Five health-care bills have now passed various House and Senate committees, producing one (count 'em) Republican vote. And who is everyone talking about? Olympia Snowe. So much for GOP irrelevance.

Plus: with less than three weeks to go before the off-year elections, Republicans seem to be on the ascendancy in Virginia. It's nip and tuck in New Jersey. And Democrats apparently have momentum in an upstate New York congressional district.

All this and, sadly, more, in this week's episode of our "It's All Politics" podcast ... which, in the wacky world of homonyms, you can hear here:

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Credits (as it were) —
Nonstop talkers: Ron Elving and Ken Rudin
Producer: Evie Stone
Editor: Cathy Shaw

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Wanna solve this week's ScuttleButton puzzle? It's coming today!

Tags: Heard On NPR