Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu has emerged as an influential moderate in the national debate over health care reform — a fact made evident Saturday evening as political observers closely watched Landrieu’s cloture vote.After days of uncertainty, Landrieu ultimately cast a vote in favor of cloture for the Senate’s version of the health care bill — a key vote the Democratic Party needed to move the bill forward. Opponents back home seized on an opportunity to criticize Landrieu’s vote, with the Louisiana Republican Party expressing disappointment and the “tea party” movement mulling a shot at recalling the Democratic senator.The cloture motion passed on party lines, 60-39, with one Republican Senator not voting. Louisiana’s Republican Sen. David Vitter voted against the procedural motion. Landrieu expressed reservations about portions of the health care bill despite supporting the procedural measure to move the bill forward. Landrieu and other Democratic moderates have relayed skepticism about including a public option in a health care bill.”My vote should in no way be construed by the supporters of this current framework as an indication of how I might vote on the final bill,” Landrieu said in a statement on the floor of the Senate on Saturday. “My vote is a vote to move forward, to continue the good and essential and important and imperative work that is underway.”Landrieu was one of a handful of Senators closely watched by members of both parties and identified as a crucial swing vote. Landrieu was the second to last Democratic holdout during Saturday’s Senate debate, slightly alleviating a tense, cliff-hanger atmosphere hanging over the evening vote.The Louisiana Republican Party quickly blasted out a news release, eager to jump on the opportunity to cast Landrieu as a loyal Obama-supporting Democrat who supports “socialized medicine.””[Landrieu] could have killed the bill today, but instead she will show her true allegiance lies not with the citizens of Louisiana but with the liberal Democrats in Washington who are intent to expand the size and scope of government by bankrupting our country,” Roger Villere, chairman of the Louisiana Republican Party, said in a statement.Critics also seized on language Landrieu secured in the bill giving Louisiana $300 million in additional funding to help defer the effects of budget shortfalls.Conservative and nationally recognized news aggregator Drudge Report trumpeted a headline reading “The Louisiana Purchase — $300 million for my vote!”Landrieu was blunt about requesting the funding in her midday statement Saturday. “It is not a $100 million fix, it is a nearly $300 million fix,” she said. “I am proud to have fought for it.”But she insisted the $300 million was not the reason she ultimately voted for cloture.”The reason I am moving to the debate, as I expressed in this statement, is that the cost of health care is bankrupting families and it is bankrupting our government,” she said. “We cannot afford the status quo.”Saturday was the second weekend health care vote to attract national attention — the first coming when the House voted for its own version of Democratic-led reform, and Rep. Anh “Joseph” Cao, R-New Orleans, was the only Republican to support the bill.”The tea party movement is very disappointed in the way Sen. Landrieu handled the situation,” said Robert Gaudet, national tea party organizer and founder of the Bossier tea party organization. “She certainly didn’t vote in a way that her constituents want.”Gaudet said the movement was going to consider options to move forward Sunday night, convening meetings with their legal team to determine how to proceed with a potential recall measure against Landrieu.”Retaliation is not what we’re about — we’re about pushing things forward in the right direction,” Gaudet said. “Removing people from office through the right channels is our right.”Contact Nate Monroe at [email protected]