Senate Leader Harry Reid is rolling a couple of large dice on the craps table, insisting on the inclusion of the public option, government-sponsored insurance, in the Senate healthcare bill.

The question is whose political capital Reid is putting on the line, his own or President Barack Obama's.

While the public option is favored by progressives, Republican senators and some moderates have promised that including the public option would force them to oppose the legislation. Those threats have forced President Obama to back away from the public option in recent months in an effort to keep the health reform train moving.

Reid, a Democrat from Nevada, is credited with a talent any leader of a legislative body must have - the ability to count votes in the chamber. So perhaps Reid knows something that Obama doesn't. Perhaps Democrats have enough votes in the Senate to win passage of healthcare reform with the controversial public option.

Reid's plan would allow individual states to opt out of the public insurance plan.

Either way, Reid is taking a big chance by including a provision healthcare reform opponents have said would cause it to go down to defeat.

President Obama has put all of his chips on the table in pushing for healthcare legislation this early in his presidency. Harry Reid will have a political enemy for life if he loses this gamble.