Dems practice my Grandpa's old advice: "When in peril or in doubt, run in circles, scream and shout."

David Codrea writes a well-reasoned caution about how our side cannot be fuzzy with the facts: "Truth about Operation Wide Receiver important to determine."

Meanwhile Boehner is quoted as saying that a Contempt vote is lawmakers' duty.

And Politico reports: "Frantic scenes as contempt vote looms."

The White House and Justice Department mounted a frantic behind-the-scenes effort on Wednesday to bolster Democratic opposition to a contempt resolution against Attorney General Eric Holder, but Republicans appear to have more than enough support for the divisive vote to sail through the House.

House Democratic leaders did a head count and found that 20 to 30 Democrats were likely to vote for the resolution, mainly because of National Rifle Association support for it, according to Democratic sources. . . (T)he NRA’s decision to wade into the Holder contempt fight has intimidated some vulnerable Democrats into backing the measure. These Democrats are more scared of the powerful pro-gun-rights group than they are of the president. At least five Democratic congressmen — Georgia’s John Barrow, Utah’s Jim Matheson, North Carolina’s Mike McIntyre, Minnesota’s Collin Peterson and West Virginia’s Nick Rahall — have already publicly declared their support for the resolution. . .

Democrats were also circulating a statement by Rep. Jim Cooper (D-Tenn.), who will also vote against the resolution. Cooper had joined 30 other Democrats in calling on the DOJ to turn over all the information in its possession on the Fast and Furious program. . .

Holder and other White House aides have privately called some Democrats to urge them to vote against the measure. There is no indication that Obama is personally lobbying wavering Democrats, although top White House aides have weighed in with members, Democratic sources said. . .

Even as the Obama administration was mounting its lobbying blitz, Republicans battled with their Democratic counterparts over the terms of Thursday’s floor debate. In a contentious Rules Committee hearing Wednesday, Democrats repeatedly charged Issa and GOP leaders with rushing the contempt resolution to the House floor to score political points. . .

Cummings sent a letter to Boehner urging the speaker to head off the unprecedented vote and reach a deal with Holder. Cummings said Issa’s report on the Fast and Furious probe — the basis for the two contempt resolutions — was riddled with more than “100 errors, omissions, and mischaracterizations” as well as “significant legal deficiencies and factual errors that may call into question the validity of the contempt resolution itself.”

Issa countered that Holder and the DOJ had turned over only a fraction of the documents requested and noted that if the Watergate scandal had yielded as much information as Issa is getting, “we would still have had [Richard] Nixon serving out his term.”

When Rules Committee member Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-Fla.) said the contempt vote would be a “stain” on Congress, Issa responded that “the stain will be on the attorney general for refusing to deliver documents that he knows he could deliver.”

Still, Issa indicated the resolution could be called off at the last minute with a compromise between House Republicans and the DOJ — as unlikely as that appears to be.

“You understand, even as we speak today, we hold out a hand to the attorney general,” Issa said. “If there is in fact a substantial discovery … and we’re able to get meaningful information, then we will in fact change our position on contempt.”