Ads Push Centrist Sens On Health Care

Health Care for America Now!, a coalition of progressive groups including Center for American Progress, Americans United for Change, AFL-CIO, SEIU, AFSCME, ACORN, and MoveOn.org, is targeting six senators with TV ads pushing them to support a public-option health care plan. The ads will run in the home states of centrist senators who, as we saw in the stimulus debate, control much of the decision-making power in Congress as potentially the last lawmakers on board with major pieces of the Democratic agenda. They are: Arlen Specter (D-PA), Ben Nelson (D-NE), Mike Johanns (R-NE), Blanche Lincoln (D-AR), Mark Pryor (D-AR), Evan Bayh (D-IN), Richard Lugar (R-IN), and Ron Wyden (D-OR), who has previously led bipartisan efforts at health reform. See one of the ads below:

The coalition says it is spending a total of $200,000 on the ads, which will run for a week.