S. nuclear weapons complex."

More: "Mark A. Stokes's study of Beijing's nuclear weapons for the Project 2049 Institute, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization focused on Asia, describes where the Chinese are storing their warheads and how they are protecting them. Stokes, who served 20 years in the Air Force, also worked in the Defense Department's office of international security affairs, where he handled China, Taiwan and Mongolia."

"With passage of sweeping health care reform finally in view, House Democratic leaders are launching an all-out assault to win over the final pockets of resistance within their rank and file," Roll Call writes, adding: "The strategy so far appears to combine a call for party loyalty with an argument for the measure on its merits -- while publicly creating a sense of inevitability around its passage. And leaders are also pursuing targeted carrot-and-stick appeals to the self-interests of Members nervous about their re-election prospects. 'It's conversations about your future around this place and, with the White House, about what you're going to get' in terms of political support, one senior Democratic aide said." Some of those being courted: Rep. Scott Murphy (D-NY) was asked to the White House, Dennis Kucinich who said yesterday he was undecided, and Rep. Michael Arcuri (D-NY).

Here's Roll Call's handy Whip Chart, highlighting specific members who could switch their votes. 
 
Here's The Hill's updated whip count. 
 
Roll Call looks at the health-care ad war.

The Washington Post on the process: "After laying the groundwork for a decisive vote this week on the Senate's health-care bill, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi suggested Monday that she might attempt to pass the measure without having members vote on it. Instead, Pelosi (D-Calif.) would rely on a procedural sleight of hand: The House would vote on a more popular package of fixes to the Senate bill; under the House rule for that vote, passage would signify that lawmakers "deem" the health-care bill to be passed."

The Post's Chris Cillizza identifies five Democrats to watch.

Playing Hardball: "Labor and progressive leaders are threatening House Democrats who oppose health care legislation with potentially destructive third party challenges in November."

The AP: "Democratic congressional leaders showed signs of progress Monday in winning anti-abortion Democrats whose votes are pivotal to President Barack Obama's fiercely contested remake of the health care system."

Henry Waxman calls out Bart Stupak for mischaracterizing his position on abortion as it relates the bill. "He was inaccurate," Waxman said.

CALIFORNIA: The L.A. Times writes that a debate like last night's gubernatorial faceoff between Republicans Steve Poizner and Meg Whitman "can showcase the verbal tics politicians have. For Steve Poizner, there is a tendency to shout random words in the middle of sentences, for instance, 'I believe that our environmental rules need to be IN SYNC!!! with what's going on in the rest of the country.' For Meg Whitman, it is a habit of beginning nearly every answer with the word, 'So.' 'So, let's do another fact-check on Steve's record on immigration.' 
 
"Monday's debate, organized by the conservative Orange County-based group New Majority California, offered both candidates an opportunity to introduce themselves to voters who know little about them," the San Jose Mercury News writes. 
 
COLORADO: It's caucus day in Colorado. "The 2010 Colorado elections will formally get under way Tuesday night, with thousands of people headed to neighborhood precinct caucuses to begin the process of nominating their parties' candidates," the Coloradoan reports. "Colorado Republicans, who are hoping to stage a comeback after suffering significant setbacks in each election since 2004, will face the most choices at Tuesday's caucuses, with contested races for governor, U.S. senator, Congress and sheriff."

NEVADA: "Sarah Palin's father endorsed GOP U.S. Senate candidate Danny Tarkanian in his first radio ad as the primaries kick into high gear... 'You supported my daughter Sarah Palin, now please join me in supporting another strong conservative: Danny Tarkanian,' Heath says in the 60-second spot," the Las Vegas Review-Journal writes.

NEW JERSEY: "Former NFL player Jon Runyan [a Republican] is ready to start the clock on his post-football career in politics. Runyan will hold a kick-off event for his House campaign on March 18 ."

PENNSYLVANIA: On the day we noted two polls showing Arlen Specter (D) leading Pat Toomey, the Toomey campaign pointed to a Susquehanna poll showing Toomey ahead by six points, 42%-36%. 

Toomey and Sestak will debate the economy April 11 at La Salle University in Philadelphia, sans Sen. Arlen Specter, the Lehigh Valley Express-Times reported yesterday.

And per a release, SEIU in the state has endorsed Specter.

From NBC's Domenico Montanaro
Earlier we mentioned the Kentucky-Duke fight on the GOP side of the Bluegrass State Senate primary between Trey (aptly named for this time of year) Grayson and Rand Paul.

Well, Democrats have their own Wildcats-Blue Devils fight.

Lt. Gov. Dan Mongiardo went to Kentucky, but Attorney General Jack Conway is a Duke grad. Mongiardo tried to bait Conway into a bet on who would go further -- Kentucky or Duke. Conway's campaign declined and said he actually picked Kentucky to win the national championship.

That drew a heated response from Mongiardo's campaign.

Conway's response to the wager proposition:

"While we certainly appreciate the Mongiardo campaign's offer to wager on the NCAA tournament, at a time when Kentucky's unemployment rate is nearly 11%, we believe it's more appropriate to keep the focus of this campaign on which candidate can help the people of Kentucky in this difficult economic time. Jack is less interested in where anyone went to college than in making sure Kentucky families can afford to send their kids to college.
 
"As a long time college basketball fan, it's unfortunate that Daniel Mongiardo's campaign has decided to cheapen America's greatest sporting event by injecting lowbrow political attacks into the NCAA tournament.

"Additionally Jack's bracket has UK winning it all, so our campaign is not in a position to accept this bet since the spirit of it conflicts with our candidate's bracket.

Mongiardo's response:

"Attorney General Jack Conway angrily rejected Dr. Daniel Mongiardo's friendly offer to wager on which team advances farthest in the NCAA Basketball Tournament – the Kentucky Wildcats, Mongiardo's alma mater or the Duke Blue Devils, Conway's alma mater.

"Mongiardo campaign spokesperson, Kim Geveden said, "We are disappointed that Jack Conway could not get into the spirit of the NCAA Tournament shared by millions of Kentuckians.  I guess the fact that Jack is trailing Daniel by 18 points in the latest Bluegrass Poll has removed any sense of humor Jack may have had.  But he really should lighten up and take Coach Cal's advice – 'have fun.'" 

"It's too bad Conway is so sensitive about attending Duke that he cannot identify with the good natured fun of the NCAA.  After all, even in these difficult economic times, a love for Wildcat basketball during March Madness is a common bond shared by Kentuckians of every political stripe and economic standing.  It's too bad Jack Conway doesn't understand that,"  Geveden added.

"Geveden dismissed Conway's claim to have picked Kentucky over Duke in his NCAA bracket saying, "Real Wildcat fans aren't fooled by Jack's claim to having picked Kentucky over Duke.  While it is interesting to watch Jack flip-flop on his allegiance to his alma mater, we can't help but wonder how Jack's fellow Dukies will react when they learn that one of their own has apparently forsaken them and Duke Blue Devil fans everywhere."

"Mongiardo had wagered that if his Wildcats lost and Duke advanced farther in the NCAA tournament than U.K., Mongiardo would purchase a hunting license for Conway and serve as his personal hunting guide on a turkey hunt in western Kentucky.  If Conway lost and Kentucky advanced farther, Conway would serve as Mongiardo's personal golf instructor at Louisville's Audubon Country Club, where Conway is a member."

Conway, however, neither confirms nor denies that he sympathizes with this man:

From NBC's Scott Foster
STRONGSVILLE, OH -- Seeking to push his key domestic agenda item over the legislative finish line, President Obama today made another forceful case for his health-care reform plan today to an energized crowd here.

This time, he added a new line to his argument -- one provided by a supporter in the audience who interrupted him.

"We need courage," a woman shouted as Obama called for an up-or-down vote from Congress.

The president seized on that comment, saying, "Did you hear what somebody just said? That's what we need. That's why I came here today. We need courage. We need courage. You know, in the end, this debate is about far more than politics. It comes down to what kind of country do we want to be."

But there's one other crucial thing Obama and Democratic leaders on Capitol Hill need: votes. It was a point driven home during the speech when the president acknowledged the congressman representing Strongsville: Democrat Dennis Kucinich.

An audience member yelled, "Vote yes!" when Obama mentioned Kucinich, who has said he opposes the Senate bill because he believes it doesn't go far enough.

"Did you hear that, Dennis? Go ahead, say it again," the Obama responded.

The president said he came to this suburb of Cleveland to tell the story of a local woman stricken with cancer who was dropped from her insurance coverage after she couldn't keep up with sky-rocketing premiums.

"I'm here because of Natoma," he told the several hundred audience members gathered at a local senior and recreation center just outside of Cleveland.

Last December, Natoma Canfield wrote a letter to Obama, explaining how she was diagnosed with breast cancer 16 years ago and repeatedly faced rising insurance costs, which ultimately led to her be dropped from coverage after she wasn't able to keep up with those payments. The president read that letter to a group of insurance company executives last week at the White House. Today, Natoma was supposed to introduce the President, but was unable to after recently being diagnosed with leukemia.

Again taking aim at the insurance industry, Obama explained, "She expects to face more than a month of aggressive chemotherapy. She is racked with worry not only about her illness but about the costs of the tests and the treatment that she's surely going to need to beat it."

In his last road trip advocating reform, Obama wrapped up his speech with a populist tone, saying "he doesn't 'know about the politics," but adding that Congress needs to "do what's best for America" and pass his health-care reform plan.

"The American people," he said, "want to know if it's still possible for Washington to look out for these interests, for their future."

From NBC's John Yang
Across the country, governors and state legislators are battling over how to close big budget deficits. One of the most unusual fights is in the Minnesota Supreme Court today.

It involves Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty -- a potential 2012 presidential candidate eager to burnish his reputation as a get-tough-with-Democrats fiscal conservative -- and a unique provision in Minnesota law called "unallotment." That provision allows a governor to unilaterally rescind state funding in appropriations bills passed by the legislature and signed into law. The question the state Supreme Court is considering, however, is under what circumstances can he execute those powers.

As in other states, Minnesota's constitution requires a balanced budget (the state operates under two-year budgets). Unable to reach a budget deal with the Democrats who control the legislature, Pawlenty signed all the spending bills lawmakers sent him, but vetoed a bill that would have raised taxes to pay for them. After the legislature adjourned, Pawlenty used the allotment law to cut $2.7 billion in spending. Beneficiaries of a $500 million food program sued, and in December a state district judge ruled that Pawlenty "crossed the line" and usurped the legislature's role, violating the separation of powers.

David Schultz, a Hamline University political scientist, says the law is intended for emergency situations, such as when revenues drop unexpectedly after the legislature has adjourned -- not when a governor and lawmakers reach an impasse. Pawlenty, he says, is "creating the emergency conditions that allow him to use it. He appears to not want to negotiate in good faith. Working with the legislature is supposed to be a cooperative venture, not take-it-or-leave-it."

If the state Supreme Court rules against Pawlenty, Republicans say it's up to the Democrats to figure out what to do about the $2.7 billion it will add the state's deficit. "They own this issue now," House Minority Leader Kurt Zellers told Minnesota Public Radio. "If you truly believe -- like they said time and time again -- that this is unconstitutional, then it's up to them to find the $2.7 billion."

From NBC's Will Brown
The group Independent Women's Voice held a conference call with reporters today to discuss its poll released today that surveyed health-care opinions in 35 Democratic-held swing districts.

The poll found that 40% of respondents support starting from scratch with a bipartisan proposal and 20% want Congress to stop working on health care this year; 36% support passing the current legislation or passing current legislation and then making changes.

"There's a certain sourness if not bitterness among these voters," Republican pollster Kellyanne Conway said. "Voters really want Congress to hit the reset button."

John McCain won in 20 of these districts in 2008. Also, 20 of the representatives from these districts voted for the House bill.

Other results:
-- 52% said health care would not be the top issue in deciding which candidate to support this November, while 30% said it would be
-- 69% believe health care reform is distracting Congress from the economy and jobs
-- 63% believe government's role in current health care legislation is too big
-- 48% identified themselves as "very" or "somewhat conservative;" 30% were moderates; 16% described themselves as "very" or "somewhat" liberal

Independent Women's Voice says it is a nonpartisan organization "dedicated to promoting limited government, free markets, and personal responsibility" and "fighting against higher taxes and wasteful government spending" according to its Web site. The poll was conducted March 8-10. The margin of error is +/- 2.8%.

From NBC's Domenico Montanaro
March Madness is underway. Two storied programs -- with no love lost for each other -- Kentucky and Duke have No. 1 seeds.

But in a new ad Trey Grayson is raising allegiance to the home-state Wildcats a campaign issue in his Republican primary against Rand Paul. Paul, the son of Rep. Ron Paul, got his medical degree from Duke. And Grayson dug up a clip of Paul, saying, "I'm Rand Paul, and I'm a Duke Blue Devil."

Grayson wryly follows with, "I'm proud to say I'm a University of Kentucky Wildcat."

Here's Paul's statement: "I guess that might be a real issue if you're running for student council. It's especially funny watching my Harvard-educated opponent complain about where I went to medical school."

Where's the clip from? Per a Louisville blog: "[A]n address made to the UK Students of Liberty in April 2009, and is one of over 200 videos uploaded by a Paul supporter (the clip starts around 2:05). Later in the address, Paul jokes that he was trying hard to cover his Duke t-shirt under his suit."

That blog, by the way, gives some history of the disdain:

"For anyone who doesn't know the history, the animosity UK fans feel for Duke can be traced back to pretty much one game—when Duke's Christian Laettner, after earlier receiving a technical foul for stomping on the chest of UK's Aminu Timberlake, hit a game-winning shot to beat the Wildcats in the 1992 Elite Eight. So Paul being a Duke fan would obviously raise a few eyebrows in the Commonwealth."

Here's that painful shot for Wildcat faithful:

And here's that classy Laettner stomp:

From NBC's Domenico Montanaro
Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli is recorded by the Virginia blog "Not Larry Sabato" as appearing to try to find a legal way to contest President Obama's citizenship.

Cuccinelli's office has not yet returned a phone message and e-mail seeking a response. *** UPDATE *** Cuccinelli's office sends along this response to First Read in Cuccinelli's name:

"I absolutely believe that President Obama was born in the United States. I don't buy into the claims that he wasn't. On the recording, I was asked a hypothetical legal question, and I gave a hypothetical legal answer in response.

"As I said previously, this issue was not a part of my campaign, and it is not part of what I am doing now as attorney general.

(Hat tip: Ben Smith.)

Here's what Cuccinelli says, per the audio: (transcript after the jump)

QUESTIONER: Um, what can we do about Obama and the birth certificate thing, 'cause that's--?

CUCCINELLI: It'll get tested in my view when he signs a law and someone is convicted of violating it, and one of their defenses will be it's not a law if someone qualified to be president isn't signing it.

QUESTIONER: Is that something you can do as attorney general, can you like-, can you do that or something?

CUCCINELLI: Well, only if there's a conflict where we're suing the federal government for a law they've passed. So it's possible.

QUESTIONER: Cause we're talking about the possibility he was not born in America.

CUCCINELLI: Right, but at the same time, under Rule 11, federal Rule 11, we gotta have proof of it.

QUESTIONER: How can we get proof? [laughing]

CUCCINELLI: Well, that's a good question -- not one that I've thought a lot about, cause it hasn't been a part of my campaign. But someone's going to have to come forward with nailed-down testimony that he was born in Place B, wherever that is. The speculation is Kenya.

QUESTIONER: Um--

CUCCINELLI: And that doesn't seem beyond the realm of possibility.

From NBC's Domenico Montanaro
With President Obama today campaigning for health reform in Dennis Kucinich's congressional district, Kucinich's office reiterated to First Read that "he is a firm no," according to spokesman Nathan White.

The health bill isn't progressive enough for Kucinich, who voted against even the House-passed bill, which included a public option.

Kucinich wrote an op-ed in Sunday's Cleveland Plain-Dealer, outlining his position. He said, in part:
 
"President Barack Obama is in northern Ohio on Monday to campaign for his health care plan, and I will be here to welcome him. I have met with the president three times to discuss how we can work together to address the serious deficiencies in our health care system. Even at this late date, I am hopeful that the White House will be able to reinstate key reforms that passed the Education and Labor Committee on which I serve.

"Unfortunately, the president's plan, as it currently stands, leaves patients financially vulnerable to insurance companies. It requires all Americans to buy private health insurance policies, while failing to ensure those policies do what they are supposed to do -- protect people from financial catastrophe caused by injury or illness. ...

"Absent a strong public option or legal protection for states that wish to pursue single payer, the bill that the president is proposing is a step in the wrong direction. Even with the few modest improvements in the bill, the insurance companies will still have dozens of loopholes to deny care and continue to find ways to leave Americans with the unpayable bill."