Washington in 60 Seconds: Clouds Gather for Democrats; Obama Says 'Have Some Fun and Pass the Bill!'

Wakie, wakie, Capitolists! It's the end-of-the-year legislative sprint to the finish and the Capitol has miles to go before it can rest. With health care reform, war spending, the exploding national debt, the expiring Patriot Act and the estate tax still unaddressed, only hurdlers and marathoners are going to make it.

So, start stretching because we've got your a race map. Here's what's happening in Washington today:

* Fun We Can Believe In? An article in The Hill this morning details Sen. Joe Lieberman's expression of "regret" to his fellow senators for being a holdout on health reform to this point. It hasn't been fun for him, he said at a White House meeting. Sen. Sherrod Brown said it hasn't been fun for him to see the public option spiked by Lieberman's objections, at which point, President Obama interjected, "Why don't we all start having some fun and pass the bill?"

* Paging Dr. Dean . . . Paging Dr. Howard Dean. The White House message for the former DNC chairman this morning: ZIP IT. Last night Dean urged Congress to kill the Senate's version of health reform, blasting it as "essentially the collapse of health care reform in the United States Senate." NBC's Savannah Guthrie reported this morning that White House staffers have declared that move "a temper tantrum" as they struggle to hold progressives' support and pass the shrinking bill.

* Nelson's Health Care Headache. Have you looked a little pasty lately? Feeling pressure near your feet and head? Then you are either a tube of toothpaste or you are Sen. Ben Nelson, the pro-life conservative Democrat who has become the biggest obstacle between Harry Reid, Barack Obama and health care reform. Nelson met privately with the president after the Democratic caucus yesterday afternoon to express his ongoing concerns over the abortion funding language in the bill, but made no statement of support after the meeting.

* Congress Punting on the Big Issues. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer announced yesterday that the House will pass two-month extensions on the Patriot Act and increasing the national debt limit, two nuclear-hot issues House leaders had hoped to pass in full by tacking them onto spending bills with little discussion. The new plan to temporarily extend those programs means debate -- and division -- will welcome members back to work in 2010.

* Pelosi Spooked; Immigration on Hold. The news that four senior conservative Democratic House members will retire in 2010 rather than face reelection has so rattled the top brass in the House that Nancy Pelosi has promised vulnerable members that they will not have to vote on controversial bills, like immigration, next year unless the Senate acts first. According to The Hill, Card Check and Don't Ask/Don't Tell will also go on the shelf in 2010 until the Senate acts.

* Looking Good, 'Domestic Terrorists.' Dick Armey spoke at the Tea Party Patriots' rally on Capitol Hill yesterday and he joked to the gathered protesters that he liked what saw. Alluding to some Democrats' vilification of the protesters, "I've never seen so many attractive domestic terrorists in all my life!"