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HCR SUMMIT:<\/b> At 10 a.m., President Barack Obama is convening a bipartisan summit at Blair House, across the street from the White House, to discuss health insurance reform<\/a>. The televised, six-hour meeting will include Democratic and Republican leaders from Congress, as well as officials like Vice President Joe Biden and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. <\/p>\nAhead of the meeting, the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) used our data to detail<\/a> how much money Congressional attendees — many of whom oversee the committees that govern health care policy — have raised from health interests since 2005. (Answer, at least $28 million.) You can use our health care tools to see for yourself here<\/a> how much money these lawmakers have raised from various health interests since 1989, and don’t forget to check out our 30-part “Diagnosis: Reform” series<\/a> on health care reform. On the eve of the summit, the House also voted to strip<\/a> health insurers of antitrust exemptions. The final role call was 406-19<\/a>, with all dissenting votes coming from Republicans.<\/p>\n MONEY-IN-POLITICS LAWSUIT ADVANCES: <\/b>Election law observers at Loyola Prof. Rick Hasen’s blog note<\/a> that a lawsuit filed by freshman Rep. Joseph Cao<\/a> (R-La.) and other Republicans is advancing through the legal system. The Associated Press reports<\/a> that the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is expected to hear Cao’s suit in May. Cao is challenging the federal limits regarding the coordination that candidates can have with the national party committees. Cao is also one of the most vulnerable Republican incumbents, having won office <\/a>in a heavily Democratic district only after corruption-tainted<\/a> Democratic incumbent William Jefferson<\/a> was found to have $90,000 in his freezer.<\/p>\n![\"jamestraficantmugshot.jpg\"](\"http:\/\/www.opensecrets.org\/news\/jamestraficantmugshot.jpg\")
TRAFICANT RETURNS:<\/b> In other corruption-related news, former eight-term Ohio Rep. James Traficant<\/a>, who served seven years in federal prison on a bribery and racketeering conviction, is hoping to reenter the political arena as a free man. Traficant was released from prison in September. While behind bars in 2002, he garnered 15 percent of the vote as an independent. The long-time Democrat will again be running as an independent this year, CNN reports<\/a>. He is considering running in either Ohio’s 6th Congressional District<\/a>, which is currently represented by Blue Dog Democratic Rep. Charlie Wilson<\/a>, or Ohio’s 17th Congressional District<\/a>, which is currently represented by Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan<\/a>. It’s still a good question, as Capital Eye<\/i> asked in September<\/a> upon his release, from whom might Traficant get the necessary campaign cash?<\/p>\n