After his presidential run, Dean founded Democracy for America.

The liberal Democrat, who previously served as governor of Vermont, said “This is essentially the collapse of health care reform in the United States Senate. Honestly the best thing to do right now is kill the Senate bill, go back to the House, start the reconciliation process, where you only need 51 votes and it would be a much simpler bill.”

Earlier this year, Sen. Jeff Bignaman, D-N.M., made headlines after he said he could support reconciliation to pass portions of the health care reform bill. Bingaman made the remarks at a health care town hall in Albuquerque.

Reconciliation is a Senate rule that allows budgetary items to only require 50 votes and not be subject to the 60-vote threshold to break a filibuster.

Later, a Bingaman spokeswoman said there was no clear head count on passing health care reform through budget reconciliation.

With opposition by Sen. Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn., Susan Collins, R-Maine, Olympie Snowe, R-Maine and some concerns over abortion from Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., health care reform supporters in the Senate have not been able to get to 60 votes despite a number of attempts at compromise.

The latest compromise, which caused Dean to say it was time to kill the bill, was to drop a Medicare buy-in which would have given 55-64 year olds access to purchasing Medicare.

MSNBC reported yesterday that Lieberman had previously voiced support for the Medicare buy-in.

“Our country desperately needs health insurance reform—but our pursuit of reform cannot leave Native Americans behind,” said Rep. Heinrich in a statement.

“As we continue to debate health insurance reform, we must remember that true reform must include all Americans—this includes our nation’s Indian Country. I want to thank Congressman Heinrich for his work on behalf of Native Americans, and for his leadership to assure the reauthorization of ICHIA,” said U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Cali., in the press release.

The amendment, written by Natural Resources Committee Chairman Nick Rahall, D-W.Va., would reauthorize IHCIA until 2025.

Heinrich wrote a letter (pdf) to House leadership urging the inclusion of Rahall’s amendment into the House version of health care reform, which Democrats hope to pass by the end of the year. You can read the embedded letter below.

Many media outlets reported Thursday afternoon that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., is leaning towards including a public option in the Senate version of health care reform.

From the New York Times:

A clear majority of Senate Democrats favor a government-run plan, saying it would hold down costs by competing with private insurers. Champions of the public option, as it is known, have urged Mr. Reid to take an aggressive posture by putting it in the bill and forcing opponents to try to strip it out.

“Centrists” in both parties (notably Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Iowa, and Sen. Olympia Snowe, D-Maine) were cool to the idea.

Speaking of the public option, former Democratic National Committee chair Howard Dean got some Blue Dog and conservative Democrats in political hot water when his group Democracy for America claimed that they supported the public option — including Harry Teague, D-N.M.

The National Republican Congressional Campaign, the group tasked with winning and defending Republican seats in the House, pounced. But, as The Hill noted, Teague has actually voiced the opposite sentiment:

Teague told the Albuquerque (N.M.) Journal last month that he does not believe a public option is necessary. His spokeswoman said Thursday that Dean’s organization had never contacted the congressman’s office about healthcare reform.

Moving away from health care, the liberal magazine Mother Jones highlights the Senatorial hold on President Barack Oabam’s nomination of Joseph Pizarchik to head the Office of Surface Mining.

Pizarchik is not popular because of some of his actions and policies enacted as director of Pennsylvania’s Bureau of Mining and Reclamation.

Bingaman told Mother Jones about the situation:

I’m not dismissing or minimizing the serious concerns that were raised. I share many of those concerns. But I don’t agree that all of these problems can be laid at Mr. Pizarchik’s door… I do not think it fair to vilify him for the shortcomings in laws that have been passed by Pennsylvania’s General Assembly or the laws we passed here in Washington.

An interesting read.

Think there is too much money in politics? Well things could get worse after the Federal Elections Commission decided not to appeal an appeals court ruling “that could free outside groups to spend huge sums of cash unburdened by contribution limits.”

And everyone’s favorite former Alaskan governor, Sarah Palin, endorsed a candidate in a New York state special election. Palin endorsed Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman — over Republican candidate Dede Scozzafava — in the special election for New York’s 23rd Congressional District.

There are worries among Republicans that the two will split votes and hand the victory of the seat. The seat was previously held by Republican John M. McHugh, who resigned earlier this year to become Obama’s United States Secretary of the Army.

Heinrich IHCIA Letter

Howard Dean speaking in Albuquerque during the 2008 national election. (Photograph by Matthew Reichbach)

Mayor Martin Chavez has gained some high profile support in his quest to be reelected next week.

An automated call that reached Albuquerque households Tuesday night contained a message from Howard Dean urging folks to vote for Chavez.

Dean is the former chair of the Democratic National Committee. During his tenure at DNC, he pioneered what is known as the “50 state strategy,” in which the Democratic party attempts to grow a base of support in all 50 states, even those that seem unlikely to produce electoral college wins for the Democratic presidential candidate.

In 2007, Dean appointed Chavez to the Democratic National Committee.

In the call to Albuquerque voters, Dean says:

In these tough economic times, Marty Chavez has been a steady leader for Albuquerque, attracting new jobs, greening Albuquerque, and keeping Albuquerque on the right course. One thing my experience has taught me is to not change courses when you’re on the right course. I’ve witnessed the best of America and have also seen how rare it is to meet a public servant who delivers on his word. Again, this is Howard Dean asking you to vote for Marty Chavez on October 6.

Dean rose to prominence during a bid for the Democratic party’s nomination for president in 2004.  He successfully mobilized a constituency of bloggers to support his candidacy and started a group called Democracy for America.

That group led to the creation of Democracy for New Mexico, the blog of Barb Wold who endorsed Chavez this week. Here is the post from 2004 in which Wold announced the origins and formation of her blog, in relation to DfA and Dean.

Update: Since this blog was published, a commentary by Dean was published on the Democracy for New Mexico website giving his reasons for supporting Chavez. In it, he says that, among other things, Chavez has “…real, progressive accomplishments and they show that you have a Mayor who thinks globally and acts locally.”

Read the entire commentary here.

Albuquerque blogger and radio reporter Peter St. Cyr received a statement from Bingaman’s office on the vote:

I voted for that resolution, and I believe its adoption was an appropriate outcome. It also has the benefit of allowing the caucus to move forward on preparing for our legislative priorities as well as planning to help the new president advance his agenda. With Sen. Lieberman remaining as a member of the Democratic caucus, we are one vote closer to having a 60-vote threshold required to pass legislation and get things done for the country.

Earlier today, it was reported that Tom Udall not only voted to keep Lieberman as chairman of the Homeland Security committee, but also spoke on Lieberman’s behalf.

Talking Points Memo reports that Hillary Clinton voted to keep Lieberman as chair of the caucus. The vote was by secret ballot, but the following votes have been reported:

For: Senators Clinton, Kerry, Durbin, Tom Udall, and Cardin.

Against: Senators Leahy and Sanders.

Leahy and Sanders were reportedly the only senators to speak against Lieberman.

In a phone interview with TPM, DNC Chairman Howard Dean backed the senators’ decision.

The Chicago-area U.S. representative caught Obama’s eye, according to ABC’s George Stephanopoulos on “Good Morning America” today, because he “knows policy, knows politics, knows Capitol Hill,” and Obama has told associates that Emanuel would “have his back.”

Bloomberg reports that Obama’s also looking at returning Lawrence Summers to his old Clinton-era post as head of the Treasury Department — a job pretty much no one wants to do these days.

Summers, 53, is favored to return to the Treasury post that he held under President Bill Clinton because Obama values his experience and familiarity with markets and global leaders, a crucial asset during the markets crisis.

Still, people close to the president-elect stress no final decision has been reached and that Timothy Geithner, president of the New York Federal Reserve, is also a strong contender. Geithner would also be welcome by many in the financial community; at age 47, he would be a fresh face in an administration that ran on a mantra of change.

As for Emanuel, let it be remembered that he was one of the national-stature Dems who pooh-poohed Howard Dean’s 50-state strategy that seems to have worked remarkably well for Obama. In terms of getting a quality team together, it seems that letting bygones be bygones could be yet another A+ strategy for Obama.