By Carl Weiser
Enquirer Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON - Seniors and taxpayer groups, get your phones out.

The Tristate's delegation will play a pivotal role in determining whether the House passes a bill that reforms Medicare and provides a long-awaited prescription drug benefit. The vote could come by this weekend.

By all accounts, it will be a close vote - possibly as close as the 216-215 vote in June that approved an earlier House version of the bill.

Most members will vote with their party. It's the potential switchers and waverers who control the final decision.

Who's critical:

• Rep. Ken Lucas. The conservative Northern Kentucky Democrat voted with the Republicans in June, giving them their victory. He was watching the Bengals-Chiefs football game Sunday afternoon when the Bush administration called to let him know the Medicare bill had been finalized - and asked for his support.

"I am keeping my options open," he said Tuesday.

He said constituents have told him moving tales about their troubles getting affordable prescription drugs. But he is miffed at the way Democrats were excluded from the crafting of the final version. His party's leader, Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California, called the bill a partisan backroom deal that would be disastrous for seniors.

"Every decision we make - they're not black and white. They're shades of gray," he said.

• Rep. Mike Pence. The conservative Republican who represents northern Dearborn County voted against the earlier House version of the Medicare bill. On Tuesday, he became one of the first lawmakers to desert his party on the final bill, saying it has the same problems: It would be too expensive, cover too many seniors and usher in socialized medicine.

"While the need for some type of benefit is real, the need for a universal benefit is not," he said. "At present, 76 percent of seniors have some form of prescription drug coverage, and the average senior spends less than $999 per year in out-of-pocket expenses on medications."

• Rep. Baron Hill. The Indiana Democrat, along with Lucas, is part of the "Blue Dog" coalition of conservative Democrats. He's leaning against the bill, said his spokesman, Stefan Bailey.

Hill, who represents southern Dearborn County, is worried about privatizing Medicare and about the way prescription drug coverage would be structured under the bill. It would help seniors with low drug costs and high drug costs but not with medium costs, leaving a "doughnut hole," Bailey said.

• Rep. Rob Portman. The House leadership's liaison to the White House, Portman is no toss-up. It's his job to get this bill passed, and he acknowledged Tuesday that he is feeling considerable pressure.

"We're making some progress," he said Tuesday afternoon. "It will be another close vote."

President Bush will be calling wavering House members from England. Vice President Dick Cheney will be lobbying, and White House chief of staff Andy Card dropped out of the England trip to lobby, Portman said.

If the bill dies in the Senate because of a Democrat filibuster, the public will understand the Democrats killed the bill, he said. But if it dies in the House because Republicans deserted it, "that could be a political concern," he said.

• Rep. Steve Chabot. A conservative Republican from Cincinnati's west side, Chabot is undecided on the Medicare bill, according to his spokesman Brian Griffith.

He recently joined conservatives - against administration wishes - in trying to turn taxpayer grants to Iraq into loans. But he supported the Republican leadership's version of the Medicare bill in June. "I think he's going to be fine," Portman said Tuesday.

E-mail cweiser@gns.gannett.com