The "Dean" of Health Care Reform

Rep. John Dingell Jr. is an accomplished angler. The walls of his Washington, D.C., office are lined with trophy fish — a white marlin, a Michigan steelhead and a long, silvery fish with razor-sharp fins and a flash of green down its back. "The bonefish is a great fish," Dingell says. "They'll literally burn up a reel on you."

Yet during his 54-year legislative career, Dingell has been haunted by the big one that got away: universal health care. It's a story that dates back to Dingell's father, John Sr., who first championed a national health plan in the House in 1943. In a tribute to his father — and, in more recent years, to futility — Dingell has reintroduced that FDR-era legislation at the start of every new Congress since the 1950s.

Today, 83 and the longest-serving member of the House of Representatives, Dingell has never been closer to reeling in his prize. As chairman emeritus of the Energy and Commerce Committee, the Michigan Democrat was a power player in crafting the health care reform bill now on the verge of passage in the House.

On the Friday after the final bill was unveiled, Rolling Stone sat down with the man known as the "Dean of the House" to discuss the promise of reform — and the political perils for Democrats if they let this one wriggle off the hook.