You can barely keep all the various reports straight, so here’s a try:

• Nancy Pelosi’s whip operation to find the final eight votes needed to pass a House health care bill with a robust public option continues. Raul Grijalva set the marker by saying publicly that 210 votes within the caucus were secured. Open Left has acquired a target list denoting the votes said to be up for grabs. That target list is here. I see one problem with it, as George Miller is not in CA-42, Gary Miller is, and I’d be shocked if either George Miller, the chair of the Education and Labor Committee which passed a bill with a public option, or Gary Miller, an arch conservative, have a vote up for grabs. Chris Bowers is inviting readers to call the Capitol switchboard (1-866-220-0044) and ask the members of Congress on the target list to support a Medicare +5% public option.

• In a separate whip count, Howard Dean and Democracy for America say they have 220 votes.

• Nancy Pelosi said today she definitely has 218 votes for a health care bill, but of course that doesn’t address anything specific but a general bill called “health care.” She’s right, but it’s not entirely descriptive.

• Anthony Weiner just said today on Hardball that he could support the “opt-out” provision for states to reject the public option, but only “down the road,” presumably after citizens in those states have had a chance to sample the provision. “I’m OK with a state saying 15 or 20,000 of its citizens can’t get into the public option, I just don’t think it’s going to happen.” He firmly rejected the trigger idea, saying there already was one in the bill, since the exchanges and public option wouldn’t get up to speed for several years after passage of the bill. I just quickly asked Raul Grijalva’s office for a response, and his press person said that Grijalva is “absolutely opposed” to an opt-out provision. I should have a little more on this later.

• Sen. Jay Rockefeller is also warming to that opt-out compromise. He told reporters today, “I think there’s one way that could work very well and could pick up some of the moderates … I’m looking very much now at this opt-out public option.”

• The Senate conference tonight will reportedly have the public option as a topic for discussion. I guess they were “leaning toward talking about it,” as Harry Reid said last night.

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