Posting on what really happened in Orlando at the Florida Democratic Conference.

The most important news to come out of this conference was the unity of the delegates over a single issue. US Senator Bill Nelson found out that his Democratic base of support was united in anger over his failure to support the Public Option on health care.

Twice during the event he was greeted by chants of "Public Option, Public Option..." Perhaps the most impressive show of unity by the delegates and embarrassment by Senator Nelson came at the general session on Saturday morning. As Senator Nelson took the stage to address the delegates, he was greeted by a standing crowd of united delegates chanting "Public Option". The chant prevented Senator Nelson from speaking for almost 5 minutes. Hopefully it was a revelation to the Senator that his own political base was unanimously united against the Senator's failure to support their desire for a robust public option in the Senate Finance Committee.

The Senator then spoke in very ambiguous terms about any commitment he had to correcting his position and instead focused on the procedural aspects of getting the healthcare bill out of the Senate and into reconciliation with the House bill. He promised the delegates that the Senate will have passed their bill by Thanksgiving and that eventually the bill would meet the President's desires on health care reform. He never committed to the public option.

The message to Senator Nelson is that his actions have alienated the very people that have elected him to office. These same people that will be the driving force behind his re-election bid in 2012. This message is also one that his base will not forget his health care position by the 2012 elections when actual campaigning begins just after the 2010 elections.

Senator Nelson has a lot of repair work to do to bring his activist base back into his devoted camp. As the Senator emphasized, President Obama has stated that the success of his Presidency rests on the passage of a robust health care reform bill. The Senator had better get back in line as a bill without a public option could easily be blamed on his failure to support that in his powerful position on the Senate Finance Committee.

When the 2012 election rolls around, Florida will once again be critical for President Obama's re-election. In 2008, it was the massive voter turnout generated by the Democratic activists that turned Florida blue. It would be a shame for the Senator to be at fault in 2012 for a less than motivated base turnout due to his failure on Healthcare Reform.