Everybody knows by now that the House passed health care yesterday. I spent the evening, beginning at around 8 PM, speaking with a number of Reps from both sides of the aisle. Here are the Democrats in the order I interviewed them:

Jerry Nadler, a leader amongst progressives:

Donna Edwards (a rising star in the progressive caucus):

Kathy Castor, from Tampa Bay, Fl:

John Garamendi, former insurance commissioner, energy expert and strong progressive from California. When I was stringing for FDL, Garamendi made a point to stop and thank me for the work FDL was doing to whip on health care.

Tom Perriello: widely percieved to be one of the most threatened Democrats in the country; his distinction is his strong claim to “conviction politics”. A few months ago he told his supporters and opponents alike that he didn’t run for office to be re-elected. Instead, he’s there to make a difference by doing the right thing. His district is one of the “reddest” House seats held by a Democrat, but don’t tell him that!

BTW, that’s a cheering crowd you hear in the background – they weren’t protesters!

Immediately after I spoke with Congressman Perriello, we walked back to the House office buildings. Earlier, the Congressman told me that he had taken a lot of heat from protesters and it wasn’t much fun. So when I heard a crowd chanting, I assumed it was more protesters and tried to walk the Congressman to the other side of the street. But then I heard what they were saying: “Yes we did! Yes we did!” Hundreds of people were cheering the passage of health care! We ended up crossing the street again and walking through the folks whose support was so crucial throughout the process. For once, Congressman Perriello (and other Democrats, including Alan Grayson!) got to hear a lot of “Thank You”s and “You Rock”s: