country, where you have a chance to make good on those promises you made in all those town meetings and all of those constituency breakfasts and all of that traveling through the district. >> reporter: this president has reportedly told lawmakers, privately, that the fate of his presidency rests on the vote they'll make tomorrow. but on this day, he said, don't do it for me. don't do it for the democratic party. vote yes for the american people. julie? >> julie: wendell, how important was it to the white house for the democrats to avoid the deem and pass parliamentary maneuver? >> reporter: it is an important plus but the president himself, partly, made it happen, by repeatedly saying in public and private no matter what the parliamentary procedure was, that -- of the vote the democrats took, the public would see it, as a vote for health care reform, and, since the president and his aides said, republicans are going to use the rather unpopular nature of the process over the past year, to