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Sen. Ben Nelson, a conservative Democrat from Nebraska, intends to introduce an amendment to the Senate health care bill that would add controversial abortion language similar to the Stupak amendment in the House bill, CBS News Capitol Hill Producer John Nolen reports.

"I'm working on an amendment to bring Stupak language to the bill," Nelson said today, referencing an amendment added to the House health care bill by Reps. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) and Joe Pitts (R-Penn.).

The amendment restricts health insurance coverage for abortion and has raised the ire of abortion rights groups. A coalition of those groups are launching a "day of action" on Wednesday to lobby against the amendment.

Nelson has said he may join a Republican filibuster against the health care bill unless it is changed to his liking, something that would include adding the Stupak language. Even though the Stupak amendment made it through the House, some Democratic House members are now saying they have enough votes to block any bill that comes back to the House with the language intact.

CBSNews.com Special Report: Health Care

The White House and congressional Democrats today trumpeted the results of a new analysis (PDF) of the Senate health care bill's impact on premiums, released just hours before the Senate kicked off debate on the legislation.

Without taking into account subsidies, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's reform package would raise premiums on non-group insurance policies by an average of 10 percent to 13 percent by 2016, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. About 57 percent of consumers in the non-group market are expected to receive subsidies, however, and for those people, average premiums would drop by as much as 59 percent. The bill would have a much smaller impact on the cost of small group and large group insurance, which account for 83 percent of the market.

Incoming White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer wrote on the White House blog that the CBO report "contains more good news about what reform will mean for families struggling to keep up with skyrocketing premiums under the broken status quo."

Pfeiffer highlighted the CBO's conclusion that consumers in the nongroup market will see lower premiums, as well as the expected decrease in premiums for those who have employer-based coverage. Also, Pfeiffer wrote, "Americans who currently struggle to find coverage would see lower premiums because more people will be covered."

Pfeiffer emphasized that the CBO concludes that average premiums will rise in some cases because people will have more options and therefore choose to buy better insurance.

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Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has a formidable task ahead of him this month as he tries to get 60 senators to allow for a vote in favor of his comprehensive health care reform package. The White House doesn't intend to let him go at it alone, however.

The Obama administration has been coordinating its health care messaging with Democratic leaders in the Senate according to various reports. Reid will "get backing from war rooms on Capitol Hill and in the White House, where operatives with a coordinated strategy stand ready to amplify the floor debate," Politico reports.

Meanwhile, the White House released today a video featuring Vice President Joe Biden, who asks, "Who do you trust?" when it comes to explaining what health insurance reform means. The video features physicians and nurses advocating for reform.

Reports last week said President Obama assigned a blog post from the Atlantic's Ron Brownstein, which praises the Senate health care bill, as required reading for all White House staff working on health care.

The White House has been working furiously on the issue behind the scenes all year, and the Associated Press reported last week exactly with whom. Administration officials have met with hundreds of lobbyists and others involved in the debate this year, the AP after obtaining 575 visitor records from the White House.

For more on the status of the current health care debate, check out CBSNews.com's latest Health Care Progress Report.

CBSNews.com Special Report: Health Care

Blue Dog Democrat Jim Matheson (D-Utah) told CBS News' John Dickerson that members of the moderate Democratic coalition are the "true Democrats because we wear that label even when it may actually effect us in a negative way in our elections," on "Washington Unplugged" Tuesday.

"At the end of the day if people want to question the Democratic credentials of the Blue Dogs," Matheson said, "I'll tell you what, by Blue Dogs running as Democrats we face a handicap in running in our districts. There are other people who by running as a Democrat they automatically win."

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Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) is insisting he will keep up his opposition to adding a government-run health insurance plan, or "public option," to health care reform, refusing to even accept a compromise proposed by Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine.

Lieberman has said he will join a Republican filibuster of any health care bill that includes a public option. He is one of a handful of senators who Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid will have to placate in order to get all 60 members of the Democratic caucus to support his health care overhaul.

Given that Lieberman and a few other Democrats are wary of the public option plan Reid included in his bill, it is possible the Senate could try to replace the provision with a type of "compromise," such as the so-called "trigger" plan put forward by Snowe. Under that plan, a public option would only be enacted after certain number of years if the private industry failed to meet certain goals.

Lieberman told the Wall Street Journal, however, that he would not support a trigger plan, or any other "compromise" version of the public option.

"I'm going to be stubborn on this," he said.

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Politics Today is CBSNews.com's inside look at the key stories driving the day in politics

** Now the real fight over health care reform begins...

** President Obama tackles unemployment...

** Sarah Palin rises in polls during her book tour...

HEALTH CARE: Democrats Saturday night squeaked by with 60 votes on a procedural motion to move the health care debate forward.

Still, writes Shalaigh Murray of the Washington Post, " Democrats had little time to savor their weekend Senate health-care victory, as two of the lawmakers who voted to move the debate forward Saturday night indicated Sunday that they will not vote to pass the package if it includes a government-run insurance program."

"Despite the success in the test vote, the fragile consensus in the Democratic caucus will face its greatest test yet as the health-care debate moves to the Senate floor and Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (Nev.) struggles to stave off internal schisms. The cracks in the 60-member caucus are most obvious over the public insurance option.

"One member of the Democratic caucus, independent Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (Conn.), reiterated Sunday that he will oppose any bill that contains a public option. Appearing on NBC's "Meet the Press," he called such a government-run plan 'radical.'

"Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.), another centrist who supported the move to continue debate but has made it clear he has many objections to the legislation as currently written, restated his opposition to a public plan. 'I don't want a big-government, Washington-run operation that undermines the private insurance that 200 million Americans now have,' he said on ABC's 'This Week.'"

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Senate Democrats managed to pull together a 60-vote majority Saturday evening to pass a key vote keeping health care reform legislation on track, despite efforts by Republicans (and a few contentious Democrats) to stall or kill the bill.

There are many issues in the 2,000+ page legislation being debated in the Senate, from insurer abuse, preconditions and spiraling health costs to abortion funding and Medicare taxes. But the most contentious issue popping up continues to be the so-called "public option" — government-backed health care coverage — similar to Medicare but available to anyone who cannot obtain or afford coverage from private insurance companies.

"You have people on one side saying 'I won't vote for a final bill if it's in it,' and you have other people saying, 'I won't vote for a final bill if it's not in it,'" said CBS News political analyst John Dickerson, "and so as Harry Reid and the president try to mollify one group, they end up making the other group angry."

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Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada secured the 60 votes needed to move forward with the historic debate on President Obama’s overhaul of health care today.

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With the first critical vote for the Senate health care bill slated for Saturday night, both advocates and opponents of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's bill are putting pressure on the few key Democratic senators who may or may not hold up the measure.

On Saturday at 8 p.m., the Senate will vote on whether or not to even begin debate on the measure. Reid needs at least 60 senators to vote in favor of debate, and Republicans plan on uniformly voting against moving forward. A handful of conservative Democrats have expressed reservations about supporting the bill, for various reasons, and two have not yet disclosed whether they will vote in favor of moving the debate forward on Saturday: Sens. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) and Mary Landrieu (D-La.).

However, Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.), another conservative Democrat whose vote was in play, announced today he would vote in favor of beginning debate. He maintained, though, that he will vote with Republicans to filibuster the bill after debating it, if it is not altered to his liking.

"The Senate should start trying to fix a health care system that costs too much and delivers too little for Nebraskans," Nelson said in a statement. Saturday's vote, he said, "is only to begin debate and an opportunity to make improvements. If you don't like a bill why block your own opportunity to amend it?"

Nelson and his fellow centrist Democrats have been feeling the heat from all sides. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) e-mailed his supporters this morning, Politico reports, urging them to call Nelson's office and ask him to vote against the health care debate tomorrow. Meanwhile, the Republican National Committee sent out an e-mail with the subject "Your Call Can Make the Difference," also urging people to call Nelson and Lincoln and ask them to vote against Saturday's motion.

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A few notes on the spotlighted players in the Senate's health care vote, in the context of the 2010 elections and their electorates back home. As Majority Leader, Harry Reid (at left) is at center stage and is up in Nevada next year. The focus is also on some Democrats with doubts, notably Louisiana's Mary Landrieu and Nebraska's Ben Nelson, who aren't up but do represent very red states, and Arkansas' Blanche Lincoln, who is, and could face a tough test in 2010.

Nelson Will Vote to Begin Health Debate; What Will Landrieu, Lincoln Do?
Key Provisions of the Senate Health Care Bill
Washington Unplugged: Reid Seeks Momentum in Health Debate
CBSNews.com Special Report: Health Care

Lincoln (at left) not only represents a red state, but one that got even more Republican in 2008 from 2004 (one of the few that did). She needs to be mindful of those Republican voters: one in five of her backers in 2004 had also backed then-President Bush's reelection. To win that race, Lincoln outraised and outspent her opponent by six million dollars, but her Republican challenger still got 44 percent So Lincoln doesn't appear to have a lot of electoral margin for error with Arkansas voters.

On one hand, the state has an uninsured rate higher than the national average. But Lincoln (at left) will also need to make older voters happy, which so far has looked like a daunting task with this bill, at least nationwide.

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