Dennis Kucinich Supports Health Care Reform (We're Almost There)

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Dennis Kucinich, the lefty congressman from Ohio, was holding out on the health care reform bill because it didn't have the so-called public option, a government-provided health care plan. But now (after a visit from Obama) he's changed his mind. And that might make the difference. There's going to be a very close vote in the House on Sunday that is likely to determine, once and for all, if we can finally get this bill through.On his site, Kucinich explains:

In the past week it has become clear that the vote on the final health care bill will be very close. I take this vote with the utmost seriousness. I am quite aware of the historic fight that has lasted the better part of the last century to bring America in line with other modern democracies in providing single payer health care. I have seen the political pressure and the financial pressure being asserted to prevent a minimal recognition of this right, even within the context of a system dominated by private insurance companies.I know I have to make a decision, not on the bill as I would like to see it, but the bill as it is. My criticisms of the legislation have been well reported. I do not retract them. I incorporate them in this statement. They still stand as legitimate and cautionary. I still have doubts about the bill. I do not think it is a first step toward anything I have supported in the past. This is not the bill I wanted to support, even as I continue efforts until the last minute to modify the bill.However after careful discussions with the President Obama, Speaker Pelosi, Elizabeth my wife and close friends, I have decided to cast a vote in favor of the legislation.

He follows that up with a long list of the bill's shortcomings, but the point is that he's voting for it and on Monday, America may have passed a health care reform package.