You can't tell from Pelosi public announcements where she's at in her quest for health-care votes--everything is always peachy. Others are telegraphing something closer to the truth.

Bart Stupak let drop that House leadership is no longer courting the 12 votes he allegedly controls, which suggests, one way or another that Nancy has gotten all the votes she's going to get out of that crew.

That leaves the option of mining the previous no votes--37 of them. That apparently isn't going so well either.

As of today, Speaker Pelosi's Treasure Hunt for votes isn't going well. Not one of the Democrats who voted against health care last year has proclaimed support for the Senate bill, while dozens of members who voted for it last year say they are undecided.

Its probably even worse than it looks--and it looks pretty bad.

Anyone whose been in a situation where someone wants something from you real, real bad, understands that its both an opportunity and a problem. Say no, and you're the enemy, and you can expect to be treated as one. Say yes and you're in the bag--the negotiation stops and you've possibly left money on the table. The trick is to appear persuadable but noncommital. Saying yes as late as as you can, guarantees you the maxiumum concessions. Saying no as long as you can is also a good idea, because it keeps the hammer off your skull for as long as possible, and as circumstances change, its very possible that you might not have to say no at all.

Here's Nancy's problem though--this late in the game, and baby, its late, all the money on the table is all the money on the table. Anybody who could be bought, has been. That leaves a lot of people who don't want to incur the wrath of Rahm and are playing for time.

If there is no vote next week, I would bet big money that there never will be.