Reid's at the Reins in Health-Care Battle

But the days of arm-breaking majority leaders are long gone. Rules changes in the 1970s made minority filibusters easier to achieve procedurally so long as the majority cannot muster 60 votes. Every majority leader of the past 20 years has left the chamber in some level of personal or political defeat, weakening the position's institutional grip.

Reid has compared himself to the late Mike Mansfield (Mont.), who succeeded Johnson and served as Democratic leader for 16 years, the longest tenure ever for a Senate party leader. Mansfield's soft cajoling helped lead to the 1965 passage of Medicare and Medicaid, the largest "public options" ever created in the health-care system.

Beginning next week, Reid will have to channel his inner Mansfield to smooth over the different positions of key players in the legislative fight. Many hope that Obama and his advisers will weigh in to force Democrats into some form of unity.

Competing Interests

In one corner of Reid's office will be Baucus, whose legislation was deficit-neutral, in part, by lowering subsidies for lower-income workers who are to buy insurance on a new exchange. That bill has won accolades from the roughly 15 centrist Senate Democrats who represent conservative-leaning states, many of whom Reid and Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) helped elect in 2006 and 2008. In another corner will be Schumer, once the campaign chief and now the No. 3 leader, along with Sens. Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.) and Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), who will represent the interests of the health committee.

Dodd and Harkin steered legislation through their panel with higher subsidies for workers buying insurance and a public insurance option. Their legislation also includes more stringent mandates on employers to buy worker insurance and is more closely aligned with the House drafts Pelosi is rewriting.

Reid must pull this all off while keeping one eye on Nevada. After higher-profile Republicans took a pass on challenging Reid, several GOP challengers have emerged in recent weeks with polls showing he could be the latest majority leader to suffer political humiliation.

Reid won assurance from Baucus that a tweak in Medicaid funding would not harm Nevada. It's a provision that will help his reelection campaign, but it also brought consternation from colleagues wishing for similar home-state provisions.