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A reader writes in about my plea to call your representative and ask them to vote for the Senate healthcare bill:

Unfortunately my congressman is a Republican. The closest Democrat to me is Glenn Nye and he voted against it the first time. It might be helpful if you could direct your readers to where they can get the phone numbers and e-mail addresses of their state’s U.S. Representatives.

It’s true: calling Republicans isn’t a great use of your time. But if your representative is a Democrat, you should call. Don’t email. That’s a waste of energy. Pick up the phone and call. For a full list of congressional names and phone numbers, go to Congress.org. Type in your representative’s name and it will pop up an information page that includes a phone contact. Don’t know who your representative is? Enter your zip code and it will tell you.

Want to do more? You might try calling one of the folks on the list below. On the left are representatives who signed a pledge not to vote for any bill that doesn’t contain a public option. They’re probably opposed to passing the Senate bill as is, so it’s worth calling to let them know that with the political landscape changed, it’s time to rethink their position. On the right are Blue Dog Democrats. They should already be willing to vote for the Senate bill since it’s a little more conservative than the House bill, but it’s also got slightly softer anti-abortion language than the House bill. So if one of them is nearby, give them a call too.

Be polite. Be ready to sit on hold for a while. But we’re going to spend the next 20 years working on universal healthcare in America, and by the time we’re done what matters won’t be precisely where we started, but that we started at all. It’s time to start.