In Boost for Obama, Kucinich Switches to 'Yes'

WASHINGTON (March 17) -- After four meetings, President Barack Obama won over a crucial health care reform holdout this morning, as liberal Rep. Dennis Kucinich announced he had changed his mind and would vote in favor of the legislation in the House. Also today, Democrats received good news in the divide over abortion language in the health care bill.

Kucinich, a two-time Democratic presidential candidate who supports a single-payer health care system, had been a staunch opponent of the bill for months and voted against it in November, saying it did not go far enough toward guaranteeing government-supported health insurance for all Americans.

But he said the full-court press from Obama had swayed him to back the legislation.

"I know I have to make a decision not on the bill as I would like to see it, but as it is," the Ohio congressman said in describing his agonizing choice. Kucinich said he was not retracting his earlier criticisms of the legislation and would continue to fight for more expansive public health care programs. "This is not the bill I wanted to support."

His change of heart is critical in a push where every Democratic vote in the House could potentially be decisive. The party needs 216 votes to pass the legislation. It won 220 votes in November, but several Democrats have left Congress since then, and others who supported the legislation then have threatened to oppose it this time around. The move could give Democrats hope and a sliver of momentum as they urge other "no" votes to switch to "yes."

Also Wednesday, a group of Catholic nuns, representing 59,000 nationwide, broke with bishops who opposed the legislation on the grounds that its restrictions on federal funding for abortion were too loose. The nuns sent a letter to lawmakers urging them to pass the bill, The Associated Press reported.

And another Democratic House member who had raised concerns about the abortion restrictions announced today that he would support the legislation. Rep. Dale Kildee of Michigan said in a statement that he was "convinced" that the Senate legislation, which the House will vote on, did not change current law banning federal subsidies for abortion, The New York Times reported. Kildee is a close ally of Rep. Bart Stupak, another Michigan Democrat who had earlier claimed that he had a coalition of a dozen Democrats who supported the original health care legislation but who would vote against the latest version if the abortion ban wasn't strengthened.

Kucinich's shift came after four meetings with Obama, the last of which occurred on Air Force One on Monday, when the president traveled to Ohio for a rally in Kucinich's district. Kucinich said that while Obama "obviously hasn't changed my mind" about broader health care policy, Kucinich acknowledged that this was "the moment of decision" for a step forward. He also expressed "a real sense of compassion for our president," and at one point indicated that he feared Obama's presidency would be "destroyed" if the legislation failed.

He said he entered his last meeting with Obama prepared to listen, and he bemoaned the fact that the political extremes had "become so intractable" that lawmakers no longer listened to each other's arguments.

Kucinich stressed that his vote did not come in exchange for any special deals, like the ones that Democratic senators negotiated late last year that have soured the public on the bill. "He didn't make any specific commitments," Kucinich said.

The congressman said he would be taking "a detour" from his campaign for single-payer health care to support this legislation.