Awesome story from CNN.com:

A suicide bomber wearing a vest laden with explosives was killed by locals Thursday in eastern Afghanistan before he was able to detonate, police said. . . . The people who intervened in the incident pelted the man with stones and slashed him with knives and were able to kill the man and give the suicide vest to police.

The House will take up the Senate-altered reconciliation bill tonight, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said today.

"The Senate is expected to complete work this afternoon on the improvements bill to the new health care reform law. If they finish their work later today as planned, the House will take up the improvements bill with technical corrections this evening," said Hoyer.

The bill must be voted on again in the House because Senate Republicans successfully challenged a portion of the education reform language.

The Senate reconciliation bill "Vote-a-Rama" is underway, and the Republicans are making the most of it.  Democrats are trying to keep the Republicans from changing any language in the House bill, to keep the House from having to cast a third vote on health care reform (more on that later).  Because Republicans are allowed unlimited Amendments without any debate (and hence, no filibuster) at the end of the reconciliation process, Republicans are offering all manner of amendments that would normally receive near-unanimous support, and Democrats are being forced to defeat them.

Among other amendments that Democrats are being forced to table:

McCain's amendment to eliminate "sweetheart" deals for Tennessee, Montana, Connecticut, and other states.

Barasso's amendment to ensure that Americans can keep the coverage they currently have.

Coburn's amendment to ensure that federally funded prescription drugs do not cover prescriptions of viagra to child molesters and rapists, or abortifacients.

Roberts's amendment to strike the tax on medical devices.

Inhofe's amendment to exclude pediatric devices from the tax on medical devices.

Risch's amendment to repeal the limitation on itemized medical expense deductions.

Vitter's amendment to increase women's access to breast cancer screenings.

These are obviously tough votes for Democrats to cast, but they are necessary ones.  In addition to changing the language of the bill, many of these risk making the bill unable to reduce the deficit, which would cause it to sunset after five years.  Regardless, expect many of these votes to be made into campaign commercials in the next few cycles.

Republicans have nevertheless forced the bill back to the House for a second vote.  Republicans managed to strike two portions of the student loan reform as not related to deficit reduction.  Because the Senate bill will now be different than the House bill, the House will have to vote on the Senate bill before it can be sent to the President.

Back to the wall, Florida Gov. Charlie Crist (R) has gone on television for the first time in the Senate primary race, and it's with a negative spot.

The spot trades on the new scrutiny of Marco Rubio's background, particularly his spending of Florida GOP funds as the state House Speaker. It also gleefully refers to a moniker conferred upon him as the "Republican Obama."

Well, Rubio quickly responds with a pair of 15-second ads that remind Republican voters of Crist's support for President Obama's stimulus plan.

The St. Petersburg Times' Adam Smith reports that the Rubio spots are "designed to bracket Charlie Crist's ads whenever possible."

The primary is still five months away, and Crist's early money advantage combined with the recent infusion of state and national GOP dollars on behalf of Rubio ensures that this is just the beginning.

Dan Gilgoff of CNN says "safe." Jim Geraghty of National Review begs to differ.

Democrat Phil Bredesen won re-election in 2006 with 69% of the vote.  The Democrats vying to be his successor are not likely to perform as well.  Knoxville Mayor Bill Haslam (R) leads former state House majority leader Kim McMillan (D) 46%-25%, while he leads businessman and political scion Mike McWherter (D) 45%-27%.  State Senate Speaker Ron Ramsey (R) fares somewhat worse, leading McMillan 43%-25% and McWherter 43%-29%.  Congressman Zach Wamp leads McMillan 42%-29% and McWherter 41%-31%.

Rasmussen did not poll "Crazy Man James" Reesor or Carl "Twofeathers" Whitaker, two Independents vying for the governorship.

I really miss the 2006 election cycle, when I could give posts on the Wisconsin governor's race clever titles like "Oh, Doyle Rules."  Good times.

At any rate, it looks like Governor Jim Doyle (D) is presently on track to be replaced by a Republican.  Former Congressman Mark Neumann, who came within a hair's breadth of knocking off Senator Russ Feingold in 1998, leads likely Democratic nominee Tom Barrett (a former congressman and current Mayor of Milwaukee) 43%-38%.  Milwaukee county executive Scott Walker leads 42%-39%.

All three candidates have plenty of room for growth; no one is recognized by more than 60% of the voters.  But there are some significant warning signs with the Democrats' performance among Independents; Neumann leads 43%-26%, while Walker leads 41%-29% in that group.  This is, of course, similar to what we've seen nationally among the Democrats.  Barrett's chances are not helped by the fact that Governor Doyle has David Paterson-like approval ratings; he sports a 29%-58% approval/disapproval rating.  Expect a lot of commercials trying to tie Barrett to the Doyle administration.

By a 49%-40% margin, more voters disapprove of the health care legislation that President Obama signed into law on Tuesday, a new Quinnipiac survey conducted Monday and Tuesday finds. That's actually an improvement, however, from a survey taken Sunday before the House passed the bill, when 54% disapproved and just 36% approved.

Slightly fewer people now disapprove of Obama's job approval rating (46%)compared with Sunday (49%), though his approval remains below the 50% mark (45%). More people trust Obama (45%) to handle health care than Republicans (35%); the two were tied at 42% before the vote. And fewer people now disapprove of the way Obama handled health care -- 58% before the Sunday vote, 50% after.

"It may be that passage of health care eventually helps President Barack Obama's approval ratings, but at this point there's no sign of that," said Quinnipiac assistant director Peter A. Brown. "The White House believes that now that the legislation has been signed into law they can sell it to the American people. Approval of health care reform is growing – or disapproval is shrinking – but the President still has his work cut out for him."

Just a quarter said they would be more likely to vote for their representative if they voted for the health care bill, while 33% said they'd be more likely to vote for them if they voted against it.

The public disapproves by a 51%-40% margin of a lawsuit being brought against the United States government by a dozen or so state attorneys general on the grounds that the health care reform bill is unconstitutional.

The March 22 – 23 poll surveyed 1,552 registered voters nationwide with a margin of error of +/- 2.5%.

The newest PPIC poll in California shows Republicans on the ascendancy in California. Meg Whitman has jumped ahead of Jerry Brown in the governor's race, while Sen. Barbara Boxer (D) now is deadlocked with potential GOP foes.

General Election Matchup: Governor (1,102 LVs, 3/9-16, MoE +/- 3%)
Whitman 44 (+8 vs. last poll, 1/12-19)
Brown 41 (-2)
Und 17 (-6)

Brown 46 (+2)
Poizner 31 (+2)
Und 23 (-4)

General Election Matchups: Senate
Campbell 44 (+3)
Boxer 43 (-2)
Und 13 (-1)

Boxer 44 (-4)
Fiorina 43 (+3)
Und 13 (+1)

Boxer 46 (-1)
DeVore 40 (+1)
Und 14 (unch)

After the jump, the latest polling in the GOP primaries, plus statewide approval ratings.

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Vice President Joe Biden had some laughs about his "big f******* deal" open-mic gaffe Wednesday night, saying even the president ultimately approved.

Speaking at a fundraiser in Baltimore, Biden said that Obama today made light of the moment, saying at the morning briefing: "You know what the best thing about yesterday was? Joe's comment.” Biden said Obama had even hoped to present him with a T-shirt to commemorate the remark, but couldn't get it in time. "If you thought it was so good, why didn't you say it?" Biden says he responded.

On a much more serious note, Biden predicted Democratic losses in the midterm elections this fall even as the party feels a shot in the arm after the sweeping reform plan was signed into law this week. Because of Obama's overwhelming win in 2008, Democrats won seats "in districts that Democrats have no business" winning in.

"But I'm telling you, we're going to go into the second half of our administration, with a solid Democratic majority in the House and the Senate, and with the wind at our backs," he said.

One reason losses won't be as severe as forecast? "The ace we have in our pocket is the Republican party," he said. "The American people are smart. They smell a rat. They know there was nothing about trying to get a better bill."

The party should celebrate their legislative victory, he told an audience of about 60 donors, because had they not succeeded, "not only in the political sense might we be dead. But in terms of being able to deal with other major issues on our plate, we would've been done. Absolutely done."

You can read the full pool report from tonight's event after the jump.

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