They are a study in opposites. Rep. Joseph Cao (R- La.) is just over 5 feet tall. Our own 6-foot-five-inch Rep. Don Young towers over him. Young is 76 years old. Cao is 42. Cao spent years studying with the Jesuits in the seminary, has a master's degree in philosophy, and has been spotted reading Dostoevsky.

Young once brought a walrus penis to the House floor and whipped it around like a weapon.

Don Young said that the health care legislation that passed last night was a "vote to rescind American freedom." Cao, the first Vietnamese American to serve in Congress and the first Republican to serve in his district since 1890, has been struggling with the health care vote. He wanted to do what was best for his district, he said, which is overwhelmingly in support of the bill, and has been signaling for weeks that he might vote for it if it contained an amendment that would restrict federal funding for abortion.

The GOP didn't like that kind of talk. They wanted a united front against the bill, and had reportedly been pressuring him, hard.

Enter Young, who has befriended the young freshman congressman whose office is across the hall, and whose seat his considered vulnerable. "I deeply respect him," Young told the Hill newspaper about Cao. "He's a lot of fun to be around. We have good conversations and he's very bright."

Cao had been discussing what to do about the vote a lot with Young, and looked to him for advice as a senior member, said Meredith Kenny, Young's spokeswoman.

Young's advice? Do what's best for the people who elected you.

"Don Young, who has bucked party lines on many, many votes in favor of what's good for Alaska, advised him that he needed to worry about what was best for his district only," Kenny said.

So Saturday night, our own Young, with all of his glowering presence, stood next to Cao during the whole vote and worked to protect him and keep the party leaders at bay. It worked. Cao reportedly didn't want to be the deciding vote, but once it was sure to pass, with Young on one side, and another protectorate Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.), on the other, Cao was free to be the lone Republican to vote 'yea.'