Immediate Results?

Earlier today I posted about the shot across the bow that some big Liberal and Progressive organizations launched at Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid over having a public option in health care reform. I don't know if that annoucement is directly responsible for this news coming out of Reid's camp but I would bet it didn't hurt.

Earlier this week, the Senate Finance Committee voted down amendments that would have added a public insurance option to the healthcare reform bill it's considering. But Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid apparently doesn't think that's a big obstacle. On Thursday, he promised that a public option will be included in the final version of the legislation considered by the full Congress.

"We are going to have a public option before this bill goes to the president's desk," Reid said in a conference call with constitutents, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reports. "I believe the public option is so vitally important to create a level playing field and prevent the insurance companies from taking advantage of us."

Now to be fair Senator Reid has always said he preferred a public option in the bill. But by the same token he usually hedges on the issue. This is the first time to my knowledge that he has ever definitively said that a public option would be in the final version of the bill. It is a MAJOR revelation with out a doubt and I am more hopeful now than I was before I read this, but it is still Harry Reid so I am going to take it with a grain of salt. But what I will bet you is that after making this statement if it gets saturated out in the media Reid will see his numbers go up in Nevada which hopefully will give him plenty of reason to keep this promise.

If not, all bets are off.