PASSAGE of the new comprehensive health care reform bill by Congress may not be the “game changer” some joyful Democrats are declaring it to be, but it may at least herald a new game for the 2010 midterm elections.

When the president re-engaged on health care four weeks ago  making clear his own priorities, inviting Republicans to a forum at Blair House and relentlessly pressing his case against the villainous insurance companies  the public noticed. Yet the Republicans were frozen in post-Massachusetts time, still reveling in Scott Brown’s surprise victory in the Senate race, which they felt was the result of an arrogant Democratic Party trying to jam an unpopular health care plan down the throats of the American people.

The Republicans handed Senator Brown the party’s weekend radio address on March 13. “Rarely have elected leaders been so intent on defying the public will,” he warned. In a similar vein, the House minority leader, John Boehner, said last Saturday that, “In a democracy, you can only ignore the will of the people for so long and get away with it.” Indeed, voters will have their say in November.

But the evidence shows that people were not sitting still as the politicians went into the final battle. Four of the seven latest major public polls showed an increase in the numbers favoring the health care reform as it was being debated over the last few weeks. Only one showed it losing ground.