they talked about senator lincoln, senator mary landrieu. guest: those are certainly some of the more prominent that are very skeptical, if not outright opposed. blanche lincoln said that she would vote to bring it up for a bit -- for debate, but that she was opposed to a public option. mary landrieu is somewhat similar. she held out for funding for her state. interestingly, there is one republican senator that appears to be in play. olympia snowe, who has suggested that she was open to a public option if it includes some kind of trigger, insurance rates not going down by a certain amount over a certain amount of time. host: you mentioned the senator from alaska. other items on his wish list, what are some of the other things that we might see? abortion funding, what else might come this way? guest: one measure has been pushed by republicans that would allow americans to purchase insurance across state lines. a free-market approach that senators think have a lot of merit. they want to make sure there are no significant cuts to medicare servi

he was a fifth generation mary landrieu who served as a commanding general of the united states armyfor many years and was the first governor of louisiana territory in 1805. he became a secret agent of the spanish government in 1787, and was called agent number 13. he was a double agent over 30 years. general wilkinson died in mexico city in 1825 working for the mexican government. in the one short year that wilkinson was governor of louisiana territory in 1805, he created a lot of chaos over corrupt land deals. he was a co-conspirator with aaron burr in the 1806 attempt to invade mexico. but he betrayed burr and saved himself. at birth was indicted for treason and wilkinson narrowly escaped indictment. merriweather lewis was present at birth trial, for treason, after he returned from the expedition. lewis served as jefferson's eyes and ears at the trial and report back to him. windlass accepted the position of governor of louisiana territory, his first responsibility was to root out suspected burr writes from position of power and influence. ehrenberg brother-in-law, joseph brown, h

look, we got mary landrieu ended only cost this much money.uest: this always happens with legislation like this, but we lost sight of the point, to provide health insurance to the uninsured and save money. [laughter] guest: now it is an abortion bill and a punish the immigrants bill, in addition to other things. guest of the pope -- the president's political future is inextricably tied to this legislation. that is what it is about. no one is even attending at this point. host: is a good bill, margaret carlson? guest: when you said that he has got to get it through, it can be real sausage. seeing this bill being made is really unpleasant, very unappetizing. you wonder, knowing that the president has to get it, how bad can it get before he will not be in favor of it. it is not as bad as it could be, but is by no means as good as it could be. if you leave it without the public option, what you are doing is cementing the system that we now have without big reforms like changing pay for service. you are driving all of these people into the arms of

in louisiana 100 spots at a cost of $00,000 targeted democratic senator mary landrieu. and others. birmingham, alabama is up first in this short set of open phones. go ahead. scott on our independent line. caller: yeah. i am so tired of people like that lady that was on a while ago saying it was the housing market that caused this problem. it was jobs getting sent overseas. clear ags the nose on my face and i want to say happy late theaving my ua brother in syracuse who demalled yesterday. host: on our republican line, happy thanksgiving. i would like to say god bless sarah palin, and i believe the reason that democrats are so afraid of her is because she's so honest and non-politician-like because she actually says what she means and not what people just want to hear. host: white house saw lobbyists often during the health care debate. from the associated press writeing the list included george hall very son is t chairman and c.e.o. of kiezer health plans and from the blue cross and blue shield association and other clients, byy tauzin, the head of the pharma and other numerous lo

mary landrieu getting $300 million? is there anything unseemly about -- >> i think that is a better question for members of capitol hill. we are happy that progress is made. >> [unintelligible] >> that is better directed to the senate. >> beyond the stimulus, does the white house believe more should be done in terms of government intervention for job creation? >> i think the president and his team are evaluating different policies as to whether they can make a difference in helping to spur job creation. you mentioned the recovery act. adding anybody would tell you that before we can create -- i think anybody would tell you that before we can create jobs, we have to let economic growth that is on the positive side of the ledger. last quarter, for the first time in four quarters, we actually had a positive growth. i think that as a precursor to a more sustained recovery. the team continues to meet and evaluate what proposals in working with congress might help spur job creation. >> there is a report that the white house i

that does not mean it cannot be finessed in the back room to the senator mary landrieu is in somewhat of a similar position. interestingly, there is also one republican senator who appears to be in play, olympia snowe, a moderate republican, who has suggested that she is at least open to some kind of public option if it includes a trigger, meaning if insurance rates do not go down a certain amount over a certain amount of time, she might be willing to open up to a government-financed program. host: you mentioned senator mark begich of alaska saying that the public option is not crucial. what are some other things we might see, with the abortion funding issue and what else might come into play? guest: in the interview with senator begich, he mentioned one measure pushed by republicans, which would allow americans to be why insurance across state lines. -- buy insurance across state lines. it is more of a free market approach. it is one of the measures he would be willing to look at. he wants to make sure that there are no significant cuts or any cuts to medicare services at rural hospi