Obama quietly tries to shore up Senate support for public option

Despite months of outward ambivalence about creating a government health insurance plan, the Obama White House has launched a behind-the-scenes campaign to get divided Senate Democrats to take up some version of the idea for a final vote in the coming weeks. President Obama has cited a preference for the public option, but after facing criticism he expressed openness to health cooperatives and other ways to offer consumers potentially more affordable alternatives to private health plans.