Brian Beutler January 25, 2011, 1:59 PM

If Republicans pursue their health care repeal strategy, the Senate is set to become a political battlefield, with each side tossing grenades across the line at the other. Democrats say they’ll force votes on the popular parts of the health care law, pressing the GOP to oppose them individually. In return, Republicans vow to also break the law down and force votes on the taxes and mandates that make it unpopular.

Will anybody blink? Generally Republicans are better than Democrats at sticking together on politically uncomfortable messaging votes. But this afternoon, on his way into a weekly caucus policy lunch, Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE), who often votes with Republicans, dismissed the GOP’s push to simply repeal the unpopular stuff.

“I would hope that the other side… would have an alternative for anything that they seek to replace that’s helpful,” Nelson said. “If they want to get rid of the mandate, how do they deal with the question of adverse selection, which drives up the rates.”

Nelson, like most Democrats, acknowledged that parts of the bill should be changed and improved. But he’s also the most conservative Democrat in the Senate, facing a potentially tough reelection bid in 2012, so his critique of the GOP’s strategy suggests Dems won’t be divided in this fight.

“It’s very easy to be against everything — as a matter of fact, maybe around here right now it’s better to be against everything than it is to be for anything,” Nelson said. “On the other hand that’s not the way the system can work well for the people in the country.”

Ben Nelson, Health Care, Individual Mandate, Repealing health care