There were enough live-bloggers and Twitterers, and news alerts about the House health care vote on Saturday night that we decided not to add to the cyber-din. But that doesn't mean we weren't curled up on the bedroom floor, glued to the television, Blackberry in hand, trying to carry on five or six email conversations with people we've known for years, who also savored this moment. (Probably none of my email pals were simultaneously running up and down stairs from bedroom to kitchen during particularly windy speeches baking a basketball-themed birthday cake for a nine-year old but that's not strictly relevant). We are all too well aware of the obstacles remaining in the Senate, and we will post an update on that shortly. But watching that vote, seeing the satisfaction -- not political satisfaction, something deeper -- replace the exhaustion etched on Nancy Pelosi's face, was a remarkable moment. Long time coming.

One of the emails I got after the vote was from Len Nichols, the director of our health policy program (aka my boss). Len loves political courage. He loves bipartisanship. He also has a particularly soft spot for New Orleans. So naturally, Len was pretty impressed with Anh "Joseph" Cao, the sole Republican with whatever the Vietnamese-American equivalent of "chutzpah" is to vote for the Democratic health reform bill.

You probably already read about Cao (not sure who to credit for coining the phrase "Tao of Cao" but it's a good one). It's a complex story. He's a Vietnamese-born  Republican and a former seminarian who won a heavily black Democratic district in a storm-damaged part of New Orleans that had been represented by discredited Democrat William Jefferson. You know, the guy with the cash in the freezer.(We don't have to say "alleged," anymore, he's been convicted.)  The district went more than 70 percent for  Barack Obama in 2008, and Cao is probably the most endangered Republican in next year's November House races. His party knows that; endangered candidates tend to get a little leeway on tough votes when their political future is truly at stake, and he cast the 219th vote, not the 218th. (Charlie Melancon, the only Democrat representing Louisiana in Congress these days, is running for Senate and voted against the bill... more on that in a moment). Cao was reported to have toyed with the idea of voting for the stimulus bill last winter but then decided not to. On health care though, he stuck his neck out and voted for a bill that will help the people he represents. Refreshing to see. His action has already set aswirl speculation that he will change parties. But for now, as his hometown newspaper the New Orleans Times Picayune reported:  

"I feel both courageous and lonely,'' he said.

During debate on the bill, several members, including some with decades of service, described it as the most important of their career. It could very well be the most fateful of Cao's short tenure, both substantively and politically.

Cao acknowledged as much over the summer, noting in an interview that voting against Obama's top legislative priority could have a fatal impact on his already long-shot chances for re-election in an overwhelmingly Democratic district.

"I know that voting against the health care bill will probably be the death of my political career," Cao said. But, referring to his opposition to abortion, he said, "I have to live with myself, and I always reflect on the phrase of the New Testament, 'How does it profit a man's life to gain the world but to lose his soul.' ''

Louisiana of course has become more red, less purple, in recent years. Melancon is the only Democratic House member, and the Republicans are a conservative bunch indeed. Charles Boustany even boasts on his web site about his meetings with the tea party crowd. Melancon is running for Senate against incumbent Republican David Vitter, and the Democratic leaders understood his political reasons for voting against the House bill (at least in it's present form.) That only adds to the pressure on Mary Landrieu, the state's other senator, who is one of the on-the-fence Senate Democratic centrists.  Landrieu says she wants to be part of a health care solution. We're hoping that she soon gives Cao a reason to feel a little less lonely.