The "community health insurance option" that U.S. Senator Kay Hagan voted for in a Senate Health Committee bill is what Senate leader Harry Reid is putting into his heath care bill, Hagan said Tuesday.

Hagan, a first-term Democrat, said she cannot commit to voting for a bill she hasn't seen, but said she would vote for a government-backed insurance plan she's already supported in committee, Lynn Bonner reports.  She would also support an opt-out provision for the states.

Though she is not yet ready to promise to vote for the health insurance bill, Hagan said in a conference call with reporters Tuesday that she is committed to working with her colleagues to expand the ranks of the insured in a way that "would not add one time to our federal deficit."

U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan will be featured in a conference call today with U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.

The call, for the benefit of reporters who cover Washington from around the country, is meant to discuss a new HHS report on rural health care, Barb Barrett reports.

Given the public debate on health reform, it’s also certain to push the Obama administration’s points for why health reform is needed.

Hagan, of Greensboro, is one of the moderate Democrats who have been closely watched in the Senate this year for clues on how she’ll vote.

Her spokesman, Dave Hoffman, pointed out this morning that Hagan is one of a few senators who already cast a vote on reform; she voted "yes" for the version that went through the Senate health committee last summer.

But Hagan repeatedly said she was going to wait for the Senate finance committee’s version of the bill, which included details on paying for health reform.

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Gov. Beverly Perdue says there's a good reason why she didn't join most of the nation's other Democratic governors in signing a letter supporting health care reform.

Perdue says she was too busy with an economic development trip to consider the letter.

The letter was assembled by the Senate Majority Leader and the Democratic Governors Association, Talking Points Memo reports.

It's a standard letter addressed to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Speaker [Nancy] Pelosi and Minority Leader Boehner, telling them states "will only achieve the health care security and stability they need if we succeed in working together with the Congress and the President to achieve health care reform."

Perdue was one of six Democratic governors who did not sign the letter. Talking Points Memo and some bloggers have read the missing signatures as a sign of how tough the health care battle is.

In North Carolina's case, that may be overstating things. Perdue was given a copy of the letter Wednesday between meetings, Perdue spokeswoman Chrissy Pearson said.

"She didn't feel she had enough time to give it due consideration," Pearson said. "Her focus that day was the trip to New York City. It was a very grueling schedule."

Pearson said Perdue agrees with the points made in the letter.

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Democratic U.S. Rep. Bob Etheridge said today that he is giving some thought to running against Republican Sen. Richard Burr next year.

Etheridge, a Lillington Democrat, said he has been courted by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee as a potential candidate, reports Rob Christensen.

“I’m evaluating it,” Etheridge said during a meeting Wednesday with reporters and editors at The News & Observer.

Etheridge said he met recently with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, and had discussions with family members and a few key supporters. Etheridge said he hoped to make a decision by September.

The backing of the DSCC is important because Senate races have become nationalized. The DSCC spent at least $10 million on behalf of Democrat Kay Hagan last year, playing a pivotal role in her defeat of Republican Sen. Elizabeth Dole.

Etheridge said it was a particularly difficult decision because he is the first Tar Heel in 56 years to serve as a member of the influential House Ways and Means Committee.

Read more after the jump.

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Sen. Kay Hagan this morning told critics to "stay tuned" to the health care debate in Washington.

Hagan, a Democrat, talked to reporters after a visit to Charlotte's Shelter Health Services, a free clinic that provides medical services to residents of an adjacent shelter for homless women and children. Some in her own party have criticized her for appearing to take a so-called "public option" in health care reform off the table, the Charlotte Observer's Jim Morrill reports.

Many, including Democratic leaders such as Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada and Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts, have put forward what's known as a "public option" provider, a federally run insurer. Hagan told the Greensboro News & Record this week that a federally run insurance program could cause companies to drop their private insurance plans and destabilize the insurance market.

"We haven’t taken a 'public option' off the table," she told reporters today. She said it depends on what that means. A member of a key Senate health committee, she said she’s working with colleagues to find a way to expand coverage, ensure quality of care and be fiscally accountable.

Critics, she said, "need to stay tuned." "People are so centered on the word 'public'," she said. "And it really depends on what’s (involved) in that."

As U.S. Sen. Richard Burr paced the Senate floor Tuesday afternoon, the clerk counted up the votes for his legislation to regulate tobacco someplace other than the Food and Drug Administration.

In the end, his substitute amendment — co-sponsored by U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan — lost by a 36-60 vote, Barb Barrett reports.

The Senate is poised to vote Wednesday on another tobacco-related bill -- sweeping legislation that would allow the FDA to regulate tobacco, allowing the agency to restrict nicotine and imposing new rules on advertising.

Burr, a Republican, and Hagan, a Democrat, have worked for the past week to delay or derail the FDA regulation bill.

Their amendment would have instead created a new agency to regulate tobacco, with fewer restrictions than the underlying bill.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid allowed a vote on the Burr/Hagan substitute amendment, but it was never expected to pass.

Burr, of Winston-Salem, and Hagan, of Greensboro, both hail from cities with their own tobacco companies. North Carolina is the top tobacco-growing state in the country. 

* Clare Giesen, head of the National Women's Political Caucus, will speak to members of the N.C. chapter in Charlotte on Feb. 26.

* Sen. Steve Goss now says he was inspired to write a blog libel bill after reading about the cyberbullying conviction of a Missouri woman.

* Sen. Harry Reid's spokesman says Rep. Heath Shuler's criticism about his "failed" bipartisanship comes from a guy who threw too many interceptions. 

* Recount finds transfer tax failed by just 35 votes in Avery County, the latest in a string of defeats for counties looking for an alternative.

Republican Sen. Richard Burr says Democrat Roland Burris ought to be seated in the U.S. Senate.

The Illinois Supreme Court today ruled that the Illinois Secretary of State does not need to sign off on Burris’ appointment to replace Barack Obama in the Senate, Barb Barrett reports.

"Given today’s decision by the Illinois Supreme Court, Roland Burris should be seated as a United States Senator as expeditiously as possible," Burr said.

Burris was appointed by embattled Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who was arrested last month on suspicion of trying to sell his appointment to the highest bidder. When Burris showed up to the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday for swearing-in, he was rebuffed by officials who said his paperwork lacked the proper signatures.

Democrats had said they would not seat anyone appointed by the governor, but since Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has seemed more open to the idea.

The state Supreme Court's decision came on the same day that the Illinois state House of Representatives impeached Blagojevich. His case now goes to the state Senate.

John McCain is buying air time in North Carolina.

The Republican presidential candidate had not previously aired TV ads specifically here, although North Carolinians had seen other ads on national cable shows.

Following earlier attacks on the Democratic candidate as a "celebrity," the ad shows footage of Barack Obama's Berlin speech.

"Take away the crowds, the chants — all that's left are costly words," a female narrator says. "Barack Obama and out-of-touch Congressional leaders have expensive plans, billions in new government spending, years of deficits, no balanced budgets and painful tax increases on working American families."

The ad then shows pictures of Obama and U.S. Sens. Chris Dodd of Connecticut, Harry Reid of Nevada, Patrick Leahy of Vermont and Chuck Schumer of New York.

The choice of "Congressional leaders" is interesting. Dodd is a former Democratic presidential candidate, Reid is the Senate Majority Leader, Leahy an antagonist of Vice President Dick Cheney and Schumer is heading the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.

Still, these are faces better known to Washington insiders — Dome and his colleagues had to play the ad three times to name them all — and Reid is shown twice. None are running for re-election this year and the ad is not running in any of their states.

In days gone by, Republicans would have linked Obama to Ted Kennedy, though his cancer may have made him too sympathetic to serve that purpose. Still, the absence of Hillary Clinton or Nancy Pelosi is worth pondering.

With North Carolina in play, will John Edwards endorse?

Earlier, state political commentators argued that the former Democratic presidential candidate had waited too long to make an endorsement of either Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton.

Now it looks like he may have strengthened his hand.

Time's Mark Halperin included Edwards on a list of 13 prominent Democrats who could call for Clinton to drop out of the race and have an effect on the media and other Democrats (if not Clinton).

Edwards was No. 3, right after Al Gore and Jimmy Carter, and above Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid.

As a former North Carolina senator, an Edwards endorsement would carry some weight here, though it would be unlikely to be as important as the national media may make it out to be. 

For his part, Edwards has not made any moves that would indicate that he intends to endorse either candidate until the dust settles, though he recently began working with a group attacking Republican John McCain.