Kay to cancel her Cheney event?

Kay has an event with Dick Cheney scheduled for next Tuesday. The Senate has scheduled a big vote on health care for next Tuesday. Something has to give, right?

R.G. Ratcliffe has the info (link). Excerpt follows...

The national healthcare debate is threatening to upset a public appearance and fund-raiser U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison has scheduled for next Tuesday in Houston with former Vice President Dick Cheney.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has set Tuesday as the likely day of a major procedural vote for the Democrats' national health care proposal to move forward for debate. According to The Hill:

Reid filed a motion to introduce the bill on Monday, Nov. 16. Anticipating a Republican objection, the bill would be pushed onto the Senate calendar.

"A motion to proceed to the bill would be in order the next legislative day," said Reid spokesman Jim Manley.

A major procedural vote, if it occurred Tuesday, would be the same day Hutchison is planning on publicly receiving Cheney's endorsement and having him as the featured guest at a fund-raiser in Houston.

Hutchison's campaign is aware that the vote could impact her schedule if it actually occurs on Tuesday.

"The Senate schedule has yet to be confirmed or finalized, but Senator Hutchison's first priority is opposing the government takeover of our health care system," said Hutchison spokesman Jeff Sadosky.

Hutchison has repeatedly given the national health care debate as her reason for not resigning from the Senate immediately for her GOP primary challenge to Gov. Rick Perry.

Perry's campaign has been chiding Hutchison over missing votes to campaign in Texas, but most have been minor procedural matters.

However, the health care vote would be a major step in the process. The vote is not expected to fail, but rather will show Democratic strength for the bill. But Senate Republican leaders have said they will target Democrats who cast procedural votes for the bill. So one can only imagine what it would mean to a Republcian who misses the vote, especially since 60 votes are needed to proceed.

What will Kay do? She can't miss the big vote on health care, but she can't cancel on Cheney either. She could either reschedule Cheney or miss the vote or hope the vote gets moved... the other option might be to do the event and hop on a private plane to go vote or the other way around...