Grass-roots groups must test President Obama's mettle on health care reform

WASHINGTON - As the White House launches its bid to reform health care, the big questions bedeviling the activist base of the Democratic Party are how and when to nudge President Obama to the left on key issues.

The recent three-day conference of the Campaign for America's Future - an amalgamation of hundreds of unions, advocacy groups, student organizations, liberal think tanks and anti-war organizations whose turnout helped elect Democrats from coast to coast - featured a vow to get behind Obama's push to reform health care this year.