Dems' Doomsday Health Scenario

With negotiations nearly completed on health care, the fate of a final bill is hanging by a thread thanks to Republican Scott Brown's surging Senate campaign in Massachusetts against Democrat Martha Coakley. If Brown wins, Republicans will have enough votes to filibuster Democratic legislation, potentially killing health care for good. But, as the Huffington Post's Sam Stein reports, there are some possible routes to passage even if they may be difficult to pull off. For one, Brown's election would take at least 10 days to certify if he won, giving Democrats a small window to jam the completed legislation through the Senate before he takes office. The House could also simply pass the Senate's bill, which was already voted out of the chamber, and maybe even bolster it with concessions to more progressive members of Congress in a future reconciliation bill (which can't be filibustered). But with a full-on Democratic freakout likely to be breaking immediately after every Brown win, whipping lawmakers into line could become an impossible task.