Transcript from The Situation Room that aired on March 18,2010
BLITZER: In the House of Representatives right now, supporters and opponents of health care reform are working frantically to try to reach the magic number of 216 -- just over half the number of seats currently filled in the House. The yes votes still are very, very fluid.
So CNN is keeping tabs of House members who appear set to vote no. That includes all 178 Republicans in the House and 26 Democrats who are against the bill. That would put opponents 12 votes short of the 216 magic number they need to kill health care reform.
But some Democrats are changing their minds right now and dozens of others still are undecided.
Let's talk about the possible fallout of voting yes or no, for that matter, with our senior political analysts, Gloria Borger and David Gergen -- David, this is about as tough a vote for some of those Democrats -- moderate Democrats -- who are in districts that John McCain carried over Barack Obama in 2008 -- as it comes.
DAVID GERGEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST, FORMER PRESIDENTIAL ADVISER: Well, that's exactly right, Wolf. There are some 49 Democrats who are in districts that John McCain did carry in 2008. A number of them are safe. But there -- by some estimates, there are as many as three dozen Democrats who are still in play who could be vulnerable if they go to yes on this vote. And -- and as you say earlier, it does very much recall Marjorie Margolies-Mezvinsky in 1994, when she went to bat for President Clinton on -- on the budget and then went down in Pennsylvania as a first -- a first term Congresswoman, went down in that election that followed.
BLITZER: She wrote an article on the op-ed page of "The Washington Post," Gloria, today. You know Marjorie Margolies- Mezvinsky.
GLORIA BORGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Um-hmm. BLITZER: "There are times," she writes, "in all our careers when we must ask ourselves why we're here. I urge you simply to cast a vote you can be proud of next week, next year and for years to come. Given the opportunity, I wouldn't change my vote. Then again, what do I know? I was a lousy politician."
BLITZER: She's giving some advice...
BORGER: She is.
BLITZER: -- to those Democrats right now who have to make a decision that potentially could remove them from Congress, like she was removed after she supported President Clinton.
BORGER: You know, Wolf, I actually covered that. And the -- the problem that Marjorie Margolies-Mezvinsky had was that she had gone on television that morning and said she was against this budget. Then President Clinton, who is very persuasive, called her up. She changed her mind. And so she voted with him and she voted for him.
So the problem was that she was telling her constituents one thing all along, had been very vocal against it, and then came out and flip-flopped. So it's really not a question for a lot of these members now whether they can vote their conscience, it's just that you can't do one thing and say another.
BLITZER: And it's interesting that Gloria says that, David, because I was speaking to some -- some Democrats who are on the fence right now. And those who are going to vote no, what they're saying is they're going to go into the House chamber, vote no and then run out of there as quickly as they possibly can so no -- so Nancy Pelosi or Steny Hoyer can't grab them and convince them to do what they did...
BORGER: You can't do that.
BLITZER: -- to Marjorie Margolies-Mezvinsky, get -- get her to change her mind.
GERGEN: Well, well, that's -- that's exactly right if you did. And that's, you know, Nancy Pelosi has to flip some of the nos to yeses. And they will be the ones who will be most vulnerable on this flip-flop charge. And, look, you know, hey, they're -- for -- for Marjorie, there was this ironic twist to the tale, of course, that her son -- her son Marc is now engaged to Chelsea Clinton.
BORGER: Right.
GERGEN: So maybe good things do come...
BORGER: That had nothing to do with it.
GERGEN: -- out for her in the end.
BLITZER: Yes, exactly.
GERGEN: It had nothing to do with it, but it's still one of those ironies of history.
BLITZER: She may have lost...
BORGER: But the thing is...
BLITZER: She may have lost her race, but she did get a -- a wonderful daughter-in-law, Gloria.
BORGER: That's right. But the thing is...
GERGEN: Exactly.
BORGER: But the thing is, Wolf, I think the lesson here is that your constituents will say to you, look, if you change your mind, you're allowed to do that, but you have to tell us why.
GERGEN: Yes.
BORGER: And there'd better be a good reason for it. But if you do it on the floor of the House in the 11th hour and nobody knows why and you've been talking about it for months and then suddenly you change your mind, that's not going to be really well received.
BLITZER: Yes.
BORGER: Correct?
BLITZER: I think those are good points.
Guys, thanks very much.