Health Care Debate Tops News Agenda

A vote by a key Senate committee, and the role of one of the Senate's few swing voters, pushed the health care debate to the top of the news agenda last week. For the week of October 12-18, the health care battle accounted for 21% of the newshole studied, according to the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism. That marks the highest level of coverage since the week of September 7-13, when Barack Obama delivered a prime-time speech on health care and a formerly obscure Congressman named Joe Wilson made headlines by shouting "you lie" at the President. Last week, the catalyst for much of that coverage was a 14-to-9 vote in the Senate Finance Committee to approve a bill crafted by chairman Senator Max Baucus—a milestone in a legislative process that had plodded along for weeks. A key character in that story was the lone Republican who broke ranks to vote with the Democratic majority. Maine Senator Olympia Snowe—who also cast a rare GOP vote for Obama's stimulus package—found herself back in the headlines, generally portrayed in the media narrative as a savvy power broker.