Among those concerns is a score by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) which Schreiber said “has indicated that this bill does nothing to rein in the cost of health care.”

A recent CBO score showed that a House bill that includes a public option would actually reduce the deficit over ten years. This score, however, was merely a preliminary score and is not considered “official.”

Teague, Schreiber said, “is worried that the direction we are going in right now only ensures that the big health insurance companies get another trillion dollars of taxpayer money to fight over.”

But Mary Rickles, a spokeswoman for DFA, told NMI in an e-mail that “Teague was put on our whip count list this summer, meaning someone on the DFA staff called his office to confirm an earlier report from a DFA member (we had asked our members to call their Reps/Senators and then we confirmed the yesses).”

Rickles said simply, “Shorter: We think he will vote for a public option.”

Teague already made one vote which was considered controversial, a vote for the American Clean Energy and Security (ACES) Act of 2009. Former U.S. Congressman Steve Pearce cited the bill, which included a cap-and-trade provision, as a reason for him to enter the 2nd Congressional District race.

In a statement announcing his candidacy, Pearce said, “Harry Teague put his allegiance to the liberal leadership of Nancy Pelosi ahead of the working families of New Mexico.”