“As sublime as election night was, it wasn’t particularly meaningful, other than that it gave us the opportunity to do meaningful things. So, to me, this was a much more — in some ways — impactful thing than election night, because I know — and I speak now as a parent of a child with chronic illness — I know that the lives of million and millions of Americans will be more secure because of what we did. And that gives the election meaning.

We shall see. Election night also gave the country a moment to stand together, I think it’s fair to say the same did not happen here. Axelrod also told Politico that one of the reasons there “was such a frantic push at the end from the other side was that they knew that if it passed, everyone would know the truth.” The question now is will people discover they’re happy about it before this November?

Having watched the Democrats collect the required number of votes to pass their highly contested health care reform bill, Sanchez asks Toobin whether the two major legal options the Republicans have before them to defeat the bill outside of Congress– suing against the bill itself and suing against a “deem and pass” vote– have any possibility of keeping the bill from becoming law. On the first option, he noted that “they can certainly sue; anyone can sue, this is America. But I think it is extremely unlikely this [health care] law will be declared unconstitutional.”

And as for the indirect “deem and pass” vote, he called it “clearly constitutional” and pointed out that Democrats have tried in the past to overrule Republicans similarly. “What happened when the Democrats tried it? They lost.”

Our sources indicate that the House will use deem and pass to get the bill through because they lack the votes to do so without it, and while all precedents point to a legal battle over “deem and pass” leading nowhere, the chances Republicans will let this go quietly are slim to none.

Toobin’s commentary below:

“I’m sorry to drag you guys out in this weather,” Obama began, before announcing to the American people “the vote they deserve.” The president started in on the specifics, but the takeaway was this: “We are on the cusp of making heath care reform a reality,” he said, also praising the compromise amendments added to the bill in the past days and weeks. “This will be the largest deficit reduction plan in over a decade,” the president added, citing $132 billion dollars over the first decade of the program.

And like any good millenial, I wondered how the web’s most newsy, opinionated and wide-read sites were reporting the milestone announcement. My first stops? From oldest media to newest: New York Times, Washington Post, CNN, Fox News, Drudge Report, Gawker, Huffington Post and Hot Air. Click through to the next page to see their respective front pages on this (maybe) momentous afternoon — some of it is quite telling.

>>>NEXT: Screenshots of some media front pages on the afternoon of Obama’s announcement…

The aforementioned Associated Press report provides a solid recap of where we are up to this point, running down the following facts:

• “The vote will determine whether debate can go forward on Majority Leader Harry Reid‘s 2,074-page bill to dramatically remake the U.S. health care system over the next decade.”
• “The two [necessary Democrat] holdouts are Sens. Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas and Mary Landrieu of Louisiana.”
• “After the vote Saturday night, senators will leave for a Thanksgiving recess. Upon their return, assuming Democrats prevail on the vote, they will launch into weeks or more of unpredictable debate on thehealth care bill, with numerous amendments expected from both sides of the aisle and more 60-vote hurdles along the way.”

Elsewhere, Brian Beutler is liveblogging the proceedings at Talking Points Memo, while the New York Times will doubtlessly have coverage on The Caucus blog.

But the television front is where things get most interesting, especially when it comes to the cable news wars. Two weeks ago, when the bill passed in the House, Fox News made a valiant and concerted effort to show their newsiness, interrupting pre-recorded programming for live highlights from the House floor, including notable speeches and the final vote. And they were rewarded in the ratings. CNN and MSNBC, meanwhile, both missed Nancy Pelosi’s speech, though the MSNBC online video player was streaming coverage all day.

When it comes to all day coverage for the truest obsessives, CSPAN is the only sure bet and no one would dare question it. But with the rest of the networks vying for more, er, entertaining coverage, it will be interesting to see if the other stations will have adjusted their strategy since Fox’s domination two weeks prior. You can be sure we’ll be watching.

At 11:15 pm last night, the House health care reform bill passed by a vote of 220-215 to elated cheers from the Democrats. There were 39 Democratic “Nay” votes, and one Republican “Yea,” Rep. Joseph Cao (R-La). The Senate still has to pass its version of the bill, but for now, this is a moment of celebration for Democrats and proponents of health care reform.

Huffington Post’s Ryan Grim has a detailed description of the scene on the House floor last night, including this bit on reaction to Cao’s defection:

After several minutes, Cao cast a yes vote from his seat, making the bill bipartisan. Reps. Jim Oberstar (D-Minn.) and Mike Honda (D-Calif.) waded into the Republican side of the aisle to get to Cao, rub his shoulders and slap him on the back.

Cantor stormed out as the Democrats applauded their defector.

The House bill includes a strong public health insurance option, a measure with overwhelming public support, but one which is likely to be significantly weakened when the bill  is reconciled with the eventual Senate bill.

The vote followed a trip to the Hill by President Obama yesterday, and he released this statement minutes after the vote:

Tonight, in an historic vote, the House of Representatives passed a bill that would finally make real the promise of quality, affordable health care for the American people.

The Affordable Health Care for America Act is a piece of legislation that will provide stability and security for Americans who have insurance; quality affordable options for those who don’t; and bring down the cost of health care for families, businesses, and the government while strengthening the financial health of Medicare. And it is legislation that is fully paid for and will reduce our long-term federal deficit.

Thanks to the hard work of the House, we are just two steps away from achieving health insurance reform in America. Now the United States Senate must follow suit and pass its version of the legislation. I am absolutely confident it will, and I look forward to signing comprehensive health insurance reform into law by the end of the year.