At a time when the effort to overhaul the country's health care system is losing its strength, Maine Congresswoman Chellie Pingree hopes to provide a shot in the arm in the form of a controversial proposal. She and other House Democrats support a government-run health insurance plan that would compete with private plans. Now Pingree is leading the charge to bring on board the Senate, which has rejected the so-called public option before.

"I've believed all along that the public option was essential to introduce competition, make sure we can drive down the costs," she says. "And since there's a little bit of regrouping and rethinking going on, I just wanted to insert that back in the debate."

Pingree, along with fellow freshman Democrat Jared Polis of Colorado, is circulating a letter urging the Senate to approve a public option by using a hard-ball tactic allowed by Senate rules known as reconciliation.

Reconciliation requires 51 votes, a simple majority, and would allow Democrats to circumvent Republicans who have argued that a public option will drive up health care costs and create bureaucarcy.

"A 51-vote majority is a perfectly appropriate way to pass a bill," Pingress says. "President Bush used it on tax cuts. I think the important thing is that people want to see us accomplish something, and for many people that is increasing the number of jobs that are available in our state and making health care affordable."

Reconciliation may be the only way to include a public option in health care reform. That's because Senate Democrats no longer have a 60-vote supermajority to pass the health care plan of their choice, now that Massachusetts voters elected Republican Scott Brown to fill the late Ted Kennedy's seat in last week's special election.

But some political observers say that turning to reconciliation would come back to haunt Democrats and President Obama, who has made passing health care reform his top domestic goal.

"I think what it would do is harden the divide between the parties," says Jim Melcher, a political scientist at the University of Maine at Farmington. "Certainly the left of the Democratic Party would say, 'Well, finally the Democratic party showed some guts, showed some courage. Enough with the namby pamby already.' But the opponents would dig in their heels more and say, 'Well look at these people using all these tricks, and that it isn't going to work.' So I think it would elevate the level conflict for those who are seeking a public option."

Melcher even questions whether Senate leaders have all the votes to use reconciliation. Centrist Democrats such as Evan Bayh of Indiana and Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas, who face re-election bids this year in swing districts, have gone on record opposing the use of reconciliation to pass health care reform.

But supporters of reconciliation maintain that there should be 51 votes, plus a few to spare, even with no votes from conservative Democrats Ben Nelson of Nebraska and Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, and Joe Lieberman, the Independent senator from Connecticut.

"And it's actually more like 54, 55 votes if it is actually brought up for a vote -- the big question now is, is there the leadership in the Senate to bring the public option up for a vote?" says Adam Green, co-founder of the Progressive Campaign Change Committee, which has more than 300,000 members nationwide.

Green says that it would be politically savvy for House Democrats to pressure the Senate to reconsider a public option.
His group, along with Democracy for America, polled voters in 10 moderate-to-right leaning districts where Democrats are up for re-election and found that 68 percent support a public option.

"An overwhelming majority also say they want Democrats to fight harder against big corporations on behalf of the little guy, Green says. "So what Chellie Pingree is doing is actually an incredibly smart political strategy for any Democratic candidate this year: taking on big corporations on the behalf of regular people on the issue of heath care. And it's also the right way to pass the bill."

Pingree is running for re-election this fall, as is her fellow House Democrat from Maine, Mike Michaud. A spokesman for Michaud says that the congressman continues to support a public option. The proposal is opposed by Maine Republican Senators Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins.

Health reform advocate Ron Pollack of Families USA praises Pingree's efforts. But he says the key fight in Congress is to make sure meaningful health reform passes this year, even without a public option.

"Any bill that passes is not going to be perfect, but the bills that have passed the Senate and the House are excellent first steps in making sure that people have access to high quality, affordable coverage, and we are further along in this process than ever before," Pollack says.

The impact of the letter calling for a public option may not be known until next week. Pingree says the letter will be circulated until Friday afternoon, at which point it will be delivered to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.