It’s hard to recall when a national issue held our attention for as long as this health care reform has. And even though Nancy Pelosi is basking in her own limelight after the House of Representatives passed her version in the dark of night last weekend, the fat lady hasn’t yet sung.

Pelosi and her crew scratched out every deal they could find to get those 220 votes for passage, while the opposition battled Pelosi’s 2,000-page Bible and garnered 215 votes. So there it was: 220 to 215 for passage of the House version, hardly a mandate for the Democratic version of what should be done to improve the health care program for America.

Among those 220 votes was that of New Orleans East Republican Joseph Cao, the only Republican in the country’s House to vote for the Democrats’ bill. Among the 215 who voted against the Democrats’ bill were 39 Democrats. Those defector votes should make the Pelosi entourage shake in their boots.

Defectors from the party: 1 Republican; 39 Democrats.  Hmmmmm.

Rep. Cao, hailed by the Republicans not long ago for his triumph in New Orleans amid the humiliation of Congressman William Jefferson, played a dangerous political game if he thought voting for the Pelosi bill would guarantee him re-election. Chances are very high that a Democratic African-American candidate will come forth and replace him in the next election.

Without Cao’s vote last Saturday, the Pelosicrat bill would have won passage 219-216. If the opposition could have found just two more votes, the result would have been 218 to 217 for defeat of a bill supported by the establishment.  The point is this: now the Senate comes to the plate. Without question the Upper House will look at that razor-thin margin in a heavily dominated Democratic House and take pause.

The Pelosicrat version will never pass muster in the Senate.  We have been indoctrinated to believe that the Senate is a more sagacious outfit than the rowdy House. The jury is still out on that one. But in the case of health care reform, let’s hope so. All the political pundits say the Senate will never go along with what the House passed. We will see if Sen. Harry Reid has the guts (I hate that word, but it works here) that Pelosi had in the House. The big difference this time is that Reid is facing a roughshod re-election bid in Nevada and the polls show he is behind already. Taking into account the squeezer the Pelosicrat bill faced in the House, ole Harry will be dancing with the stars to figure out how bold his leadership will be in the Senate.

We have a week-long Senate hiatus at Thanksgiving and then there’s Christmas looming. Obama wants a done deal before the end of the year.

Stay tuned..

Lou Major Sr. is a former CEO and current board member of Wick Communications and a Slidell resident.