MATTHEWS: Congressman Gerry Connolly‘s a Democrat from Virginia who voted yes back in November for health care and now says he‘s not-

Congressman, everybody respects you and your thinking on this. What is it?

Where are you on health care right now as the vote comes up on Saturday?

REP. GERRY CONNOLLY (D), VIRGINIA: Well, first of all, let me wish you a happy St. Patrick‘s Day, Chris.

MATTHEWS: Thank you, sir. Same to you...

CONNOLLY: The holiest day of the year for (INAUDIBLE)

MATTHEWS: With the name Connolly, it‘s appropriate.

(LAUGHTER)

MATTHEWS: It‘s appropriate. Thank you.

CONNOLLY: What gives me pause and what I want to see is, I want to see the Congressional Budget Office numbers, and I want to see the language of the text before I commit to another health care bill. Quite frankly, the bill I supported was quite different than the Senate bill, and the Senate bill certainly gives me some heartache. So before I vote for something, I want to see, you know, the whole picture.

MATTHEWS: Well, you sound like you‘re not convinced the Senate‘s going to make the fixes with reconciliation that the House makes.

CONNOLLY: I think we have reason to be concerned given the fact-you know, the Senate was originally the cooling plate for legislation. Now, that cooling plate has been taken a little too seriously. It‘s now, you know, a glacial ice shelf...

MATTHEWS: Yes.

CONNOLLY: ... and I think they take their role just a little too seriously -- 290 pieces of legislation we passed last year are still awaiting action in the other body.

MATTHEWS: Well, (INAUDIBLE) tell you. I know you‘re a skeptic and you‘re a member of Congress and you have a right to be skeptic, given the way the Senate behaves, with 290 bills sitting over there the House has passed. But if they don‘t pass the reconciliation that you pass, if they don‘t do it, I think it‘s the end of the Democratic Party as an organization. They have to do it.

Here, by the way, are the members who‘ve decided today on the health care bill. Big news today. Dennis Kucinich at 10:00 o‘clock in the morning called a press conference and said he‘s going to vote for the bill, with its imperfections. Dale Kildee, a pro-life Democrat-he‘s going to stick with the bill, even if it‘s the new version. He‘s going to try to get the modifications, obviously, through reconciliation. Jim Oberstar, another pro-lifer-he‘s with the bill now. Lynn Woolsey voted for it I believe last-against it last time. She‘s switching and is going to vote for it now, with its imperfections.

So you‘re seeing people coming in from left, right and center here. Let me show you-here‘s Kucinich, a progressive, speaking today. He‘s, of course, from Cleveland, Ohio. Here he is, talking about why he‘s finally come down for the bill this morning. Let‘s listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. DENNIS KUCINICH (D), OHIO: I have doubts about the bill. I do not think it is a step toward anything I‘ve supported in the past. This is not the bill I wanted to support, even as I continue efforts until the last minute to try to modify the bill. However, after careful discussions with President Obama, Speaker Pelosi, my wife, Elizabeth (ph), and close friends, I‘ve decided to cast a vote in favor of the legislation. If my vote is to be counted, let it count now for passage of the bill.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTHEWS: Congressman Connolly, some people have said that if you vote against the president on this bill which he‘s invested so much in-in fact, his whole credibility-it‘s a no-confidence vote, like in the British system. You‘re saying no to his leadership. Is that how you would see it if you voted no in the end, as a no confidence in his leadership?

CONNOLLY: I don‘t know that I would see it that way, Chris. But I certainly am aware of that as a factor, and that‘s something that weighs, you know, among one of many factors on you as you try to make up this decision.

MATTHEWS: Thank you very much.

CONNOLLY: Clearly, that-clearly, that weight on Dennis Kucinich when he made his decision.

MATTHEWS: Well, everybody‘s-everybody‘s looking at your decision.

Everybody‘s got a lot of respect for you, Congressman.

CONNOLLY: Thank you.

MATTHEWS: Happy St. Patrick‘s to you, sir.

CONNOLLY: Thank you.