Just as Democrats were the ones who sunk the Clinton health care plan back in 1994 by refusing to support it, they could well do the same thing to the Obama plan this year.

It's the usual divide that plagues either party when they are in power on controversial issues. The dominant wing wants to do one thing, while those more moderate members in tough districts aren't interested.

Evidence of that was easy to find on the Sunday talk shows, as Sen. Kent Conrad of North Dakota, the chairman of the Senate Budget Committee was talking about how the votes aren't there in the Senate right now to approve what the White House (and many liberals) want..

In this case, it's the more liberal wing of the Democratic Party that wants a 'public plan' - in other words - the government would set up a public health plan that would compete directly with private insurance companies.

That idea is completely unacceptable for Republicans, and for a lot of Democrats, it certainly isn't the prescription for a health reform bill that they want to vote for.

So while Republicans will do their level best to attack the Obama plan, their votes really don't matter because of the large Democratic majorities in the House and Senate.

That leaves Democrats negotiating with each other. And it might not be pretty.

We'll see this week and next just how effective their intra-party lobbying efforts are going to be. This is a fight Democrats lost 15 years ago.