Obama battled for health reform in his home state of Illinois in 2004, a dry-run to his current campaign to overhaul the national system, reports the Washington Post . The Post paints a picture of his style then, as now, as methodical and inclusive, his goals vague and his pace slow. He brought Republicans and industry stakeholders to the table, as he has done on the national scale as well, and also focused on gaining local support through town hall meetings. “He worked it slow but sure,” Denny Jacobs, a Democratic Illinois state senator, told the Washington Post. “Barack doesn’t let too much grass grow under his feet. If he’s got an idea that he thinks is good, he’s going to push it.” When he didn’t make much

progress with industry players, he allowed more special interest “buy-in” but still his critics persisted, notes the Post. Obama finally pushed back — as many expect him to do in his speech tonight in a special joint session of Congress — and his watered-down bill ultimately passed. “He’s nonconfrontational, non-antagonistic,” Democrat William Delgado, main sponsor of the bill in the House, told the Post. “But when all of a sudden he lets it out like he did on that last day, people say, ‘Wow, he really cares about this.’ ” For more on health reform this morning, check out stories from the New York Times , WSJ , Politico.com and the Los Angeles Times .

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Obama’s Health Reform Practice Run