An Illinois Democrat switches from yes to no, is lobbied by the White House, and remains a “no.”

And oh, by the way, this Democrat, Jerry Costello, represents a district that Obama won, 56 percent to 43 percent; Costello hasn’t had less than 60 percent of the vote since 1998.

I’m starting to think Pelosi isn’t going to get her 216. For starters, Obamacare backers seemed awfully excited about Kucinich’s support, which I suspect a lot of us thought would eventually fall into place. Second, he’s actually the least useful new supporter in terms of persuading the other waverers; “Approved by Dennis Kucinich” isn’t a slogan that flies in the district of Baron Hill in Indiana or John Barrow in Georgia or Glenn Nye in Virginia.

We’re still counting about two dozen holdouts and waverers and undecideds; this is after several weeks of all-out pressure from Obama, Pelosi, Hoyer and the others.

I’m not willing to say that Pelosi can’t get the votes. But it sure is taking a long while to get retirees like Brian Baird, Bart Gordon, and John Tanner officially on board, isn’t it? I thought they were supposed to be a slam dunk, comparably . . .