Democrats pin hopes on today's summit showdown

WASHINGTON - Rep. Keith Ellison feels energized. Sen. Al Franken says, "We need this now." Pressure is building on moderates like Sen. Amy Klobuchar to push for a public option, while Republicans like Rep. John Kline warn of impending "political theater," all while Congress girds for a presidential summit on health care that will play out on live television Thursday.

From outspoken liberals like Franken and Ellison to staunch conservatives like Kline and Rep. Michele Bachmann, a small group of Minnesotans has come to represent the major archetypes in the drama about to unfold as part of an aggressive new strategy to force health care changes through Congress.

After months of absorbing hits from Republicans, Democrats suddenly are on the offensive again, with President Obama leading the charge to gain some ground on overhauling the nation's health system.

Both sides in Thursday's summit are playing to the public as much as to each other, but even as Democrats find their second wind, it may not be enough.

Within their own party ranks are deficit-minded "Blue Dog" Democrats like Rep. Collin Peterson, a Minnesotan who remains deeply skeptical about the near-trillion-dollar cost of the whole package.

"I don't think they broke any logjams," Peterson said of Obama's new plan.

Emerging from the doldrums of a Massachusetts Senate race that cost them their filibuster-proof majority, Democrats are looking for a way to regain the edge against Republicans in the national health care debate.

In that battle for momentum, Franken joined 22 other senators in calling on Democratic leaders to pass a public option, or government insurance plan, via special budget reconciliation rules. Those rules require only a simple, 51-vote majority rather than the usual 60 needed to proceed to a final vote.

While the plan Obama unveiled Monday does not call for a public option, it is patterned largely on a Senate bill that passed on Christmas Eve with no Republican support. Another attempt to muscle a bill through on solely Democratic votes could result in what some Republicans call the "nuclear option."

"There will be a huge fight," said Kline, the only member of the Minnesota delegation who has been invited to the summit. "They call it the nuclear option for a reason. The place blows up. People put holds on bills, you never have unanimous consent again."

Franken, who rallied on Sunday with several hundred supporters in Minneapolis, noted that Republicans used the same maneuver to push through GOP agenda items, such as tax cuts, under former President George W. Bush.

Public option still alive

"The public option is like the cat with nine lives," said Greta Bergstrom, of TakeAction Minnesota, part of a coalition that sponsored Sunday's rally. "It's been declared dead so many times.

But Franken and other Democrats are at a loss to explain why their supporters have waited until now to pump up the grass-roots pressure, which was dominated by Tea Party opponents throughout much of the year-long debate.

"Right now, people feel desperate," Franken said.

Regardless, Ellison sees the momentum shifting. "The energy is all there," he said, "People are jacked about this. They're excited."

With or without the public option, Democrats like Klobuchar have signaled their support for the 51-vote reconciliation strategy as a way to pass a modified health care bill.

Curbing rate increases

One significant departure from both the House and Senate bills is that the new plan would give federal regulators the power to block rate increases by private insurers, a nod to those who say the health effort has paid too little attention to curbing health care costs.

Republicans want to toss out the whole plan. "Our position is, let's start from scratch," Kline said.

Bachmann, waxing skeptical, said she hopes the summit is "more than just another PR stunt from the White House."

Some Republicans have been coy about whether they should go at all. But Gov. Tim Pawlenty, who has been offering Republican ideas on the health care debate in the Washington Post and on CNN, said the GOP team can't afford to stay away.

In the end, Thursday's televised showdown underscores how political momentum could be as important as policy in resolving the health care debate.

"It's a public relations thing," said Collin Peterson. "Who's going to win the PR game in terms of who's being the most obstinate, and who's to blame."