All eyes in the health care debate have turned to Maine, where Republican Senator Olympia Snowe has emerged as the key vote on a public option for insurance coverage.
On Monday, a group of allied progressive groups kept the spotlight on the swing-vote senator with a new 60-second television ad. Using the testimony of a widow whose savings were wiped out by bills to treat her husband's cancer, the ad -- sponsored by the Progressive Change Campaign Committee and Democracy for America -- urges Snowe to back a government-run insurance plan.
"Before he died, my first husband and I thought he had great health insurance. But when he got cancer the insurance companies refused to pay thousands of dollars in bills. That forced us into bankruptcy," says Nancy Randolph, a mother and small-business owner in Brunswick, Maine. "These insurance companies can't be trusted... We need the public health insurance option now."
It's always tricky to ascertain the effect outside groups have when they dabble in local and personal politics. But the PCCC and DFA feel quite comfortable with this tactic, having already tried to pressure another key public option vote, Sen. Ben Nelson, (D-Neb.).
Snowe has indicated that she'd back a government-run plan that was triggered into being by certain economic conditions, but no more. Progressives, nevertheless, see room to push. Along with the press release announcing their ad, the PCCC and DFA noted that a new Research 2000 poll shows 58% of Maine residents support the public option while 29% oppose it, a 2-to-1 ratio. Among independents, it's 67% to 20%, over 3 to 1.
The groups are putting $100,000 behind their ad purchase in Maine while promising to pour in more money as it comes in through online fundraising.