TightWind is written by Kyle Baxter. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

Nancy Pelosi may use a procedure to pass the Senate health care bill without voting on it:

Instead, Pelosi (D-Calif.) would rely on a procedural sleight of hand: The House would vote on a more popular package of fixes to the Senate bill; under the House rule for that vote, passage would signify that lawmakers “deem” the health-care bill to be passed.

The tactic — known as a “self-executing rule” or a “deem and pass” — has been commonly used, although never to pass legislation as momentous as the $875 billion health-care bill. It is one of three options that Pelosi said she is considering for a late-week House vote, but she added that she prefers it because it would politically protect lawmakers who are reluctant to publicly support the measure.

So that’s what Democrats are down to: trying to make the bill law, but without voting on it, so they can claim they didn’t support it.