**Health Care
*The Wall Street Journal reports that Obama will, indeed, press for a public option. He'll say that it won't provide a level of subsidies that give it an unfair advantage over private insurers.

*David Axelrod tells AP of the speech: "Everyone who listens will understand that his plan has at its core two overriding goals -- to bring stability and security to Americans who have insurance today, and affordable coverage to those who don't."

*But, The Hill reports, "Political momentum appeared to swing sharply against the public health insurance option prized by liberals Tuesday."

*During their closed-door White House meeting yesterday, Obama urged Pelosi and Reid "to move rapidly on health care legislation as means to regain political momentum and demonstrate the party's ability to govern," Congressional sources tell Fox. "Democratic leaders are working on a rough calendar that envisions House floor action by the end of September or the first week of October."

*Washington Post reports that in a meeting Tuesday, Sen. Max Baucus "was unable to persuade" the Gang of Six to endorse his proposal, "which does not include many provisions that liberal lawmakers are clamoring to see in a final measure." Baucus gave the panel until 10 am Wednesday to make suggestions.

WSJ: "Leaders of the Senate Finance Committee are racing to reach an agreement on a health plan before President Barack Obama's Wednesday night speech, but it isn't clear if they'll make it. ... Whether they succeed could determine whether Mr. Obama's speech or the bipartisan plan drives the debate in the weeks to come."

*ABC's Jonathan Karl reports that "malpractice reform may be back in play. The reason: Olympia Snowe, the sole Republican Senator who seems inclined to support Democrats on health care reform, wants it."

**Health Care, Part II
*Sarah Palin is back again. She chooses this day of Obama's speech to write on health care in the Wall Street Journal: "The answers offered by Democrats in Washington all rest on one principle: that increased government involvement can solve the problem. I fundamentally disagree," she says. "Common sense tells us that the government's attempts to solve large problems more often create new ones. Common sense also tells us that a top-down, one-size-fits-all plan will not improve the workings of a nationwide health-care system that accounts for one-sixth of our economy. And common sense tells us to be skeptical when President Obama promises that the Democrats' proposals 'will provide more stability and security to every American.'"

*There was a big push yesterday, it seems, to argue that August was not the lost month for the White House the CW had originally determined. The New York Times: "While the month of August clearly knocked the White House back on its heels, as Congressional town hall-style meetings exposed Americans' unease with an overhaul, the uproar does not seem to have greatly altered public opinion or substantially weakened Democrats' resolve. Critical players in the health-care industry remain at the negotiating table, meaning they are not out whipping up public or legislative opposition."

*The Washington Post looks back at a health care fight state Senator Barack Obama led in Illinois. "Then, as now, the fate of Obama's health-care-for-all vision rested largely on whether he could deflect the attacks and hold together a fragile, unlikely coalition in support of change. The 2004 fight for the Health Care Justice Act in Illinois tested not only his skills as a legislator and community organizer, but his powers of persuasion as well."

**Health Care Part III
*"Nancy Pelosi finally has a trump card. Tired of watching helplessly as House bills are carved up to win support from conservative Democrats and moderate Republicans in the Senate, the speaker has a message for President Barack Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid: Take the public option out of health care reform, and you may not have a bill at all," Politico reports.

*"Political momentum appeared to swing sharply against the public health insurance option prized by liberals Tuesday, on the eve of President Barack Obama's address to a joint session of Congress. Democratic leaders in the House and Senate on Tuesday signaled they are increasingly willing to pass healthcare reform without a public insurance option, even while Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) again insisted it must be included in a House healthcare bill," The Hill reports.

*Sen. Chris Dodd "has decided against succeeding his friend Edward Kennedy" as chair of the HELP Committee, AP reports. Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) is next in line. "Whether Dodd would succeed Kennedy ... was the subject of much speculation on Capitol Hill in part because the move would have left the financial reform effort in the hands of Sen. Tim Johnson."

**Campaign Stuff
*"Republicans returned from the August recess with a new sense of optimism thanks to an outraged base, positive poll numbers and a sense that for the first time in half a decade, the party stands to pick up seats in next year's elections. In memos to their colleagues this week, both National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) Chairman John Cornyn (R-Texas) and National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) Chairman Pete Sessions (R-Texas) will crow about positive news in August," The Hill reports.

*MA Sen: GOP candidate for governor Christy Mihos said yesterday he's considering switching races to the open Senate seat, which will be decided by special election in January, Boston Globe reports. "Amid the jockeying, a new name emerged from outside the sphere of politics: Alan Khazei, the 48-year-old cofounder of City Year, the nationwide community service program for young adults, said he was seriously considering jumping into the Democratic primary."

*VA Gov: Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, a presumed 2012 presidential candidate, is swooping through Virginia today to campaign for GOP nominee Bob McDonnell. The two will speak with reporters in Richmond before going separate ways. Pawlenty will head up I-95 to the University of Mary Washington, then to a McDonnell campaign office in suburban D.C.

And Washington Post continues to hammer Bob McDonnell, recalling a 2003 comment during a judicial hearing he presided over in which he argued that gays may not be able to serve. He told one newspaper that "certain homosexual conduct" could disqualify a person from being a judge because it violates the state's crimes against nature law.

*The latest on Chris Christie's driving infractions. He says "he did not know about a lawsuit following his 2002 accident with a motorcyclist because he was never served notice," AP reports.

*RNC Chairman Michael Steele pre-empts the president's speech tonight with an op-ed in Politico, in which he pounds home that health care reform is "Speaker Pelosi's bill."

**Birther Alert: Another House Republican lightning rod, Jean Schmidt, apparently is among them.

--Kyle Trygstad and Mike Memoli