Style over substance?

That is always the concern when politicians get together for a summit -- will the unimportant issues get in the way of the real discussion?

As Politico.com's Martin Kady notes, that could be the case as the so-called health care summit moves closer:

So now Democrats and Republicans are arguing about podiums and who gets to sit at the adult table at the health care summit.

Republicans don't want President Obama to have a podium, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell insisted on a larger negotiating table, Glenn Thrush and Carrie Budoff Brown report in POLITICO this morning.

Each side has spent days strategizing over what to say, who will say it and how to beat the heck out of the other side at tomorrow's summit. It's beginning to sound more like an expanded presidential debate forum than a legislative negotiating event.

No matter – Democrats are already gearing up for ways to pass their plan with a simple majority under reconciliation – but do they even have the votes for that at this point? It's unclear.

You would think that the issue of how many votes each side has might play an important role in any conversation.