Mark Warner clarified his position on the public health insurance option a bit more on Wednesday night (emphasis added):

Last night, at John Bell's fundraiser, Senator Warner said to a group of people that, in the end, he would not vote against health care reform containing the public option. I didn't report that immediately for two reasons: 1) I wasn't there when he said it, but heard it secondhand; and 2) I wasn't sure if it was on or off the record. Well now, after just getting off the phone with Senator Warner's office, I can confirm that this is correct information - in the end, the public option is not a "make or break" for Warner one way or the other and he WILL vote for a health care reform bill with a public option in there. Good news.

This led Chris Bowers to posit that there needs to be a new category on our chart tracking where Senators stand on the public health insurance option - "Won't vote against." It also brings our total to 45.

His logic goes like this:

At this point, finding another six Senators who will not vote against a health care bill with a public option is almost as good as finding another six Senators coming out in favor of the public option.  We should have enough supporters of the public option in the Senate to force a vote on it.  If we can just find another six Senators who might not advocate for the public option, but who will not vote against it when the time comes, then we still have enough support to pass it through the Senate.

After reaching 45 supporters last week, not only had the whip count stagnated, but the death of Senator Kennedy actually moved it back to 44.  With Senator Warner's statement, we can consider ourselves back to 45. I will put Warner in a new category "won't vote against," showing that he is not exactly a supporter, but that where he is will be good enough for now.

Perhaps most importantly, I think that the way Blue Virginia got Senator Warner on the record can be replicated for other wavering Senators, allowing us to get to 50 as early as next week.  At this point, instead of looking for supporters of the public option, maybe we should just be asking Senators to say they won't vote against a bill with a public option in it.  Not only is that an easier statement to make, it is very close to what Senators like Baucus, Carper, Tester and Wyden have already said. With those four votes, we would really be on the brink.

Health Care for America Now and Democracy for America, plus local bloggers, will be following up with Senate offices next week to see if more Senators "won't vote against" a public health insurance option. In the meantime, we'll add Warner to the full list.

While we wait for more clarifications, make sure the Senators still on the fence hear from you:

• Send a fax to Mark Begich, asking him if he supports the public option!
• Send a fax to Jon Tester, asking him if he supports the public option!
• Send a fax to Tom Carper, asking him if he supports the public option!
• Send a fax to Ron Wyden, asking him if he supports the public option!
• Send a fax to Kent Conrad, asking him if he supports the public option!
• Send a fax to Mary Landrieu, asking her if she supports the public option!
• Send a fax to Blanche Lincoln, asking her if he supports the public option!
• Send a fax to Ben Nelson, asking him if he supports the public option!
• Send a fax to Bill Nelson, asking him if he supports the public option!
• Send a fax to Mark Pryor, asking him if he supports the public option!
• Send a fax to Joe Lieberman, asking him if he supports the public option!
• Send a fax to Evan Bayh, asking him if he supports the public option!
• Send a fax to Olympia Snowe, asking her if she supports the public option!
• Send a fax to Robert Byrd, asking him if he supports the public option!

The full chart on where Senators stand on the public health insurance option is available after the jump.

Likely Supporters

Likely Opposition