House Speaker Nancy Pelosi

The fate of healthcare legislation turns on the endgame skills of two Democrats who bring vastly different assets to the task: President Obama and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Obama's signature ability to inspire fellow Democrats and Pelosi's well-honed ability to read their parochial needs will be tested as they tackle the job of finding the last stubborn votes for the healthcare bill. The final push is giving Obama a chance to redeem himself among Democrats who have complained that he has been too detached from the nitty-gritty of crafting the healthcare bill.

With the clock ticking down to Sunday's vote on the $940-billion healthcare package, President Obama and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) labored Friday to sustain their momentum in the face of continuing dissent in Democratic ranks over abortion and other issues. The president and his allies picked up support Friday from several key uncommitted House Democrats, including at least three who voted against the House healthcare legislation last year. And several Democrats facing tough reelection campaigns -- including Rep. Dina Titus of Nevada -- also announced they would continue to support the healthcare overhaul.

The fate of healthcare legislation turns on the endgame skills of two Democrats who bring vastly different assets to the task: President Obama and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Obama's signature ability to inspire fellow Democrats and Pelosi's well-honed ability to read their parochial needs will be tested as they tackle the job of finding the last stubborn votes for the healthcare bill. The final push is giving Obama a chance to redeem himself among Democrats who have complained that he has been too detached from the nitty-gritty of crafting the healthcare bill.

Last week's elections in Pennsylvania proved that Democrats can throw tea parties too. In conservative western Pennsylvania, the special election to fill the House seat of the late John P. Murtha, a Democratic warhorse who delivered military appropriations to his district for 36 years, was expected to be close. The district's residents are quintessential swing voters: Democrats by heritage and habit but potential Republicans in outlook and temperament. It's the kind of place Republicans need to win if they hope to take back a majority in Congress.

President Obama won't release his proposed budget for 2014 until Wednesday, but liberals and AARP have been howling all week about something they expect to be in it. What has our president done to provoke such outrage among his supporters? He's chained CPI. In an attempt to meet Republicans halfway in the battle over taxes and spending, Obama has offered to change the formula for calculating Social Security's annual cost-of-living increase - an "entitlement reform" GOP leaders have long asked for. The result would not change current Social Security benefits, but it would reduce future raises by an estimated three-tenths of 1% in the first year, or about $42 for the average beneficiary.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) said Friday that states might be able to "opt out" of any nationwide government insurance plan, a compromise that she suggested could unify congressional Democrats and enable President Obama to sign a healthcare overhaul bill later this year. Pelosi remains a leading champion of the "public option," which would establish a federal health insurance program that would give consumers who don't get coverage through their employer an alternative to plans offered by commercial insurers.

Nancy Pelosi, whose four-year run as speaker of the House of Representatives could be in its final months, offered an optimistic prediction about the outcome of Tuesday's election during a brief photo opportunity on Capitol Hill. "With the early returns and the overwhelming number if Democrats who are coming out, we're on pace to maintain the majority," she said. Pelosi, the first woman and first Californian to lead the House, appeared with Rep. Chris Van Hollen, the Democrat charged with heading the party's campaign effort, at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee's offices just south of the U.S. Capitol.

The controversy that has followed Michael Jackson, in life and in death, reached the halls of Congress on Thursday as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) said she saw no point to scheduling a vote on a resolution honoring the pop icon. Senior lawmakers had feared the resolution would set off an ugly debate that could hurt Congress' image and upset the Jackson family. They were probably right, given that Rep. John Yarmuth (D-Ky.

John Bailey thought it was great when his neighbor was elected to the House of Representatives in 2007. "Not everyone lives next door to a congresswoman," he said. But two years later, he doesn't feel so lucky. The congresswoman's house is abandoned and in disrepair, "a blight on the neighborhood," Bailey said. He thinks the way that Rep. Laura Richardson (D-Long Beach) has treated her Sacramento home tells far more about her than her voting record.