Sen. Mike Enzi is being discovered for the first time by many in Washington, D.C., including other members of Congress.

Enzi, R-Wyo., has kept a relatively low profile in Washington, dodging national media and maintaining a quiet, studious demeanor while still producing important legislation.

Several months ago, though, the senator was thrust into the national spotlight as one of the "Gang of Six" - three Republican senators and three Democratic senators on the Senate Finance Committee who might hold the key to bipartisan health care reform.

Though the former Gillette mayor and state legislator is well known in Wyoming, many in Washington didn't know who he was before a major push for comprehensive health care reform began, said Rep. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo.

"Members of the House wouldn't know him if they passed him in the halls," Lummis said. "They know him now."

Wyoming's senior U.S. senator of almost 13 years is playing perhaps one of the most pivotal roles in Congress on one of the most significant pieces of legislation in decades.

Many, including The New York Times, Washington Post and countless political blog junkies, want to know how this quiet, conservative senator from the least-populated state received his spot on the "gang" and smack dab in the middle of a debate that will affect every American.

More importantly, they want to know what Enzi plans to do with his power.

Enzi who?

For Enzi, the first question is easy.

"I'm the ranking member on the Health Education, Labor and pensions committee. I'm on the Finance Committee. I'm on the budget committee," Enzi said in an interview with the Star-Tribune. "I'm the only one that's on all three and rural America has just as big of stake in this as anybody else, and it's all personal."

When asked if anything personal drives him, Enzi simply states all the time he has spent working on this over past four or five years.

Others around him and the issue say there is more to Enzi's importance in the debate.

One of his colleagues on the "Gang of Six," Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said his background as an accountant shines in many of their conversations.

Enzi also has experience running a small business as a shoe store owner in Gillette, said Dr. Eric Wedell, governor of Wyoming's chapter of the American College of Physicians.

"He knows personally the squeezes small business owners are put under when trying to provide health care for their employees, and sometimes they can't," Wedell said.

Enzi said he is also one of "the gang" because of his track record for working across party lines.

He provided the Casper Rotary Club with an example Monday: A committee passes an average of three bills a year. In the two years, Enzi was chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, he and Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., had 27 bills signed. Then, when Kennedy took over as chairman, the committee passed 14 bills before Kennedy became sick.

"You got to know Sen. Kennedy is the third most liberal senator in the in the United States Senate and this is last year's rating," Enzi said citing the nonpartisan National Journal. "I am tied for the most conservative in the United States Senate."

Lummis said Enzi also has the experience of having a sick family member. The senator's wife, Diana, was diagnosed with colon cancer in 2006.

"He can really speak from the voice of a caregiver," Lummis said.

However, some people are unsure whether he is speaking with the country's best interest at heart.

His true intentions?

The second question is more difficult for analysts and stakeholders to assess, especially given the quiet demeanor Enzi has maintained despite the spotlight and the absence of an actual Finance Committee bill.

Bloggers have accused Enzi of "hijacking" health care reform, and other critics have said he has been bought by the insurance companies just to obstruct the whole process.

About one-fifth of his campaign contributions come from the health care sector, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

Since 2005, Enzi has received $423,000 out of $2.17 million from the health care industry, including pharmaceuticals, insurance companies and health professionals.

"Honestly, he does not pay much attention to who gives him money," said Enzi's press secretary, Elly Pickett.

Three of the other senators in the "Gang of Six" receive more money from the health care sector than Enzi, according to the center.

Enzi mentioned the hijacking comments in Monday's speech in Casper.

"Well, all I've done is slow it down so we can get it right," Enzi said.

A comprehensive health care reform bill is too massive to be rushed, he said, and colleagues such as Grassley agree with him.

Ron Pollack, executive director of the national consumer group Families USA, is on the fence about Enzi's true intentions.

Enzi "has attended numerous meetings and expressed real interest in those conversations," Pollack said. "But it's not yet real clear whether he is doing that in an effort to try to achieve bipartisanship or whether it's an effort that is ultimately designed to delay the process.My hope is that the senator is really sincerely trying to find a way to achieve a bipartisan agreement."

It has been difficult to read the senator, Pollack said. At a discussion with the Finance Committee, Pollack said all the senators spoke up about certain areas, but Enzi did not.

"He has really kept his counsel to himself and his staff," Pollack said.

The past few weeks Enzi has tried to make his position heard loud and clear during a 5,000-mile tour of Wyoming. His stops in Casper were not exactly town hall meetings like many of his colleagues held - the question and answer portion was very limited - but Enzi said he still collected many ideas.

Since the beginning of the debate, Enzi has stressed the country needs health care reform now.

"I do want health care reform," Enzi said. "I've been working on it for four years. I don't want to leave the table with nothing."

He has also maintained a public, government-run option will not work. Many Democrats, including the president, have touted this as the answer to reform but lessened that stance last week.

"Gang of Six" members' agreed to avoid discussion of a public option.

Enzi supports cooperatives proposed by Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., which are similar to small business health plans Enzi proposed several years ago.

However, not much has been said as to how these cooperatives would work other than that they would allow small businesses or even individuals to band together to negotiate lower insurance costs.

Enzi said the "devil is in the details" to ensure these cooperatives actually lower costs and do not turn into a government-run option. Those details have not been worked out yet.

Other issues about which Enzi remains insistent include not lowering Medicare reimbursements to fund reform and not expanding the Medicaid program.

He has also tried to promote rural differences and ensure everyone has coverage, including those with pre-existing conditions.

Dennis Ellis, executive director of the Wyoming Medical Society, said Enzi is making a "good faith effort," and he understands how hard it can be to find agreement on health care.

The senator has held meetings with employees of Wyoming AARP whenever they are in Washington, D.C., said president Tim Summers.

"He's got a vested interest and wants to see it happen," Summers said. "He's very sincere about that. We have a great deal of hope that a bipartisan solution is possible and Sen. Enzi is at the heart of it all."

Though he sees how hard Enzi works, Summers also said it is too early to tell how Enzi is actually doing without seeing a bill.

How is he handling power?

Some people, like Larry Hunter, president of the conservative Social Security Institute, hope Enzi is not "drinking the Kool-Aid" and buying into the Democrats' plans. He would like the Republican senators to table discussions on reform for a bit.

And with the president calling regularly saying, "I need you, Mike," Hunter said this could be difficult Enzi.

Enzi said he has had more invitations to the White House for small-group meetings from President Barack Obama than any other president he has worked under.

The senator is most likely receiving many phone calls from his own party as well.

"I suspect the senator is under immense pressure from the leadership in his Republican caucus to reject any health care reform proposal," Pollack said. "Because I think the Republican leadership in the House and Senate have felt that rejecting any form of health care reform will serve their political interest. I don't think it serves the American public's interest."

Enzi and other Republicans have "kind of stymied" funding of health care reform efforts, Wedell said. They want no new taxes and are being too careful, which Wedell disagrees with.

Grassley said his colleague has handled the pressure by continuing to represent Wyoming efforts every time Enzi comes to the table to talk.

"He's not obstructive," Grassley said. "Why would you sit for four hours a day, five days a week talking to colleagues about a compromise and be stalling? You've got more important things to do."

Is he the last hope?

The "Gang of Six" has the important task of possibly being the last chance for bipartisan health care reform.

"If the efforts at compromise in the Senate Finance fail, there will not be a bipartisan bill," Ellis said.

Enzi and other Republicans have said the bill that came from the Senate HELP Committee is not bipartisan, though the president and others claimed it was.

He has remained in constant contact with the other five senators while in Wyoming. He was on the phone with Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., on Wednesday and dialed in for a conference call with the group Thursday morning.

Though he is less positive than he was several months ago, Enzi said he still thinks they can achieve bipartisan reform. It might need to done in parts instead of one main comprehensive bill, however.

"We can do it, if we have enough time to work on it," Enzi said. "We're working through this period by telephone and some conference calls to try and finish up as much as we can, but we're still a long way from being done."

Enzi is fearful of Obama's Sept. 15 deadline.

"I'm afraid he might pull the rug out from under us at the point and just go ahead with the partisan bill," Enzi said. "If he's been doing the same kind of vote counting I am, he's going to have trouble with that."

Grassley said they will have to wait until after the recess, which ends Sept. 7., to see what is possible.

"I think we're going through a period of reassessment now because of the town meetings you see on television with people telling us their opinions," Grassley said.

Even with the criticisms, looming deadlines and possibility of failure, many people still have faith in the senator.

"He has a level of security and confidence to advocate for his principles without doubting the workability of those principle," Lummis said. "He has handled it like a pro. No one in this debate is more prepared than Mike Enzi."

Maybe all those years of dodging national media and studying health care quietly might lead the little known senator from frontier Wyoming to help accomplish what no one has been able to so far - a solution to health care most everyone can agree on.

Contact health reporter Allison Rupp at (307) 266-0534 or allison.rupp@trib.com.