Opponents of the House health-care bill and Democrat leaders are competing for about a dozen moderate Democrat votes as lobbyists are descending on Capitol Hill in a last-minute rush to sway Saturday’s vote.

Some conservative Democrats oppose the bill, demanding leaders insert strong prohibitions against federal dollars paying for abortions.  Democrat leaders said they were close to resolving the issue.  If so, Democrats could gain enough support to pass their bill.

“This is not over by a long shot,” said one lobbyist opposing the bill.  He said his group was targeting 15 undecided Democrats, needing at least 10 to defeat the bill.

When asked if Democrats had enough votes to pass their overhaul bill, Rules Committee Chairwoman Louise Slaughter (D-NY) said, "We're there.”  However, most leading House Democrats said they were “close” and urged their colleagues to remain cautious.

"You don't want to roll the dice on this. We're not going to go to the floor if we're not there," said Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), who serves as special assistant to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA). "We're in shooting distance. But I don't know what range you use," he said.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) sent a note to his colleagues, warning them of weekend work. “Members are advised that on Saturday, November 7, 2009, the House will meet at 9:00 a.m. for legislative business and votes could occur as early as 9:00 a.m."

"Members are also advised that close votes are expected throughout the weekend,” it said.

Rep. Slaughter said that after the House convenes Saturday morning, lawmakers will debate, hold procedural votes and, if Democrat leadership has enough support, hold a final vote Saturday evening. If Speaker Pelosi fails to persuade enough Democrats, she will push the vote back.

Publicly, Speaker Pelosi said she is confident the House will vote Saturday night, though she is short of declaring victory. Other Democrats have struck a similar tone. 

"I feel very confident that we're there and tomorrow evening, we'll be celebrating a great victory," said Rep. John Larson (D-CT), chairman of the House Democratic Caucus.

Meanwhile, Republicans and lobbying groups are applying every last bit of pressure on undecided Democrats to sink the bill.

"It fails to reduce the growth in healthcare costs and health insurance and threatens to hamper the economic recovery. Please vote no," said a letter to lawmakers from the Small Business Coalition for Affordable Health Care, a collection of a few dozen business trade groups.

Unsurprisingly, top health insurance company group America’s Health Insurance Plans opposed the bill and sent a letter to Congress asking lawmakers to “consider alternative approaches to health care reform that do not increase costs or disrupt the coverage on which millions of Americans currently rely.”

Republicans used Friday’s poor employment report to make their case against the Democrats’ bill.

“At 10.2% unemployment, now is not the time to launch a massive, new government-run insurance plan and pay for it on the backs of working families, small businesses and family farms,”  said House Republican Conference Chairman Mike Pence (R-IN).

Friday afternoon, Rep. Bill Owens (D-NY), the House’s newest member, was sworn in.  It took about an hour for Republicans to hit Owens on his support for the Democrats’ bill.  In a release entitled “Promises Made, Promises Broken,” Republicans said “During his campaign for Congress, Mr. Owens assured voters that he felt the public option had no place in the health care reform bill.  Contrary to that position, Mr. Owens now indicates that he intends to vote in favor of the bill even though it now contains a public option.” - a harsh, expected welcome to Capitol Hill.