Gov. Dean appeared on the Dr. Nancy show this morning, and reiterated a point that polling released last week demonstrated.

SNYDERMAN: Let's start with a recent NYT/CBS poll that showed that 65 percent of people in fact are in favor of a public option. If 65 percent of Americans are in favor, and Congress seems to be balking, where's the disconnect?

DEAN: I think part of it is that the health insurance companies are giving millions of dollars to some Senators and that puts them in a difficult place. That gives them a conflict beteween what their constituencies want and what the insurance companies that are paying their campaign money want. And that's part of the problem.

Look, this is a very simple thing, this public option. It's basically, you ought to think of it as allowing people to buy into Medicare who are under 65. It's a good program, it works better--the cost controls are much better than they are in the private sector and it makes a lot of sense. Without a public option, this is really a waste of time and money. To put $60 billion every year of the public's money into the health insurance business is really crazy, and I think there's going to be a huge backlash against that if that's what they do. If they don't have some kind of public option with Medicare buy-in or whatever, I think this is not going to be a healthcare reform bill and there's going to be an enormous backlash against the Democrats.