As the national health-care debate stalls at what President Obama is calling the "five-yard line," some activists are turning their attention to states.

Advocacy groups on both sides of the debate are helping state lawmakers introduce bills, resolutions and constitutional amendments promoting their side. But experts say those efforts may end up affecting the politics of the debate more than actual policy.

Conservatives have introduced legislation in 35 states to preemptively ban a government-imposed health care mandate. Legal experts say that effort is futile.

"If a federal mandate goes through, any state law that contradicts it will be swept aside," said Kermit Roosevelt, who teaches constitutional law at the University of Pennsylvania.

Liberals, meantime, are pushing bills to create state exchanges and public health-care options in a dozen states. But few states have the financial resources to expand health care statewide without federal support.

With election campaigns for fall already underway, some policy experts say these are more tactical.

"These may or may not actually affect the national legislation directly, but they could affect who goes to Congress after 2010," said Harvard University’s Robert Blendon, an expert on health policy.

Conservatives scored a big win Monday when Virginia passed a measure to ban health care mandates. The American Legislative Exchange Council, a national group that favors federalism, helped draft the legislation.

"The aim is to stop a Massachusetts-style health reform from penetrating other states," spokeswoman Christy Guerrera said.

ALEC sought legal counsel in drafting the bills for Virginia and other states. Guerrera insists that state rights could prevail in a legal battle.

"We wouldn't have gone through all this effort if we didn't think it was a winnable case," she said.

State Sen. Jane Cunningham introduced the amendment in Missouri because she says it gives people the choice over their health care.

"It is an expansion of our choices," the Republican said. "I don't want the government telling me what to do."

Meanwhile, the Progressive States Network has been aiding lawmakers from the other side. With the group's help, Democrats have offered a flurry of bills to kick-start health care while lawmakers in D.C. continue negotiations.

Iowa and Vermont are considering statewide exchanges similar to the public option in the House bill. California's state Senate has approved a universal health care act.

Even Texas is seeing a push for changes to the state health system.

"We'll continue to go as far as we can," said state Rep. Garnet Coleman, a Democrat, who is pushing for an expansion of Medicaid in his home state. "In Texas, it's a tough row to hoe.”

Though Coleman and his peers in the Progressive States Network are pushing state bills, they prefer national action.

"These [bills] are happening not as an alternative, but as a way to say we need to move this forward," said spokesman Nathan Newman.

Ambreen Ali writes for Congress.org.