For health care, a frantic ride in the final days

WASHINGTON -- Like a roller-coaster ride on its last twisting turns, President Barack Obama's campaign to remake health care is barreling into final days of suspense and momentum.

Democrats, led by Obama himself, are deploying this weekend to salvage an unpredictable Senate race in Massachusetts, while senior White House and congressional staffers in Washington hurry to finish work on cost and coverage options at the heart of the legislation.

A Republican victory in the Massachusetts race to fill the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy's seat would deprive Democrats of the 60-vote majority needed to pass the bill in the Senate. Obama and Democratic congressional leaders would have a political window of perhaps days only to try to ram the bill through -- at considerable risk of incurring public wrath.

Poll results from Massachusetts show Republican state Sen. Scott Brown within reach of an upset over Democrat Attorney General Martha Coakley.

The contest was once considered a foregone conclusion in a state where Democrats dominate. But Democratic political consultant Mary Ann Marsh said Brown has been able to capitalize on his strengths in part because Coakley and her supporters sat back after she won the Democratic primary.

For Brown, the breathing room let him define himself as a truck-driving everyman, a doting father and the candidate best suited to push back against a Democratic-dominated Senate.

Underscoring the importance of the race, the White House said yesterday that Obama will make a lastminute trip to campaign for Coakley in Massachusetts today.

Coakley, hoping to become the first woman elected to the U.S. Senate in Massachusetts, has publicly accepted the endorsement of Kennedy's widow, Vicki Kennedy, and nephew, the former U.S. Rep. Joseph Kennedy.

Coakley sought to flex the party's traditional union muscle during a stop at an International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers hall yesterday, but several speakers acknowledged that many in the rank and file are interested in Brown.

Brown appeared in suburban Quincy with former Massachusetts Republican Gov. William F. Weld, who endorsed Obama during the 2008 presidential campaign, but he said voters are now suffering "spending fatigue and tax fatigue."

Of Brown, Weld said, "He's not going to be a rubber stamp for every trillion dollars that comes along."

Brown has avoided appearing with the most recent Republican governor, Mitt Romney, who took a conservative turn while running for president in 2008.

Meanwhile, Democrats are working to reconcile Houseand Senate-passed versions of the health-care bill.

Negotiators are "pretty close," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said at the end of a week of marathon negotiations.

A White House statement said there are "no final agreements and no overall package." But no further meetings are scheduled.

One key obstacle appeared on its way to a resolution when Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., requested the elimination of a controversial federal subsidy to cover the entire cost of a Medicaid expansion in his state.

Even with an agreement on cost and coverage issues, Obama and congressional Democrats would have to resolve controversy over abortion, coverage of immigrants and other issues before sealing a final compromise.