GOP Senators See Schiavo 2006 Elections "Dividends"

Nice:

Republican officials declared, in a memo that was supposed to be seen only by senators, that they believe their attention to the issue could pay dividends with Christian conservatives, whose support is essential in midterm elections such as those coming up in 2006.

But this is buried WAY down in a story that begins like this:

Congressional leaders tried again after being rebuffed by a determined Florida judge and agreed Saturday to pass a compromise that they said will require doctors to restore sustenance to Terri Schiavo for the third time in four years.

The extraordinary intervention by Washington for a single person, in a wrenching question that families typically wrestle with in private, required a Saturday session of the Senate during Easter recess and will bring both chambers back to the Capitol today, Palm Sunday.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., stepped into a nearly empty chamber at 6:15 p.m. Saturday and said Congress "has been working nonstop over the last three days to do its part to uphold human dignity and affirm a culture of life."

Frist said he is committed "to see this legislation pass and give Terri Schiavo one last chance at life."

The legislation, which congressional leaders said they plan to pass today or Monday, would allow a federal court to review the case. Lawmakers said Schiavo's feeding tube will have to be restored while that review is underway.

President Bush has said he would swiftly sign such a law. The legislation would prolong a medical and legal drama that has pitted the incapacitated Florida woman's husband against her parents.

Remember Bill Frist? The compassionate doctor who held up Tsunami rescue and relief operations so he could get his photo taken in front of multiple disaster sites?

The HMO many-times-over millionaire who's gotten rich on sick people - and not because he treated many of them either? That one.