As of this morning, the total stands at 23, with powerful Appropriations chair Sen. Daniel Inouye signing on to the public option/reconciliation letter.
The bad news is, Sen. Jay Rockefeller, perhaps unduly affected by the retirement of Evan Bayh, has a problem with using reconciliation to get the public option, saying it would be too partisan.
"I don't think the timing of it is very good," the West Virginia Democrat said on Monday. "I'm probably not going to vote for that, although I'm strongly for the public option, because I think it creates, at a time when we really need as much bipartisan[ship] ... as possible. "
Rockefeller added: "I don't think you [pursue] something like the public option, which cannot pass, will not pass. And if we get the Senate bill--both through the medical loss ratio and the national plans, which have in that, every one of them has to have one not-for-profit plan, which is sort of like a public option."
It's not even entirely clear that he will support reconciliation period. Brian Beutler speculates that Rockefeller could be holding out in deference to the summit, since he will be one of the attendees. It is, however, a sobering reminder for all of us on exactly what being "strongly for the public option" really means to these Senators. Being for it in theory is not going to be enough, and signing on to a letter is easy. Working your colleagues and pressuring leadership isn't, but it's what has to happen to keep the momentum going. The more Senators who sign, the easier that task becomes.