The Gray Lady has it, thus:
. . . .At a meeting at the White House on Thursday, Mr. Reid informed President Obama of his inclination to add the public option to the bill, but did not specifically ask the president to endorse that approach, a Democratic aide said. Mr. Obama asked questions, but did not express a preference at the meeting, a White House official said.
Just six weeks ago the public option appeared to be dying, under fierce attack by the insurance industry. A clear majority of Democratic senators favor a government-run plan. But public statements by other senators indicate that the proposal lacks the 60 votes ordinarily needed to secure Senate approval for hotly contested legislation.
Democratic champions of the public plan, like Senator Charles E. Schumer of New York, have urged Mr. Reid to take an aggressive posture, by putting the public plan in the bill and forcing opponents to try to strip it out.
"There is a growing sense that we need to lead on this issue and not wait for it to be offered on the Senate floor," a senior Democratic aide said. "The idea is that it’s better to show some fight. . . ."
Even if the Senate Democrats ultimately lose Snowe's vote because of it, "Warblin' Joe" Lieberman could still make the needed 60, and then, the next bottleneck appears in the House chambers -- where the notion is gaining favor, but is by no means assured.
It largely just goes to show that -- between insurers, and big pharma -- if one goes beyond the edge of the envelope often enough, and brazenly so -- eventually the law catches up, to curb those practices one didn't self-police, in the very first place.
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