Vice President Cheney made an unusually early appearance in the Senate Wednesday morning, perhaps as the administration lobbyist on the upcoming Medicare vote.

Cheney, as president of the Senate, visits weekly with lawmakers in the upper chamber, but his early appearance comes on the same day that a critical vote on Medicare is set to occur. Republicans are also holding their policy luncheon today as many of them attended the funeral of former Sen. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.) on Tuesday in Raleigh, N.C.

Democrats along with the American Medical Association have been targeting Republican lawmakers that are up for re-election for voting against the so-called Medicare doctors’ fix.

The Capitol has mostly focused on two Republicans who seem ripe for the picking: Sens. John Sununu (R-N.H.) and Arlen Specter (R-Pa.)