Making sausage, etc.

The old adage that watching democracy in action is like watching sausage be made rings true on days like today. We're on the eve of quite possibly the session's biggest vote on our end of the Capitol. Two observations:

(1) The most popular people in the House today are the fence-sitters on the tobacco tax; and
(2) This group is the most powerful lobby in the Capitol right now for their own bills (ie, public school employees' health ins).

It's all about stategery.