For all the news of delay in the House and Senate -- it's disappointing but not surprising. And it's not fatal: For those of you who don't (literally) have surgical scars on your feet from spending years of your life standing on marble floors in hallways outside closed doors in Congress -- here's how it works. There's no deal. There's no deal. There's no deal. There's no deal. Then there's a deal.  When it happens, it can happen fast. And then the sun comes out and everything looks different. 

Here are a few glimmers of light via this morning's Washington Post's update on the Senate Finance Committee:

Although (chairman Max) Baucus continued to insist in public that negotiators will be "ready when we're ready," he gave (Senate Majority Leader Harry) Reid and other Democrats private assurances Thursday that his panel will complete work on its bill by Aug. 7, the start of the Senate's month-long recess, and in keeping with Obama's new deadline. After asking all staff members to leave a meeting, Baucus said Thursday night, a bipartisan group of senators on the committee heard an optimistic report from Congressional Budget Office Director Douglas W. Elmendorf that their emerging plan would begin to reduce health-care costs. A formal report on the estimate is expected to be completed in several days.

The Blue Dog conservative Democrats are still negotiating in the House, and Speaker Nancy Pelosi may yet get a floor vote before the summer break -- and may even delay that break for a few days to accomplish that goal. As The New York Times noted, foes of reform will be out in force during August -- but so will armies of advocates. As President Obama told cheering supporters in Cleveland: "Keep up the heat. We've got to get this done."