You thought you'd elected a Democratic majority?

Max Baucus is closing down the Senate Finance Committee without finishing work on a healthcare reform bill before taking off for August.  That pretty much destroys the White House's timetable and makes healthcare legislation vulnerable to the millions in corporate advertising dedicated to destroying a reform bill.

Tom Harken is looking for ways to remove Baucus from leadership of the Committee.  Baucus is playing a Republican game, cutting off key Democrats from a role in legislation and "secret meetings."

Baucus chairs the Senate Finance Committee, one of several legislative entities with healthcare in its purview. In the name of a compromise that can win 60 votes, he’s held protracted negotiations with handpicked committee members from both parties. Notably absent from this group: Any liberals or aggressive supporters of a public option in healthcare. ...
... Democrats may feel frozen out by Baucus -- Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W. Va., complains that he’s technically in charge of the Finance Committee’s healthcare work, and isn’t even in on the secret meetings -- but for the moment they have little to no leverage over him.

Blue Dog Democrats are so deeply dependent on healthcare industry dollars that they have lost any right to the term "representatives of the people."

... The group has set a record pace for fundraising this year through its political action committee, surpassing other congressional leadership PACs in collecting more than $1.1 million through June. More than half the money came from the health-care, insurance and financial services industries, marking a notable surge in donations from those sectors compared with earlier years, according to an analysis by the Center for Public Integrity.

A look at career contribution patterns also shows that typical Blue Dogs receive significantly more money -- about 25 percent -- from the health-care and insurance sectors than other Democrats, putting them closer to Republicans in attracting industry support.