President Obama, Harry Reid, and the Democrats in Congress said the health care reform bill is right for America. So why did so 1 in 4 senators need to be bribed to vote for it?

Sixty votes in favor did not come effortlessly. Fifteen senators wrangled special deals out of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. In the end, 58 Democrats and 2 Independents voted in favor of the bill, to allow it to move back to the House and Senate for one more go round.

One-fourth voted in favor of the bill, not because of principles, but because they were bribed with money and pork earmarks for their states.

Who got exactly what? Here's the list, so far.

~ Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE) won a provision exempting his state from paying the usual share of costs for new Medicaid patients. The deal, which critics have dubbed the "Cornhusker Kickback," is expected to cost the federal government $100 million over 10 years.

~ Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) won an even larger break for her state -- an estimated $300 million in extra federal spending, in a move called the "Louisiana Purchase."

~ Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI) made sure that certain insurance companies in his state are off the hook from a new $7 billion dollar tax.

~ Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT) got a kickback -- a $100 million bonus for the University of Connecticut.

~ Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-VT) dropped his concerns after Senator Reid offered his state a $10 billion grant for "community health centers," money that can be funneled to facilities that perform abortions.

~ Three states -- Pennsylvania, New York and Florida -- all won protections for their Medicare Advantage beneficiaries at a time when the program is facing cuts nationwide.

~ Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) won a promise from Reid to support his plan to expand eligibility for health insurance.

~ Senators from Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming will get a "Frontier Freebie" -- they'll see an increase in Medicare payments to hospitals and doctors, because "at least 50 percent of their counties are ‘frontier counties,' defined as those having a population density less than six people per square mile."

~ Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA), chairman of the Senate health committee, got a provision inserted to increase Medicare payments to certain "low-volume hospitals" in Grinnell, Keokuk and Spirit Lake, treating limited numbers of Medicare patients.

Democrats started to complain about the bribes, even before the final vote was cast. When Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) couldn't get past the reporters swarming Ben Nelson on her way to the cloture vote, she quipped, "I know I'm not as important as Senator Nelson. I didn't get the money for my state. I was too stupid."

Apparently, so was Harry. While Reid was manically brokering deals with 15 states on the fence, he neglected to do anything to help Nevada's bankrupt budget and crumbling economy. The Senate's most powerful leader forgot about the folks back home, where residents live in one of the 5 worst-ranked states in terms of health care, education, unemployment and stimulus funds.

But there is good news for the nation and Nevada: Harry Reid comes up for re-election in eleven short months. Nevadans will have a chance to topple the leader of bribing debauchery and turn their formerly purple state a brilliant shade of blood red.

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