Our fanboyism on ATUL GAWANDE is well-established: we think he should be surgeon general. Brilliant medical writer. Brilliant medical thinker. One of the very few essential voices to emerge out of the bar-brawl of the health-care debate. Local guy. Knows what it's like for someone to yell "FUCK YOU" at him in the middle of a reading

In the rush of numbers coming in from the polls last night, one important number slipped under the radar -- and we mis-read it as much as anyone. But the Rasmussen poll numbers are actually quite clear on this. Health care was a factor in the Scott Brown-Martha Coakley race, but not in the way that commentators on both sides of the aisle are characterizing it.

KEITH OLBERMANN is a sports guy. Inside, we suspect he's not too happy about Martha Coakley's Red Sox flubs either. But there are times -- especially during the Hot Stove season -- when we put such minor things aside. Here's why:

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1. demonbaby Come on 2009! There's time for one more!! RT @BreakingNews: Rush Limbaugh rushed to hospital in Honolulu after suffering chest pains. 31 Dec 2009 from TweetDeck
2. BlackCanseco I wonder what Rush Limbaugh will think of healthcare reform come Monday. Hmmm... 31 Dec 2009 from web

The most entertaining theater in this grand health care showdown has been that in which physicians play the victim. Look at homeboy right here; don't you just feel awful about the potential impact of "Obamacare"? Make you want to donate five cents a day so Dr. Dickstain can move from the bay side to the ocean?

A survey of 2,130 physicians across the nation found 63 percent favor a public-private option for patients over a strictly private health care system or public. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation study was published in the New England Journal of Medicine yesterday and was conducted by the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York.