"Strong public option" will pass by Christmas?

Well, that's what the new Senate HELP Chairman is saying.

At his 32nd annual Steak Fry fundraiser, U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) was cheered by an enthusiastic crowd when he declared that a health care reform bill would pass both houses of Congress “by Christmas,” and that it would include a government-run, not-for-profit health insurance plan.

“Mark my word — I’m the chairman — it’s going to have a strong public option,” said Harkin, who last week replaced the late Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) as chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) committee.

“[It] now falls to me to pick up the torch” left by Kennedy, he noted.

At least we have some Senators in high places looking out for us plebes. Still, I feel we need to do all we can to back Harkin up. Don't let the insurance industry backed ConservaDems gut the health care bill. Do as Desert Beacon says, and contact our one sane Senator and two rational Representatives and make them promise to deliver a good, pro-consumer health care bill with a strong public option.