Gov. Howard Dean on MSNBC:

"The biggest time bomb in the short run is the Public Option. Without a Public option, basically the activists of the Democratic party sit on their hands in 2010. Obama is not on the ballot. There's no reason to go out and vote for a Democratic Congressman or give them any money if they can't pass a healthcare bill that's worth anything. And that's a huge problem for the Democrats if its not in there and so it looks like some of the, a few of the folks aren't going to let it in there. [snip] [The Public Option] has been watered down, it's about as as watered down as it can get and still be a real bill. So there's not a lot left in this bill. For example, there's really no insurance reform in this bill. [snip] I think Sanders has got the right idea. You might as well kill this thing because the people are going to be furious if it passes if it doesn't have a Public option."

Also, over at HuffPo and via TomP at dKos, Howard Dean makes a few points that some who are willing to pass a crappy bill are ignoring:

Dean continues:

"So this is really tough. I didn't anticipate being in this
position. I thought it would pass. Maybe Harry has some magic up his
sleeve. But I don't see how he gets those four votes [Sens.
Joseph Lieberman (Conn.), Mary Landrieu (La.), Blanche Lincoln (Ark.)
and Ben Nelson (Neb.)] without compromising the bill," Dean concluded.

Huffington Post

So we can kiss the already weakened public option good-bye. It's
going to be a mediocre or shitty bill, but probably an improvement to
what we have now.  That's my view, not necessarily Gov. Dean's view.

But Gov. Dean does identify the real future:

"If you have members refusing to vote for Reid on procedural issues you will have a revolt in the party," Dean said. "What is the point of having a 60-vote margin? This
is going to be death for the [Democratic Congressional Campaign
Committee] and the [Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee]. Why
would anyone donate to them if they're supporting candidates who defeat
the Democratic agenda?"