(Thumbnail image: Flickr user majikthise)

“I am not going to be defensive about asking for help in this situation, and it is not a $100 million fix.  It is a $300 million fix.”
“I’m proud to have asked for it.  I’m proud to have fought for it, and I will continue to.  That is not the reason I am moving to debate.” (MSNBC)

Democratic Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu took to the Senate floor to cast and defend her crucial vote on healthcare reform.  She says her home state needs the money to pay Medicaid costs brought on by Hurricane Katrina.  But some critics say Harry Reid bought her vote with taxpayer money to the tune of $300 million.

We’re taking a look at perspectives from MSNBC, CBS News, The Times-Picayune, MSNBC, The Washington Post and FOX News.

First up, on CBS’ Face The Nation, Bob Scheiffer asks the question on everybody’s mind.

“Senator Landrieu from Louisiana, what now, a $100 million in federal funds had to be channeled to Louisiana?  They’re calling it the Louisiana Purchase in order to get her vote to begin debate.”

New Orleans newspaper The Times-Picayune quotes a Democratic public affairs expert who says Landrieu’s vote looks suspect.

“…The last-minute timing of Landrieu's decision leaves the impression ‘she sold her vote for $300 million.  This vote is not going to put her on Mount Rushmore…’”

Political writer A.B. Stoddard said on MSNBC targeted incentives aren’t unusual in Washington and could very well be scratched from the final bill.

“This is all part of it.  But Harry Reid, as you know, the Senate Majority Leader was going to get nowhere if he lost Mary Landrieu on that vote.  He needed her to get over the hump. Much will change down the road.  I don’t know if that money will stay in there.  But he needed it yesterday and she got it.”

The Washington Post points out that Landrieu wasn’t alone in her holdout turn power grab.

“After Landrieu threw in her support…the lone holdout…was Sen. Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas. Like other Democratic moderates who knew a single vote could kill the bill, she took a streetcar named Opportunism, transferred to one called Wavering and made off with concessions of her own.”

Hosts of Fox News’ Fox and Friends speculate on health care’s future, and if the bill is already falling apart.

“So much still to be debate, especially for moderate Democrats who don’t see the public option.  They just see it as a non-starter. And quietly, you’re hearing whispers they might already be talking about a trigger as opposed to the public option, which currently allows states to opt out.  That’s in the Senate bill.  They may be working on a compromise to get Landrieu from Louisiana, to get Lincoln from Arkansas.”

So do you think Democrats are wasting time and money trying to get moderate Democrats on board?  Or will it pay off in the final bill?

Writer: Chance Seales

Producer: Nathan Giannini