Mark Warner: Leader of the `Radical Centrists'?

If he wins a U.S. Senate seat this fall, Democrat Mark Warner says, he plans to form a group of 8 to 12 moderates from both political parties to craft bipartisan solutions on tough issues like health care reform.

His name for the group? The ``Radical Centrists.''

Our take on the name? Sounds like a rock band.

But Warner, who steered a middle course as governor of a conservative ``red'' state, stressed his eagerness to find common ground as he spoke to a friendly crowd of health-care advocates in Washington on Thursday.

``Health care reform should not be a partisan issue," he said.

While stopping short of proposing specific reforms, Warner outlined a handful of broad principles that he said should guide any overhaul of American health care.

Bemoaning the 47 million Americans who lack health insurance, Warner called for universal coverage, while declining to endorse a single-payer system. He called for encouraging businesses to pool their coverage and said he would not rule out a government mandate to purchase health insurance if pooling proved insuffient.

He also called for global trade talks to ``rationalize" drug costs that are now borne disporportionately by Americans. Drugs sold overseas are often cheaper because the research and development costs of drug companies are paid only by Americans.

And Warner called for developing a new way to finance long-term health care, warning that Medicaid could bankrupt every state in the nation by 2025 if current trends continue.

Warner, who left office in 2006 with high approval ratings, is heavily favored to win the Senate seat being vacated by Republican Sen. John Warner. The likely Republican nominee is former Gov. Jim Gilmore.

Warner didn't bother correcting his host at the forum Thursday when Ron Pollack, executive director of Families USA, urged the audience to ``give a warm welcome to Senator Mark Warner."

Asked later whether a correction was in order, Warner brushed off the question, saying, ``I'm campaigning six days a week."

Then the leader of the Radical Centrists got into a waiting car with a smile on his face.