There are some times in life when the Magic 8-Ball has to be consulted, because it can be just as good as asking politicians for their opinion, since most of them will give you the political spin rather than the real answer.

So the question of the day is, "Will a vote on Democratic health care legislation in the Senate slip into 2010?"

The Magic 8-Ball returned an answer to me of "It is decidedly so."

And after watching the events of the past week, it may well be the right answer.

Rewind to last Tuesday night, when Sen. Harry Reid announced there was a "deal" among a group of ten Democratic Senators, who had been trying to hammer out a health care agreement.

The details were sketchy, and the plans were sent off to the Congressional Budget Office.

At first, the reaction seemed positive to the idea of a non-public-option-public-option in the bill, replaced by a Medicare buy-in for those age 55-64.

But in recent days, the opinions of some key Senators make it difficult to see this plan gaining the needed 60 votes to avoid a filibuster.

Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) reportedly told Reid on Sunday night that his choice would be a filibuster on the Medicare buy-in.

And with Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) evidently not buying the "buy-in", the Democrats are already short of 60 votes in the Senate, on whatever this deal turns out to be.

We'll see if we get any numbers today from the Congressional Budget Office.

The overall health debate is at a dead stop in the water right now.  There has not been a vote in the Senate on a health care amendment since last Tuesday.

It is December 14.  Time is running out for anything to get done this year.  Republicans say it's time to simply start over.

"Let's sit down for a change, across the table from one another, maybe have the C-SPAN cameras in," said Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), repeating the jab that involves President Obama's promise to have full coverage of health care negotiations, a verbal riff that's coming back to haunt him every day.

So, Magic 8-Ball, what's going to happen next?

"Reply hazy, try again."