As House Democratic leaders advised their members Friday to prepare for a legislative battle over health care that could stretch through next weekend, four additional rank-and-file Democrats have come out against the Obama administration’s signature domestic priority.

…Proponents of the health care plan need 216 votes in order to pass the Senate plan. As of Friday, no Republicans said they would vote in favor of the bill, which would mean Democratic leaders must rely solely on votes from its own members. Democrats currently hold 253 House seats. Of the 39 Democrats who voted against the House plan in November, 14 indicated they would vote against the Senate plan as written, 12 remained uncommitted, and 11 have not returned repeated calls from CNN. One member, Parker Griffith of Alabama, became a Republican in December. An additional member, Rep. Eric Massa of New York, resigned his seat on Monday. Two top Republican vote counters, Sen. Minority Whip Jon Kyl and House Minority Whip Eric Cantor, released a memo Wednesday which acknowledged that a relatively small number of Democrats hold a tremendous amount of sway on the issue. “We believe House passage of the Senate’s health care bill will ultimately be decided by the 37 remaining House Democrats who voted NO to a…

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More Democrats come out against health care bill

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