For first time, nervous Dems contemplate failure

For the first time in the debate, some Democratic staffers, spooked by the tight Massachusetts Senate race, are privately contemplating letting health care reform die and blaming it on the Republicans. That suggestion signals a sea change in how Democrats have thought about, and argued for, reform over the last year.

Failure, Democrats have argued, is a worse political fate than passing an unpopular bill because it would demonstrate their inability to govern, even with massive majorities in Congress and control of the White House. Until now, Democrats have said that passing an unpopular bill is a handicap that can be overcome before November as a unified party would rally around selling reform's benefits.

But the wild Massachusetts Senate race seems to be fundamentally changing the contours of the debate.

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