Scott Roeder, who has openly admitted to killing Dr. George Tiller last May at the doctor’s church in Wichita, Kansas, tried and failed to convince Sedgwick County District Judge Warren Wilbert that a jury should consider a charge of voluntary manslaughter. A jury will soon decide whether he’s guilty of premeditated, first-degree murder.

Republicans and their allies are pressuring Democratic healthcare reformers at townhall meetings around the country.

The FBI is investigating the assassination of Dr. George Tiller to determine if the killer broke any federal laws. Terrorism is a federal crime, but I predict the feds will find some excuse to avoid investigating the crime as an act of terrorism. If they did, under strict standards of the PATRIOT Act, they might be forced to declare Operation Rescue a terrorist organization.

George Tiller, who earlier this year was acquitted on nineteen charges stemming from Kansas’ ever-restrictive abortion laws, was murdered by a gunman this morning at his Wichita church.

This is a special edition of the Weekly Pulse dedicated to profiling the two newest nominees for Obama’s healthcare team, Gov. Kathleen Sebelius for Secretary of Health and Human Services and Nancy-Ann DeParle for health czar.