This week will bring the much-anticipated vote in the House of Representatives on whether to repeal President Barack Obama’s health care law. It is a vote that needs to happen—but it’s what comes after the vote that Republicans need to be ready to answer.

As a political matter, this week’s vote is clear-cut. It puts on the spot a host of Democrats who ran against Obama’s law, distanced themselves from their party’s anti-economic-growth legislation, and declared their independence from former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA). Will they keep their word and break with their party, or stay loyal and risk the wrath of voters in 2012?