Washington in 60 Seconds: Fight Night -- Rangel vs. Staffer; Dems vs. Insurance Industry; White House vs. Fox News

Good morning, Capitolists! It's D-Day in the Senate Finance Committee, where senators will vote on their scaled-back version of health care reform. It's gotten a little too scaled back for the insurance industry, though, which went nuclear on Democrats yesterday by releasing an 11th-hour report that premiums will skyrocket under the bill.

Will the political jujitsu scuttle the measure? Can health care reform pass if the insurance industry goes Harry and Louise again? We'll solve the riddle for you when the committee votes sometime after 10. Meanwhile, here's what else is making news in Washington:

* The internal White House debate over Afghanistan continues as the president and vice president meet with Defense Secretary Robert Gates in the Oval office this afternoon.

* Tonight, the president and first lady host a Latin music party on the South Lawn of the White House.

* The House and Senate are both in session. The Senate will debate appropriations bills, while the House waits for the Senate to get its work done on health care, energy and spending bills.

* The Senate Finance Committee meets at 10 a.m., when members will grill the head of the Congressional Budget Office to try to figure out how much this whole thing is going to cost average Americans -- like the Capitolists. After that, the committee will vote. Watch Sens. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) for possible line-crossing or protest votes.

* Embattled Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-N.Y.) has gotten a primary challenge from one of his own, literally. The Hill reports that Rangel's former campaign manager announced yesterday he will run for his old boss' seat in Congress in 2010. In announcing his bid, Vince Morgan said plainly, "It's time for a change."

* Howard Kurtz writes in the Washington Post that the White House is in a three-front war with Iraq, Afghanistan and . . . Fox News. On Kurtz's Sunday TV show, White House Communications Director Anita Dunn took on the cable channel, calling it an arm of the GOP. Kurtz writes, "I had thought Dunn might try to smooth things over with the country's highest-rated cable news network, as guests often do in front of a television camera, but instead she was determined to ratchet things up."