Your worst "Public Option" nightmare is about to come true.

Why?

Because Olympia Snowe - the barely-Republican Senator from Maine -  has just violated the most important rule in Politics: Never reveal to the opponent your final bargaining chip.

After saying for weeks that she opposed a Public Option for health care, Snowe now admits she would actually support the Public Option "if" enough savings aren't instituted by insurance companies, thus triggering the need for a Public Option.

This sent Liberal Senators like Chuck Schumer out onto the weekend political chat shows, talking about a "trigger" for the Public Option component of ObamaCare.  Sounds reasonable, right? If the private sector fails to deliver enough savings, then a "trigger" will kick in. Surely this is more palatable to voters, even though the Government takeover of health care is the same end result. 

But ahhh, behold the power of a new buzzword. It's like a new shiny object for the media to cling to. The word "trigger" was mentioned no fewer than 22 times on one Sunday chat show alone.

You have Maine's sweetheart, the L.L. Bean-clad, snow-slushing, Olympia Snowe to thank for that.

Game over?

That remains to be seen. It all depends upon how quickly Republicans can respond and "pull the trigger" (sorry, had to say it) in the next 24-hour news cycle. Republicans need to steer the vernacular back to the phrases "Public Option" and "socialized medicine" and "nationalized healthcare"...and steer it there soon.