It would appear, at least with respect to the so-called "Baucus bill" currently in the final stages of development in the Senate, that things are heading the way of a bill that does not include a federal "public option," but rather only a "public option" administered by individual states or groups of states (see link below). I find it hard to believe that the far left would sign off on this, and if it appears that they are doing so in the days to come, I for one will be highly suspicious of what's really contained in this bill. But in the meantime, I'm not going to worry about it too much, since the senate finance committee hasn't been sharing any bill language with you or me at any recent juncture. (As resolved in this space several weeks ago, I'm not inclined to debate the merits of theoretical constructs such as "cooperatives" and "state options" until there's actually a concrete written bill available to the public and which appears to be a serious bill that will actually get to the senate or house floor). Stay tuned...