These efforts take money, of course, and advocate groups have put together war chests, much of it slated to go to advertising. Here are some of the spending plans outlined in a WSJ report this morning:

• A business coalition backed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other groups will allocate between $4 million and $10 million on anti-bill ads. They will be targeted against several dozen Democratic lawmakers with the message that the changes would cause job losses.
• Another anti-overhaul group, Americans for Prosperity, will use radio and TV ads in about 21 House districts, spending $350,000. It also plans rallies at lawmakers’ district offices.
• Some labor unions and progressive groups called Health Care for America Now are running $70,000 in TV ads in Washington. The ads tell Congress to “listen to us, not the insurance companies. Pass health-care reform now.”
• Seniors group AARP, a heavy spender on TV ads backing a revamp earlier, now is concentrating on contacting constituents in districts with wavering lawmakers to boost support for the bill.

Meanwhile, the health insurance industry is starting to show ads on cable TV networks aimed at blunting White House criticism of

Republicans remain opposed to the health-care revamp, whether or not the legislation bans the use of federal money for abortion. But as many as a dozen Democrats in the House – a big number in this showdown – could vote against the overhaul if it doesn’t contain stiffened abortion restrictions like what House passed in November, Rep. Bart Stupak has said.

There’s no solution to the impasse yet, but Democratic leaders are urging their fold to avoid making abortion a deal breaker. “This is not about abortion,” said Speaker Nancy Pelosi said yesterday, the Associated Press reported. “This is a bill about providing quality affordable health care for all Americans.”

But the divide remains. Actually, neither camp on the abortion issue like mild abortion restrictions that passed the Senate in December, which is supposed to serve as the basis for the final legislation.

“Abortion rights advocates have grown increasingly convinced that the language would restrict the reach of abortion coverage nearly as much as the Stupak language in the House bill passed in December,” the Washington Post said this morning. (The Stupak measure would require abortion coverage to be purchased separately to avoid using