Standing strong to keep the choice of a public option in any health care reform that emerges from Congress is a full-time, multi-level job. So, hats off to all of you that have called, written to, blogged about, and asked questions of your US Representatives. And a special ten-gallon hat tip to folks at Blue Jersey, Illinois Progress, Calitics, Ohio Daily, and Buckeye State Blog for their work. We noticed. Roll Call noticed. And, yes, you’re seeing it right, Captain B.J. Honeycutt (Hunnicut? Hunnicutt?) noticed, too:

Well, looks like the debate over that public option thing is over.

“M*A*S*H” actor Mike Farrell — who isn’t a doctor, but played one on TV — weighs in on the health care battle in new television advertisements, arguing that “real health care reform … will not happen without the public option.”

“Now, that’s just a fact,” he says in the ads, produced by progressive groups Brave New Films and Firedoglake. “And it’s only because of the hard work of true grass-roots activists that the public option is still alive.”

Whatever you say, Capt. B.J. Hunnicutt.

The videos will be aired in selected states, with Farrell thanking 11 Democrats who have pledged not to vote for a bill without the public option. . . .

OK, I bet actor and activist Mike Farrell is a wee bit tired of always being tied to a roll he played in the previous millennium, but he was a doctor! On TV! And, most importantly, Mike has been on the front lines of many a progressive fight, the battle for quality affordable health care right up there among them.

Farrell thought it worth his time to thank all of you who are working so hard on behalf of the public option House whip effort—and folks on Capitol Hill took notice. Everybody else can take a little notice, too. Click on through to those state blogs and admire the effort—but just for a moment—then, back to work. . . choppers incoming!