[TheMercenary]

Dems ask Pelosi for autographs
There's no way to predict what the final vote on the health care bill will be, but the body language of Democrats in the chamber today suggests they are, for whatever reasons, breathing a little easier.

During a series of procedural votes earlier today, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), wearing a tomato-red dress and a relaxed smile, was drifting from member to member -- even sharing a laugh with Bart Stupak (D-Mich.), who forced a vote on abortion over Pelosi's objections.

At some point, people began unwrapping copies of bill and handing it to the speaker for her autograph.

The first member I saw ask was Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY). Pelosi seemed stunned but obliged, resting one of the two four-inch thick volumes on the back of a bench and inscribing it with a Sharpie. Several other members approached her with copies as she made the rounds, like high school seniors on Yearbook Day.

Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-Rhode Island) approached House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), who sat down next to him and wrote a long inscription.

http://www.politico.com/blogs/glennthrush/