Candlelight vigil at Sen. Blanche Lincoln's Little Rock office Friday night.

(UPDATE - SENATOR LINCOLN JUST ANNOUNCED SHE WILL VOTE WITH SEN. REID AS OF 1PM MST)

We will keep you posted on any important developments throughout the day as the Senate debates the health care reform.

First, let's review what may happen: The vote tonight is a vote to "invoke closure" on the motion to proceed on the bill.  Sixty votes are required.

If the motion does pass tonight, we are likely looking at several weeks of futher debate on the Senate floor before a vote on the actual bill takes place.

Bottom line:  if the vote tonight is a "YES" we are far from finished.  To make a sports analogy as you watch football today: we're playing every single vote like it's "first and goal."  That's because each vote is a chance to KILL THE BILL.  But a failed vote doesn't mean we've lost the game.

HANG IN THERE
WE MAY HAVE WEEKS TO GO!!!!!

IN TODAY'S ALERT:

1. AAPS SURVEY: Doctors will NOT participate in public plan.

2. Breakdown of Senate schedule today

3. Targeted Senators and contacts

4. Senate bill "by the numbers" from Sen. Tom Coburn, MD (OK) with quick bullets listing the cost & main provisions.

5. LINK TO DOWNLOADABLE HANDOUT

1. AAPS SURVEY: 70% Doctors will NOT participate in public plan.

A yet-to-be-published survey of more than 1,200 physician conducted by AAPS show that 70% of physicians would REFUSE TO VOLUNTARILY PARTICIPATE IN A GOVERNMENT PUBLIC PLAN.

Again this points out the folly of the pursuit of "expanded insurance coverage."  If doctors are bailing out of the system and patients get medical care, what good is "coverage?"

PLEASE USE THIS POINT WHEN YOU ARE CALLING SENATORS -- IT IS A POWERFUL STATISTIC.

2. Breakdown of the Senate's schedule for today:
The Senate convened at 9:45 AM est and resumed debate on the motion to proceed to H.R. 3590 (shell for the health care bill) until 8:00 PM. The time will be equally divided and controlled in one hour alternating blocks until 6:00 PM, with the Majority controlling the first hour.

The time from 6:00-6:30 PM will be under Majority control, the time from 6:30-7:15 PM will be under Minority control, the time from 7:15-7:30 PM will be under Majority control and the final 30 minutes will be divided equally between the two leaders with the Republican Leader controlling the first 15 minutes.

At 8:00 PM the Senate will proceed to vote on the motion to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed to H.R. 3590. If cloture is invoked, all post-cloture time will be yielded back, the motion to proceed will be agreed to and the Majority Leader will be recognized to offer a substitute amendment which will be reported be number only.

3. Targeted Senators and contacts

The direct office numbers of your Senator are listed here: CLICK HERE

As of this morning, these is one Democrat on the fence:
(UPDATE - SENATOR LINCOLN JUST ANNOUNCED SHE WILL VOTE WITH SEN. REID AS OF 1PM MST)
Senator Blanche Lincoln (AR)
Chief of Staff: Elizabeth Burks (elizabeth_burks@lincoln.senate.gov)
Washington, DC (202) 224-4843 / (202) 228-1371 fax
Little Rock (800) 352-9364 / (501) 375-7064 fax

ALSO, PLEASE ENCOURAGE SEN. JOE LIEBERMAN TO 'STAY THE COURSE' IN HIS OPPOSITION TO THE PUBLIC PLAN.  Remind him about the AAPS survey and that patients will not be able to find doctors if it passes.

Please also contact this list of "HealthCare Flip Floppers": http://gop.com/index.php/12truths/states/ .
These are the 9 Senators who may vote YES to proceed on Saturday even though they say they oppose Harry Reid's bill.  If Saturday's vote passes, their NO vote later on could be meaningless except to give these 9 Democrat Senators political cover.  

4. The Senate bill by the numbers:

The title of the Senate bill is the "Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act".   In true DC double speak, the bill neither protects patients nor is affordable and in fact does the EXACT OPPOSITE.  Take a look at these recently released numbers that reveal the bill's true medical and financial consequences:

Senator Coburn's summation shows the magnitude of the burden the bill will place on the American people:

• 0-provisions guaranteeing taxpayers do not finance abortion
• 0-provisions prohibiting the rationing of health care
  
• 0-number of senators required to enroll in the new government-run plan
  
• 8-number of new taxes created in the bill, according to JCT analysis
  
• 13-pages in the bill’s table of contents
  
• 20.8-pounds the bill weighs printed out 
  
• 36-pages in the CBO estimate of the price tag
  
• 70-government programs authorized by the bill 
  
• 1,697-times the Secretary of Health and Human Services is given authority to create, determine, or define things in the bill
  
• 2,074-pages in the bill
  
• 3,607-uses of the word "shall" in the bill
  
• $6.8 million-cost to taxpayers per word
  
• 24 million-people left without health insurance
  
• $1.2 billion-cost to taxpayers per page
  
• $5-$10 billion-additional funding needed for the IRS to implement the bill
  
• $8 billion-taxes levied on uninsured individuals
  
• $25 billion-additional Medicaid mandates placed on states
  
• $28 billion-new taxes on employers not providing government approved plans
  
• $100 billion-estimated annual fraud in Medicare and Medicaid
  
• $118 billion-cuts to Medicare Advantage
  
• $465 billion-total cuts to Medicare 
  
• $494 billion-revenue from new taxes/fees levied on American families and businesses   
  
• $2.5 trillion-cost for full implementation of the legislation
  
• $12 trillion-total U.S. national debt

5. DOWNLOAD HANDOUTS TO GIVE TO PATIENTS & FRIENDS NEXT WEEK

CLICK HERE FOR AAPS 1-PAGE handout (PDF DOWNLOADABLE) 

And, our friends over at Citizens' Council on Health Care have done an analysis of the most and least frequently used words in both the House and Senate versions of the Health Care Reform Bill.  The word "tax" occurs 511 times in the Senate bill while the word "choose" occurs only 4; the word "federal" occurs 482 while "competition" only 13.  Click here to see the full list.

 Also, please take a look at the "TOP 10 (+1) PROBLEMS WITH HARRY REID’S HEALTHCARE TAKEOVER."