, the liberal group, posts on its blog its own whip count of the House Republican "no" votes on Speaker John Boehner's debt-ceiling bill.
TP was trying to assess if Boehner can get the 217 votes he needs to pass his proposal. (Because of vacancies he doesn't need the 218 that would normally be required in a 435-member House.)
TP counts 23 Republicans who have publicly stated their plans to vote against the bill. That's a critical number because in his 240 Republican conference, Boehner can lose no more than 23 votes and still pass the bill, assuming he gets no Democrats to vote for it.
Five Democrats did cross over to vote for "Cut, Cap and Balance" so it's not impossible. But virtually the entire Republican conference voted for that, making the Democrats who voted for the CCB bill excess votes.
But being the Democrat who pushed Boehner's bill over the finish line would be an entirely different situation for the Democrat who did it.
Chris Cillizza at the Washington Post's The Fix blog, gives the names of five lawmakers to watch, four Republicans and one Democrat, in Thursday's vote, scheduled to happen at 6 pm.
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