It’d be best if Republicans could succeed in holding the line on all the rates. That’s certainly what I’d prefer, and it’s much better policy. Failing that, though, $1 million is probably not such a bad place to fight: it minimizes the amount of revenue the government will get considerably; Schumer and other Democrats have talked favorably of this threshold in the past; Obama and Biden have talked incessantly of raising taxes on “millionaires and billionaires.” We’ll see if Republicans can pass it–they’ll be meeting in another conference soon. If they can, Reid will either have to do nothing or kill it entirely, both of which will be awkward if Democrats want to blame Republicans for going over the cliff. Or he’ll have to amend it and send it back to the House, in which case this will become more of a matter of what can pass the House and the Senate, which is probably better ground rather than secret negotiations between Boehner and the president.