Here's Gaines brief resignation letter. He had called me to say it would be coming and that he would have no further comment, on advice of his attorney, Chuck Banks.

On the very same day that Blanche Lambert Lincoln will finally vote on whether to allow healthcare reform to reach the Senate floor, thousands of the dithering Arkansas Democrat's uninsured constituents will be lining up to see doctors at a free medical clinic in Little Rock. Anticipating this remarkable coincidence, Lincoln may even realize that conservative ideologues and insurance lobbyists are not the only voices that should command her attention during this debate.

Then, recalling Clinton's speech:

Clinton asked his audience, which included hundreds of Democratic donors and activists, to imagine a scenario in which he could somehow run for a third term as president (which drew enthusiastic applause). Then he asked them to consider what would happen if he offered the following campaign promise:

 "If you elect me again, the first thing I'm going to do is put a $900 billion tax on you ... I'm going to have the government print the money, and put it on elevated flatbeds, and display it along the national mall. And we're going to broadcast this ceremony on national television. And then I'm going to motor myself from one end of that $900 billion to the other, sprinkling Kerosene on it, and then I'm going to set it afire and watch it burn.

"How many people do you think would vote for me?" he demanded. "If you don't want to reform healthcare, that is your position. That is what you are advocating."

Lincoln wasn't there, but she could have heard the roaring laughter all the way back in Washington.

Says here that FBI is taking a look at a cop's Tasering of an Ozark girl, 10, who refused to take a shower.

Jordan Johnson tweets and twitpics that students at the Clinton School of Public Service (above) are getting some words of wisdom from a sure-enough public servant.

How's this for an intriguing candidate for that appointment -- Bill Bowen, retired lawyer, banker, gubernatorial chief of staff, UALR law school namesake? He's a spry 86.

The governor's office isn't saying, of course. But his name is going around.

All the anti-reform 'no gub-mint' in health care Docs had ALL of their salary during their residency paid for by the Feds. If they hate the govenment so much, how 'bout they repay all that, with interest? 
 
FYI, for this year, interns, i.e. first year after graduation, is about $45,000.
 
If it were up to me, I would make med school tuition free and strictly merit based. As it is now, folks graduate w/ $100k in student loan debt, and it is patients who re-pay that plus huge interest. You could cut physician salaries right off the bat.

Pryor has already indicated he'd allow debate. Lincoln has been holding out, but Sen. Ben Nelson provides the template for an aye vote to open debate:

This weekend, I will vote for the motion to proceed to bring that debate onto the Senate floor," Nelson says. "The Senate should start trying to fix a health care system that costs too much and delivers too little for Nebraskans."

"In my first reading," Nelson said, "I support parts of the bill and oppose others I will work to fix. If that's not possible, I will oppose the second cloture motion--needing 60 votes--to end debate, and oppose the final bill."

On the jump is the chamber's e-mail to its people (you can use the same instructions to send a different message to the senators):

The basics as told to me: Information was developed that led to issuance of a search warrant related to a weapon taken from one of the two nearby homes in which five people were found slain in rural Pearcy on Nov. 12.

Shooting broke out at a Hot Springs motel when officers tried to enter Thursday night. An officer suffered wounds to the head and is in stable condition today at UAMS. One suspect was killed. Two suspects fled. Authorities later arrested them without violent incident in traffic stops early this morning in Hot Springs.

Drugs will be involved in the unraveling of this tale, my source says, though Hot Springs authorities have been tight with details so far.

The sheriff's office has identified Marvin Stringer, 22, as the suspect killed by officers Thursday night. In custody are Samuel Conway and Jeremy Tickney, both 23.

Survey says an overwhelming majority of Arkansas voters -- regardless of feelings on the legislation itself -- want debate in the Senate on the health reform bill. AND an up or down vote on the bill.

A 68-year-old woman was accidentally shot in the thigh by her husband while hunting in Grant County. He thought he was shooting at a deer. She's expected to make it.

Republicans claim bureaucrats will deny mammograms to women under 50 thanks to Obama's push for reform.

It's an enormous lie. Various government advisory panels have been trying to ratchet up the age for women to begin routine mammograms (from 40 to 50) going back to the Clinton administration through the George W. Bush administration and now, again, in the Obama administration. I'm not sure which side is right; I know doctors and breast cancer advocates on both sides of the issue. All I know is the recent recommendations have nothing to do with so-called Obamacare.

Will Phillips makes the Daily Show. And wrestler Mick Foley promises to bring a world of pain to anybody who messes with him.