Why Democrats are in such a hurry

Michael Barone is correctly skeptical about the true cost of health-care reform, and realistic about the politics involved.

There are no good public policy reasons to pass such a bill hurriedly and before it can be fully analyzed and debated. Only political reasons: line up enough Democratic members before they can process the public opinion polls that show most voters hostile to such measures and before they are faced with probable though not certain Democratic defeats in Virginia and New Jersey in November.