Democratic Party

Capping months of work, House Democratic leaders on Tuesday introduced their plan for a sweeping remake of the nation's healthcare system. Among the provisions in the 1,018-page bill: creation of a new government insurance option, increased regulation of the insurance industry and other steps to ensure near-universal medical coverage for the first time in U.S. history. The bill would also set out new initiatives to begin curbing costs in a healthcare system that is expected to consume nearly $2.

Senior House Democrats on Friday introduced their plan for reshaping the nation's healthcare system, calling for a new government insurance option, a new mandate on employers to provide coverage and a new guarantee of subsidized healthcare for the poor. The draft -- the fullest presentation so far of congressional liberals' vision for overhauling medical care -- offered few indications of how such a plan would be financed. The price tag is expected to top $1 trillion.

Some days you have to ask yourself, my God, what if these people were Republicans? Democrats took back Congress in 2006 and the presidency in 2008 in no small part because of their ability to bang their spoons on their high chairs about what they called the Republican "culture of corruption." Their choreographed outrage was coordinated with the precision of a North Korean missile launch pageant. And, to be fair, they had a point. The GOP did have its legitimate embarrassments. California Rep.

Even in a town of bigger-than-life personalities, media mogul Haim Saban stands out -- lion-like in demeanor, furiously determined and unshakably loyal to those people and causes in which he fervently believes. Those causes: Israel, the Democratic Party and medical philanthropy -- in that order. And he has a history of putting his vast fortune behind all three. This week, Saban has found himself entangled in the controversy surrounding Democratic Rep.

As Democratic leaders prepare to bring healthcare legislation before the full House and Senate for votes this month, they soon must decide who will be taxed to pay for expanding coverage -- the wealthy or the insurance companies. Legislation emerging from the House would slap a surtax on upper-income people. But many Democrats, especially in the Senate, fear the political fallout over voting to raise anyone's income taxes. The most prominent Senate bill would impose a tax on insurance companies that provide expensive policies, sometimes dubbed "Cadillac" plans.

Rep. Rick Boucher (D-Va.) is in a tough spot when it comes to overhauling the nation's healthcare system. Major hospitals in his largely rural district have told him the bill pending in the House would cripple them financially. But Boucher also believes that the need for change is painfully obvious: When a free medical clinic was offered in a remote area of his district, some 2,700 people showed up.

The top three Democratic presidential candidates have begun focusing intensely on becoming the second choice among supporters of less-popular candidates such as Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, in a behind-the-scenes battle that could decide the outcome of Thursday's Iowa caucuses.

Barack Obama's campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination might have gained a slight advantage Tuesday with Ohio Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich's recommendation to his supporters to back the Illinois senator if there is insufficient support for Kucinich in individual precincts. While Kucinich's support is slight here, polls show a statistical tie for first among Obama, New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards.

The Republicans gathered upstairs, the Democrats downstairs, and for more than an hour Thursday night, the enthusiasm gap between the two major parties could be measured by both numbers and sound volume inside the Central Community Church here. In all, 303 Democrats were jammed into an overheated basement meeting room that crackled with excitement, while the 198 Republicans who filled the first floor church were more subdued -- as if they were there for services, not for politics.

The haggling that goes on after the first round of voting in Iowa's Democratic caucuses can test a supporter's loyalties. But Carol Coates of Franklin Township, just outside of Des Moines, remained faithful to New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson even after he narrowly fell short of the 15% viability threshold in the initial voting at her local Democratic caucus. Richardson needed 23 votes to stay in the running and had 22. "Go away!"