Primary works,

[Mass]

If Specter comes out to put single payer on the table, who knows what a primary challenge could do to Baucus (though, unfortunately, I do not think he is for reelection any time soon).

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_09/019969.php

PRIMARIES WORK.... This is the same guy who opposed the public option shortly after joining the Democratic Party.

Single-payer healthcare should be "on the table" in the healthcare debate, Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.) said yesterday.

Specter made the comments at an AFL-CIO meeting in Pittsburgh yesterday. The convention voted to pursue a single-payer plan.

"Although there's not a lot of support of single-payer, I believe it should be on the table," Specter told the audience. "At a minimum, we shouldn't settle for anything less than a robust public option."

Raise your hand if you think Specter would be saying anything like this if he weren't facing Rep. Joe Sestak in a Democratic primary.

I mean, really. In April, Specter was a Republican who opposed progressive ideas in health care reform. In September, he's a Democrat who wants single payer on the table.

We've all seen politicians evolve ideologically over time, but this is remarkable -- and entirely the result of a desire to impress the Democratic base.

[LeftishBrit]

1. Just looked Baucus up. He's only just been re-elected. Incredibly, against

a Republican who *supported* single-payer healthcare.

Baucus sounds like a strange sort of Dem, but then I live in a country where almost all mainstream politicians support the concept of the NHS.