As the final days of the fight over Obamacare tick by, there is no doubt that we are living in historic times. Those on both sides of the issue agree that if the current bill passes, it would affect the lives of virtually all Americans and could be just the beginning of more radical change. But pass or not, the battle over this legislation has stimulated a change in many of the American people themselves.

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Senate Republicans have a counter attack ready if, despite the president's allegedly bipartisan summit, Democrats try to pass Obamacare via mis-use of the reconciliation process. While that process requires only a simple majority to pass a bill and limits debate time, it does not limit the number or content of proposed amendments to a reconciliation bill and Republicans could offer hundreds of them, forcing Democrats to vote on each one.

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As the Democrats attempt to ram their hugely unpopular idea of health care reform through the legislative process, there is increased interest in how that process works. There's been plenty of talk lately about reconciliation and how the Obama machine will most likely attempt to mis-use this part of the budget process and that brings us to another little known moment in US Senate history known as the Byrd Rule.

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