Liberals pressure Reid on public option

Liberals are ramping up the pressure on top Senate Democrat Harry Reid, one of the key players in the negotiations over the health care overhaul.

Trying to craft a plan that can draw at least 60 votes in the Senate, Reid, the White House, and other moderate and conservative Democrats are waffling on whether a "public option" -- a government-run plan to offer affordable coverage and compete with private insurers -- should be in the final bill. Worried liberals say that health reform without it would be less than half a loaf.

Today, the Progressive Change Campaign Committee unveiled a TV ad in Nevada, where Reid face re-election next year, and sent an email to 225,000 activists nationwide seeking to raise at least $100,000 online to air the spot 200 times.

It features Nevada nurse Lee Slaughter, who says she has spent 20 years providing critical care -- and seeing patients cut off because of insurance. "Now, it's happening to me," she says, saying that she broke both her hips and that her insurer isn't providing all the care she needs. broke both hips insurers

Slaughter says she's a swing voter for supported Reid and President Obama, and says that in 2010, she will vote on only one issue.

"I'm watching to see if Harry Reid is strong and effective enough as a leader to pass a public health insurance option into law," she says.