Snowe Looking for a Deal

Snowe is in the Back Center

The death of the public option has opened the door to some form of compromise and its clear, that Snow is angling for some type of bill to vote for As a member of the gang of 6 she has been involved in the negotiations since day one. Good news, no public option, bad news she would vote for "reform":

A key Republican senator who President Obama hopes will support his effort to overhaul the nation’s health-care system urged him Sunday to take any plan for a new government-run program “off the table.”

Senator Olympia Snowe, a member of the Senate Finance Committee, where the most-watched version of the health care bill is being written, said on CBS’s “Face the Nation” that the so-called public option is “universally opposed by all Republicans in the Senate” and “therefore, there’s no way to pass a plan that includes the public option.”

Ms. Snowe, who has previously criticized the public option, said she thought it unwise at this juncture to be clinging to the public option because doing so “leaves open a legislative possibility that creates uncertainty in this process.” On the other, she said, scuttling the public option for good “could give real momentum to building a consensus on other issues.”

David Axelrod, one of the president’s senior advisers, signaled the administration was remaining flexible about the option.

“I’m not willing to accept that it’s not going to be in the final package,” he said on “Face the Nation” as the debate over health care again dominated the Sunday talk shows. However, Mr. Axelrod suggested that Mr. Obama would not insist on including a public option if that meant giving up a chance to transform the way the nation insures its citizens’ health.

The president may gin up his base by claiming support for a new entitlement, but in reality he has left political wiggle room by claiming he wants "competitiveness" in the system without clarifying how that would be accomplished. The better question is what will happen in the house. I have no doubt they will vote for something to prevent the president from being defeated, but how much kicking and screaming will it take before they bow to the President's wishes.