Democrats Quietly Trying to Salvage Health Care Overhaul

While the aftershocks of recent political setbacks have Democrats changing their focus to jobs and the economy, Democratic leaders are trying to quietly forge a strategy to save the health care reform legislation that had been their front-burner issue until now, the Los Angeles Times reports.

The Times says the effort to shore up support for the legislation among wavering lawmakers is "deliberately being undertaken quietly" because party leaders "have concluded that the only hope for resuscitating the healthcare legislation is to push the issue off the front page and give lawmakers time to work out a new compromise and shift public perception of the bill."

The strategy meetings are going on almost daily. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid are trying to get House Democrats to line up behind the Senate bill while finding a way in the Senate to advance the measure in a way using procedures to avoid filibusters. That latter strategy is known as budget reconciliation. It allows legislation that is considered budget-related to be approved by a simple majority.

However, using that procedure to push through the measure over Republican objections poses political risks, and two Democrats -- Arkansas Sen. Blanche Lincoln and Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh -- said this week that they would oppose such a move.

"It would destroy the opportunity, if there is one, for any bipartisan cooperation the rest of this year on anything else," Bayh said.