The public option took another blow Tuesday. As expected, the Senate Finance Committee rejected an amendment this afternoon to create a government-run health plan to compete with private insurers.

Sen. Jay Rockefeller's amendment was shot down by a hard 15-8 vote. There is sure to be some liberal frustration targeted at the Democratic senators who voted against the measure. Joining the unified Republican opposition were Democrats: Max Baucus, Blanche Lincoln, Thomas Carper, Bill Nelson and Kent Conrad.

Rockefeller's declaration that “the public option is on the march” appears, today, more wishful than fact. The progressive push for a government plan, most visibly from Nancy Pelosi in the House, remains mired down in the Senate. And the cleavage between Democratic moderates and the political left earns its latest anecdote this afternoon.

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