It's been a rough week for the Political Junkie — under the weather since Tuesday, barely made it in for Talk of the Nation on Wednesday, non-stop sleep since Wednesday evening. Missed the Podcast on Thursday, as well as the Barbershop segment today on Tell Me More. Not the flu, I'm told. More like death, I responded. Need. Sleep. Now.

Meanwhile, a big Thank You to Robert Smith, NPR's New York correspondent, for filling in for me yesterday in the podcast. Think there's much New York politics to talk about this week?

Plus ... I'm gone until Monday, March 15. That means no Junkie posts — not even Scuttlebutton — until then.

That leaves me with so many questions, so little time. Will David Paterson still be governor of New York by the time I return? Maybe, but with Paterson it's a matter of when, not if. He is finished. Announcing he won't run again may have solved one thing, but the real question is whether he can still lead, and the general consensus, with some exceptions, is that he cannot. He is not an evil person, nor is he a corrupt person. But he's made some serious, grievous errors, and even his strongest supporters are beginning to come around on this. Richard Ravitch, currently the lt. gov. (appointed by Paterson), will be governor of New York well before Andrew Cuomo.

Health care? Boy, it's hard to imagine it not passing. The House votes for the Senate bill, then the Dem objections get taken care of in reconciliation. Sounds simple enough. But it's not. For all the who won/who lost chatter that went on since the Blair House summit, it's still going to be tough for Nancy Pelosi to get the 217 or whatever the magic number is to get the House on board with the Senate version. As an indication of how important every vote is, note that Georgia Republican Nathan Deal put off, for now, his resignation until the House heath-care vote was taken; Deal came under enormous pressure to change his mind after he announced he was quitting to focus entirely on his gubernatorial campaign. It was bad enough, for Republicans, anyway, that Kentucky's Jim Bunning allowed himself to become the face of GOP intransigence regarding extending unemployment benefits — not that Bunning cares what his fellow Republicans think about him — but Deal didn't want his departure to decide the fate of a bill he strongly opposes. Still, I don't expect there to be a vote before I get back.

And there's Charlie Rangel. Temporarily stepping aside as House Ways & Means Committee chair? No, he's not returning. I don't know if the Democrats avoided a fight, or just put one off, by choosing Sandy Levin over Pete Stark as the temporary chair. But regardless, it won't be Rangel again, and those corporate-sponsored trips to the Caribbean are hardly his biggest challenge. Some have said that the current Democratic scandals — Paterson, Rangel, the earmarks abuse by Indiana Rep. Peter Visclosky and others, not to mention the latest involving freshman New York Rep. Eric Massa, who looks like he's about to resign as reports spread that he sexually harassed an employee — are not nearly as toxic as what the Republicans were involved in in 2006 (Jack Abramoff, Mark Foley, etc.). DNC chair Tim Kaine pooh-poohed any comparison. But that may not be good enough, especially given the fact that Pelosi ran on her "culture of corruption" platform, promising to clean up the cesspool that Republlicans left. Just as all the money that Abramoff gave to GOP members of Congress became an issue that hurt Republicans in 2006, methinks that all the money that Rangel's political fundraising committees gave to Democrats will be an issue in 2010. An angry electorate took out its frustration on the Republicans in '06 and '08, and given what's going on today, there might be more Democrats out of a job come November than we think — or than Tim Kaine will acknowledge.

Here's one thing I feel very strong about: Jeff Bridges gets the Oscar for Best Actor in Sunday's Academy Awards ceremony. He was just phenomenal in "Crazy Heart."

I didn't see "The Hurt Locker," so my Oscar predictions begin and end with Bridges.

See you on March 15.