From WaPo's long tick-tock of the health care vote hunt:
On Friday morning, [Rep. Jason Altmire] e-mailed [White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel]. Despite the party on St. Patrick's Day at the White House, a sit-down with Emanuel, a few more phone calls from the president and three from Cabinet-level officials, Altmire planned to announce that he would vote no."Don't do it," Emanuel punched back on his BlackBerry. At 4 p.m., Altmire released his statement and at 7:30 Obama called once more.
"I want to give you something to think about before the vote," the president said gently into the phone. "Picture yourself on Monday morning. You wake up and look at the paper. It's the greatest thing Congress has done in 50 years. And you were on the wrong team."
Oh snap!
-- Tim Fernholz
