Back after a too-short vacation, just in time to watch what may very well be the final week of arm-twisting in the House to pass a health-care overhaul. Whether congressional leaders are rushing the bill through, as some Republicans argue, or whether it's coming 50 years later than it should have, as others insist, the point is, it's coming. It's been a dizzying couple of months, watching the bill pronounced dead, then revived, then dead, then revived again. But barring the unexpected — and I say that with a smile, since the script on this has been written and rewritten so many times — it looks like it's coming.

First up is the House vote, expected to come no later than Saturday. Calculators have been working overtime to figure out exactly how many votes are needed to pass the bill — or, more precisely, pass the Senate version of the bill — since the total House membership has been in flux; several Democrats who voted for it last year are no longer in Congress. The magic number now seems to be 216. Florida's Robert Wexler and Hawaii's Neil Abercrombie, both Democrats, have resigned since the House last passed its version of the bill on a 220-215 tally. Another Democrat, John Murtha of Pennsylvania, has died.

There was also, you may have heard, a to-do about Eric Massa (D-NY) while I was gone. He voted against the bill last time out, saying it didn't go far enough.

Eric Massa, of couse, is no longer in the House because he went too far.

The one Republican who voted for it, freshman Joe Cao of Louisiana, now says he'll vote no. Another Republican, Nathan Deal of Georgia, who had announced his resignation to focus on his gubernatorial campaign, postponed that decision until after the health-care vote. He had been under tremendous pressure by fellow bill opponents to stay in the House and vote no.

Speaking of pressure, President Obama has decided to delay his own departure from the country — a trip to Indonesia and Australia — for three days to stay and try to convince wavering Democrats to vote yes. For all the criticism that Obama has gotten in his own party for his somewhat hands-off approach to fighting for the bill (unwarranted criticism, says the White House), it did seem pretty incredible to me that he was planning to leave before the vote.

He is not, let it be said once again, Lyndon Johnson.

This is still far from a slam dunk. There is still the issue of abortion that some pro-life Democrats, led by Michigan's Bart Stupak, say might make them vote against the bill. A Stupak anti-abortion amendment was included in the last version of the House bill, with the blessing of Speaker Nancy Pelosi, if for no other reason to just get it passed. That language was nowhere to be found in the Senate version, and Stupak has been making noises that he can't vote for it. It was clear from the beginning that House leaders were willing to include the language in the bill last year simply to satisfy Stupak & Co., knowing that it was unlikely to survive in a final bill. Stupak has said he expects at least 11 other Democrats to stand with him. The number of pro-life Democratic holdouts will be important to watch.

Of less concern to Pelosi and the Democratic leadership are the votes of those Dems who voted against the bill last time because they said it wasn't strong enough. That list included, yes, Eric Massa (now gone) but also liberals like Dennis Kucinich of Ohio. He and others voted no even though that House version included the public option. That too is not in the Senate version that the House will be voting on. Kucinich remains opposed — for now — but most of the others are expected to be on board, including Kucinich.

No House Republican is expected to vote yes.

Even after the House vote ratifies the Senate bill — and Obama signs it — there is more drama to come, as we will learn more about Senate rules than ever before. Just because House Democrats vote for the Senate version doesn't mean that House Democrats are happy with it. And thus they will work to implement its objections in a separate bill that would then go to the Senate, where the Democratic leaders seem ready to incorporate the changes by a simple majority vote. We will be hearing the word "reconciliation" as much as we heard "Massa" last week.

Republicans, led by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, insist that Democrats are risking an electoral defeat in November by passing the bill. Many voters see it as too bloated, too expensive, and would raise taxes, and many Democrats who were elected in normally GOP districts in 2006 and 2008 could pay the price.

The jury is still out on that, just as it's not clear what passage — or rejection — could mean for the rest of Obama's agenda from now until 2012.

But first, let me get back to my desk. It's good to be back.