TALLAHASSEE — Less than three weeks after President Obama complained about liberal activists attacking Democrats over health care reform, his own grass-roots campaign will put the heat on U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson on Thursday by rallying outside six of the Florida Democrat’s offices around the state.

Organizing for America, which continues to operate an Obama campaign Web site and use the president’s campaign logo, is scheduled to hold afternoon rallies in front of six of Nelson’s eight state offices. They include his West Palm Beach location at 500 Australian Ave., where the rally begins at 3 p.m.

Nelson has given little indication of how he would vote on key aspects of the health care legislation being debated, and he’s one of a key group of Senate Democrats whose support would be critical to overcoming a GOP-led filibuster.

The group will also demonstrate outside one of the seven Florida offices of Republican U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez.

But organizers said there are several differences between their rallies and similar demonstrations held by the liberal group MoveOn.org, which demonstrated July 9 outside Nelson’s West Palm Beach office. During that event, one speaker said, “It’s time you represented us — not your fat cat health-care buddies.”

Days before that rally, Obama had told a group of congressional leaders that “we shouldn’t be focusing resources on each other,” The Washington Post reported. The newspaper said Obama “expressed his concern over advertisements and online campaigns targeting moderate Democrats,” and that he “hinted that efforts are under way to discourage allies from future attacks on Democrats.”

Along with Nelson, liberal activists recently have targeted a number Senate Democrats, including Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, who was called a “sellout” in one ad from the liberal group Democracy for America. That organization was founded by former national Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean.

Ashley Walker, the Florida director of Organizing for America, said the critical difference is that Thursday’s rallies will revolve around residents sharing their health care stories.

“We’re bringing people from the community into the front of the health care debate,” Walker said. “This is one tool we’re using to encourage the entire delegation — and most importantly our two senators — and show them that their constituents want health care reform now.”

The group, technically an arm of the Democratic National Committee, has also held phone banks and neighborhood meetings this month to drum up support for health care reform. The DNC, meanwhile, is airing a television commercial in Orlando — where both Nelson and Martinez live — with the message that “the time is now” for health care reform.

While the health care industry has been among the most prodigious contributors to Nelson’s political campaigns, much of the concern from health care activists is his relative silence about a so-called “public option” being debated in Washington.

Democrats, who hold a large majority in the U.S. House and a fillibuster-proof majority in the Senate, hope to pass health care reform without having to rely on Republican help. But Democrats in Congress have been divided over creating a public health plan that would compete with private insurers, and Nelson has given little indication of how he would vote.

Nelson, a former state insurance commissioner, is also a member of the Senate Finance Committee, which will craft a significant portion of any health bill that passes the chamber.

“In a nutshell, he wants what everybody wants: to fix a broken system,” Nelson spokesman Dan McLaughlin said in an e-mail. “But the devil is in the details — and, how to pay for it. Probably some of the folks we’ll from tomorrow (today) would differ on how to pay for it.”

Karen Woodall, a children’s and women’s health care advocate in Tallahassee, said she was “optimistic” that Nelson would vote for a public option, citing his work to expand Medicaid and children’s health programs and his support for Obama.

“We just can’t take anyone for granted,” Woodall said. “There are a lot of people pounding on these folks and a lot of different influences at work here.”

This story was printed July 23 on page 5A of The Palm Beach Post.

Tags: Barack Obama, Bill Nelson, health insurance, Organizing for America

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