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WASHINGTON - In the final push to Sunday's health care showdown, House Democratic leaders could count on only two solid yes votes from Minnesota.

One, liberal Democrat Keith Ellison, had only recently come on board after reconciling himself to the loss of a government "public option" insurance plan. The other was St. Paul DFLer Betty McCollum, another public option advocate who had nonetheless been locked in from the beginning.

Until late Saturday, scarcely 24 hours before the last vote, all the other House members from Minnesota were either firmly in opposition or in play, a testament to a difficult decision that could be the biggest of their lives.

Once the final tally was taken, near midnight in the capital, the Minnesota delegation ended up split 4-4, largely along party lines.

Two wavering Democrats, Jim Oberstar and Tim Walz, waited to announce their support late Saturday, with Tea Party protesters swarming the Capitol and the final outcome still very much in doubt.

Oberstar called it the biggest vote of his four decades in Congress. "This is a legacy vote," he said, comparing it to the introduction of Social Security and Medicare. "Yes, there are political stakes, but the biggest stakes are for the third stage in the American Dream."

In the end, only rural Democrat Collin Peterson crossed party lines, joining a unified bloc of GOP opposition. A fiscally conservative "Blue Dog" Democrat, Peterson was one of 34 Democrats who voted no, many citing concerns about cost.

Peterson said that while he knows his vote will disappoint some, he felt the health package failed on the critical measure of controlling costs. "In my judgment, while these bills deliver some good things, they miss the mark on the most important things and will not deliver as promised."

While the Minnesota Democrats sweated out the final pressure-filled hours, their Republican counterparts bided their time, watching -- and sometimes participating in -- the drama. Hours before the final vote, conservative stalwart Michele Bachmann emerged on a Capitol balcony and waved to hundreds of Tea Party protesters chanting "kill the bill."

Minnesota Republican John Kline lit a cigar in the Speaker's Lobby and sauntered out to the balcony, joining other lawmakers. At one point, Kline took out his red "No" vote card and held it up to the cheering crowd rallying below.

'Paid for by our children'

In the final floor debate, Kline said calls to his office were going 13-1 against the $940 billion bill, which he said "will be paid for by our children, our grandchildren and our great-grandchildren."

Bachmann and Kline were joined by Minnesota Republican freshman Erik Paulsen in voting against the bill.

"There is no question we can and should reform health care," Paulsen said. "But doing so with a massive government expansion that will burden future generations -- all without fundamentally addressing the number one problem of rising costs -- is both reckless and wrong."

Bachmann, a leader of the Tea Party movement, waxed skeptical in an interview about the Democrats' claim that the bill will reduce the deficit.

"If it was true that we could add 30 million more people into government insurance where we taxpayers pick up and pay for 30 million more people, well then, shouldn't we annex all of Mexico and give them all health care?" she said.

Among the flags and banners visible in the foreground as Bachmann addressed the protesters on the south Capitol lawn was a historic South Carolina Secession flag.

Away from the cameras, the most pivotal Minnesota vote was Oberstar's. A Democrat from northern Minnesota who opposes abortion, Oberstar wrestled for months with language in the bill that he said should maintain the current legal restrictions against government funding for abortion.

In the end, he pronounced himself comfortable with the abortion provisions in the bill, which was accompanied by a pledge from President Obama to maintain the restrictions.

Walz, who represents southern Minnesota, is a frequent target of Republicans who see his centrist district as a pick-up opportunity in November. He called his yes vote "the fiscally responsible thing to do."

"Let me be clear," Walz added. "We cannot tackle our debt without addressing the out-of-control cost of health care."

For Walz, a major focus was a health care efficiency provision, which he said is patterned after the Mayo Clinic, which has frequently been cited as a model in the debate.

Down to the wire

Some of those provisions came down to the wire. In the final scramble for votes, McCollum was up until 3 a.m. Saturday working out language on Medicare rates to secure votes in states like Minnesota with highly rated medical systems.

In the closing minutes of the debate, McCollum spoke in personal terms about health care, recalling her struggles in the past without insurance. "Passing health insurance reform is not a political game - it is personal," she said. "It is about the lives of real people. ... And when this bill becomes law, health care security will finally become a reality for the American people."

Democrats acknowledge that the fight is not over, with Senate debate coming up in several days and then, later in the year, the critical midterm elections.

"Every landmark piece of legislation had a beginning," said Ellison, Minnesota's first black congressman. "Women's rights did not end with the 19th Amendment. Civil rights did not end with the signing of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. Social Security, enacted in 1935, and Medicare in 1965, did not begin as we know them today. So, too, is it with this health care reform bill."

Staff writers Eric Roper and Hayley Tsukayama contributed to this report.