"I am a big tort-reform guy.
That's a big thing with Torts.
It may add up to one of the biggest tort scams ever, waged by a cabal of doctors and lawyers plying a tortuous legal system.
But as we've seen already, one would be hard pressed to find bigger "tort reform" hypocrites than the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
Mr. Geistfeld said: "I'm a big fan of the tort system, something that's currently under attack.
Obama tossed out some surprise catnip to Republicans, as well, saying he was going to start a few test programs on (without actually using the term) tort reform -- a big Republican talking point in the debate.
Folks like Cheryl Jacobs, who along with her work as a torts lawyer at a big firm had been doing pro bono work with the highly successful Residential Mortgage Foreclosure Diversion Program in Philadelphia, which helps homeowners facing foreclosure through the legal process.
"He's an incremental-change specialist," said Bruce Buchanan, a political scientist at the University of Texas, "sometimes in a partisan way, like tort reform, which is a big business issue, sometimes in a bipartisan way, such as small changes in education".
The fight to change tort laws has developed into a big business in itself, with plenty of people invested in keeping the battle going.
"Clearly, there is a big effort to get very imaginative with the use of tort law," said Mr. Carlton, a former associate justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court.
But tort reform alone -- which would be a big concession to Republicans -- yields essentially equal numbers of supporters and opponents, and majority support could be earned by adding to tort reform either a Democratic amendment -- the public option -- or a second (largely Republican) amendment: eliminating the individual mandate (which would increase costs).
