Nowhere for Blue Dogs to Hide!

TPM's analysis is worth reading:

"...even if they're just making excuses, or they still need more time to think, nobody will be able to hide much longer:

"First, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid will have to decide whether or not to import the HELP Committee's public option into the package he brings to the floor. If he does, it would completely shift the onus. As it stands liberals are forced to make the push for the public option; if Reid adopts it, conservative Democrats would be smoked out: either they'd have to accept it, or come out strongly against it by voting with Republicans to strip it, or filibustering the entire bill.

"But even assuming Reid does not import a public option (a safe assumption) there will be more amendments, and, soon enough, the entire Democratic caucus will have to go on the record. More than that, they'll have to decide whether a public option is worth filibustering.

"To take things one step further, if a public option is not in the final bill that passes the Senate, Democratic leaders could still adopt one in negotiations with the House of Representatives. Maybe they will and maybe they won't, but if they do, then conservative Democrats will have to decide whether it's worth tanking the entire reform project over the inclusion of a fairly modest public option.

"That's a lot of choke points, and a lot of pressure on public option skeptics. So while it's much too early to predict what will happen, it's also extremely premature to say the public option fight is over. As you can see, there are much more favorable battlefields ahead."