I'm over 90 now (sign-up if you haven't yet), so will plan on pushing for 200 if I don't win the initial drawing-- some Wal-Mart worker out there will get $1000, sponsored from the MyDD community, toward their healthcare costs. In Maryland, the state's Democratic leadership has taken matters into their own hands:"We're looking for responsible businesses to ante up . . . and provide adequate health care," said Sen. Thomas M. Middleton (D-Charles), the Finance Committee chairman, as the Senate approved the measure with a majority wide enough to survive an anticipated veto. A similar bill has cleared the House of Delegates, and legislators expect to reconcile their differences easily.

Lawmakers said they did not set out to single out Wal-Mart when they drafted a bill requiring organizations with more than 10,000 employees to spend at least 8 percent of their payroll on health benefits -- or put the money directly into the state's health program for the poor.

But as debate raged in the Senate yesterday, it was clear that the giant retailer, which has 15,000 workers in Maryland, was the only company that would be affected.

"This is crossing a bridge," said Sen. E.J. Pipkin (Queen Anne's), who joined the Senate's other Republicans in voting against the bill. "Annapolis is telling private business in the private marketplace what to do."

Damn straight it is, and the Democratic Party should nationalize that effort-- it'd drive the Republicans in DC into defending inadequate healthcare coverage as the status quo.