Run Ensign up the mast. Don't salute. Just leave him there.

Schumer takes the floor | 12:27 p.m. Senator Schumer takes the floor to make the broad case for a public option …

A nod to Ms. Cantwell| 12:27 p.m. Mr. Schumer is giving a tutorial in why there is so little competition in the insurance marketplace. Along the way, he gives a nod to Senator Maria Cantwell, Democrat of Washington, whom he calls “the unsung hero” of the bill for her amendment on costs, which will be brought up later.

Cites the public’s will | 12:40 p.m. “Despite the massive propaganda that’s been waged against” a public option, Mr. Schumer says, 65 percent of people support it, according to a New York Times poll. “Take off the ideological blinders on both sides and let’s see what works for people,” he says. He wants to give both public and private plans a chance to work, declaring himself “agnostic.”

Update | 12:42 p.m. Senator John Ensign, Republican of Nevada, asks: If a public option is so popular, why do so many Democrats have a problem with it? The reason, he says, is that it is not popular. “Constituents are really afraid of it,” he says.

From live-blogging the debate the Senate Finance Committee meeting on the public option at the New York Times