Almanac: At the Capitol

It was a nail-biter, but the House passed the transportation bill 89-44, that's one vote shy of a veto-proof majority. I counted a couple of Dems voting no: Otremba and Lesch. It appears 6 Republicans voted yes: Abler, Erhardt, Heidgerken, Hamilton and Neil Peterson. So party lines went both ways. Democrats have to shore up their ranks if they have any shot at an override. I certainly didn't see the no vote coming from Lesch. Otremba was expected to be iffy and word has it she's been leaned on very hard from her caucus. Just because a handful of Republicans voted for this doesn't necessarily mean they would vote on an override. The Senate passed it at 9:30 tonight by a 47-20 margin now they'll try to get this to the governor's desk by the end of the day to speed its veto as soon as Friday and possible override next week.