The Public Option in Health Care Reform, and a Little Senate Math
From Josh Micah Marshall:
So Off Message : From the new Times/CBS poll out this evening ...
Would you favor or oppose the government offering everyone a government administered health insurance plan -- something like the Medicare coverage that people 65 and older get -- that would compete with private health insurance plans?
Favor 65%... Oppose 26%...
Interestingly, according to the poll, support for a public option has jumped 5 points since late August and opposition to it has dropped 8 points.
And a little Senate math:
The forty-two most Democratic Democrats--up through Bill Nelson, say--together represent 52.4% of the country...
The fifty most Democratic Democrats--up through Claire McCaskill--account for 59.8%% of the country's population...
If cloture required only that Senators representing 60% of the population vote to close off debate, then the Democrats could get votes with the fifty-one most Democratic senators--up through Baucus...
The sixty Democrats represent 64.3% of the population...
If I were Barbara Boxer, I would get together with Kay Bailey Hutchinson, John Cornyn, Chuck Schumer, Kirsten Gillibrand, Bill Nelson, George LeMieux, and Dianne Feinstein and say that their Issue Number One was changing cloture so that the bar is senators representing 60% of the population rather than 60% of the senators.
Jes' sayin'...
