With Mitchell in the Trenches

By JULIE JOHNSON, IN WASHINGTON

It was a tough week for both Democrats and baseball fans. Nevertheless, George Mitchell, retiring Senate majority leader and rumored commissioner-of-ba seball-in-waiting, remained unfazed. On a pivotal day in the battle for health-care reform, the even-tempered former judge kept his optimistic demeanor intact from dawn to well past dusk. How does a seasoned politician fight what is perhaps the biggest -- and last -- legislative battle of his career? A play-by-play:

6:30 a.m. Out of bed. Reads Washington Post and health-care memorandums. Prepares for a round of early-morning television interviews before arriving on Hill at 8:30.

9 a.m. CNN Morning News interview, live. Mitchell unveils a sound bite that will be reinforced later in the day by White House officials, dismissing Republican complaints of "socialized medicine" as "their war cry on everything."

9:40 a.m. TIME interview. Speculates on how action on the crime bill in the House might influence the Senate's schedule on health care.

11 a.m. Constituent meetings.

Noon-12:30 p.m. CNBC live interview. Different network, same questions as CNN's. Mitchell offers new sound bites on cost containment.

1 p.m. Meets with Vermont Governor Howard Dean on health care. Result: bridges some differences with the National Governors' Association, which had criticized Mitchell's plan as "nearly impossible to administer."

1:30-2 p.m. Democratic policy luncheon with White House chief of staff Leon Panetta and 30 Democratic Senators. Panetta's rallying cry, according to one participant: "Demonize Dole, demonize Dole, demonize Dole!"

2:45 p.m. Mitchell returns to the Senate floor to resume business on the Defense Department appropriations bill. Aim: to clear the decks for health care.

3:30 p.m. Strategy session with other Senators leading the health-care fight. Focus: establishing the order in which amendments to Mitchell's bill will be offered.

5:30 p.m. Staff meeting on health-care and other pending legislation. Takes care of office work; telephones House leaders stunned by today's defeat on a crime-bill vote.

6 p.m. Senator Strom Thurmond, the South Carolina Republican, drops by for a closed-door meeting on health care.

6:35 p.m. Mitchell votes on Bosnia amendments.

7 p.m. Meets with House leadership for a crime-bill postmortem. Swaps setback stories with the House majority leader, Democrat Dick Gephardt, who reveals that "it's fun to have someone to commiserate with."

9:30 p.m. TIME interview over a glass of Diet Coke. Reconfirms that his 25% tax on insurance premiums "will be changed." A corridor chat with Senator John Chafee discloses that Chafee's Mainstream group still hasn't finished drafting compromise legislation.

11 p.m. Departs Capitol for home. Lights out at midnight.