**Health Care
*AP: "A debate and vote are expected Saturday on the 10-year, $1.2 trillion bill that would extend coverage to 96 percent of Americans, require employers to insure their employees and bar such insurance company practices as dropping coverage for sick people. Democratic leaders shrugged off Tuesday's election losses in governor's races in Virginia and New Jersey, focusing instead on their wins in two House races, a Democratic seat in northern California and one in New York that had long been held by the GOP. Both winners will be sworn in ahead of Saturday's vote."

*"House Democrats continued to whip their sweeping health care bill Wednesday before a planned Saturday vote, holding around-the-clock meetings to try to finalize abortion language and make other tweaks to the bill," Roll Call reports. "House leaders are hoping the White House will help whip the bill in the coming days, including a potential visit from President Barack Obama, given that they do not yet have 218 firm votes to pass the bill."

*The expected AARP "endorsement would be a huge boost to the legislation and would come six years after consumer group infuriated Democrats by backing President George W. Bush's Medicare prescription drug measure," The Hill reports. The "rare Saturday evening vote" is expected to take place by 6 or 7 p.m.

**Election Post-Mortem
*AP: "What we learned from the off-year elections: The president's influence is limited, independents rule, incumbents beware, issues trump ideology and, once more, 'It's the economy, stupid.'"

*CNN's Peter Hamby writes about the GOP's new superstar, Gov.-elect Bob McDonnell (R). "Fred Malek, a prominent Republican fundraiser and party insider who spent Election Night in Richmond with McDonnell, agreed that it's too early to speculate about the governor-elect's political future. But he said he expects Republicans around the country to welcome McDonnell as a campaigner and fundraiser for years to come."

*Wall Street Journal: "Elections this week left Democrats scrambling to renew the coalition that elected President Barack Obama after independent voters, whose power to determine U.S. elections is rising with their numbers, broke heavily toward Republicans. But even as Republicans celebrated their victories, they faced a struggle to build unity between the party establishment and the conservative activists who have helped lift the GOP out of the doldrums after two successive election cycle defeats."

*Adam Nagourney's take on the state of the GOP: "The divisions within the party extend beyond the traditional strains between the shrinking ranks of Republican moderates and the social and economic conservatives who have dominated the party in recent years. The situation is all the more complicated because, after the party's defeats in 2008, it has no dominant leaders or cohesive establishment to bridge the divides and help articulate a positive agenda. In that vacuum, the conservative activists and party leaders were both jockeying for advantage on Wednesday."

*"An ebullient" Michael Steele yesterday "modestly credited conservative and Republican activists and volunteers" with GOP wins on Tuesday, Washington Times reports.

*Speaking of Biden's last-minute visit to New York-23, a senior White House official tells ABC: "We're 2-0 against Palin. The Vice President went in and took on Governor Palin and the other national Republicans who had gotten involved in the race and we're sure happy that Owens pulled out that win."

**Campaign 2010/2012
*It's coming! The mayor-elect of Manchester, New Hampshire got congratulatory phone calls from Pawlenty, Romney and Pataki, ABC reports.

*With the president in Wisconsin, Obama's top political adviser met with potential Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Tom Barrett, Politico reports.

*Conservative groups aren't hanging their heads after the NY-23 loss, Politics Daily reports. Instead, these six 2010 races will provide "a test of their contention that conservatives make better GOP candidates": Florida Senate, Texas Governor, California Senate, California Governor, Kansas-01 and Georgia-09.

*"Two big questions loom in the wake of the 2009 elections. The first is whether Barack Obama learned anything new about American voters. The second is whether American voters will soon learn something new about Obama," Politico reports.

*SurveyUSA poll in Kentucky: Rand Paul and Dan Mongiardo lead the GOP and Democratic Senate primaries, respectively.

*Despite low poll numbers, Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer (R) is announcing her intention to seek a full term.

**Sports Alert: Start spreading the news! As Mike predicted in this very space on Opening Day in April, the New York Yankees are the 2009 World Champions. The first time in nine years, and the fifth time for the "core four" of Posada, Jeter, Rivera, Pettitte. Bring on the parade!

--Mike Memoli and Kyle Trygstad