Some of the most influential strategy on health care was developed not on Capitol Hill, but two miles away in what looks like an ordinary office building.

On the first floor of its D.C. headquarters, Service Employees International United has created a war room to lead labor's fight for an overhaul of the nation's health system. At its crux, the space combines SEIU's grassroots and national efforts into a unified voice for passing the bill.

A handful of televisions adorn the walls, providing round-the-clock coverage of what politicians and lobby groups are saying on health care. Researchers diligently take notes, shuffling fact-check notices to a team of communicators that is in constant contact with media and local labor activists.

Pamphlets and signs lay about from past rallies organized in the room. A few televisions point out towards a busy sidewalk, blaring speeches by the President on the need to pass health care.

If the setting seems familiar, it's because the same space was recently ground zero of SEIU's campaign for then-candidate Barack Obama. The union is using its election headquarters — and tactics — to get a health care bill passed.

"We decided that health care was our candidate," said Lori Lodes, an SEIU press handler who works in the war room.

Lodes and her two-dozen colleagues have been tasked with keeping pressure on lawmakers to pass a bill. They relay what is said on Capitol Hill to local unions and vice versa.

The war room provides collaborative space to make the tactics unions have long used much more effective, she said.

A Member of Congress may get a visit from an SEIU worker the same day that a rally is going on in the lawmaker's hometown. Together, the actions are more effective than if they occurred months apart.

The war room concept came from Dennis Rivera, a local union leader from New York who has played a central role in the health care debate. Rivera has helped reinvent how the SEIU throws its weight on the Hill after eight years of limited influence.

Much of his idea hinges on SEIU's 2.2 million members, nearly half of whom work in the health sector. They union relies on their activities to shift public momentum in favor of health care.

The union has also dropped considerable money on lobbying — $2.7 million   in 2009 — but it pales in comparison to what health bill opponents like the Chamber of Commerce spent — $144.5 million   last year. Organizers argue that labor's real power is in other numbers.

"Our whole effort is around getting members involved," Anna Burger, the union’s secretary-treasurer, said.

Those members take their advocacy cues from staff in the war room, but the space also serves as their de facto office. They use it to organize local rallies, prepare for meetings with legislators, or gather before a national event.

Last month, health care demonstrators gathered there after walking from Philadelphia to Washington, D.C. They picked up signs and red carnations before continuing towards Capitol Hill.

On Tuesday, hours before hundreds of activists marched towards a meeting of insurance company CEOs, the war room was abuzz with activity.

SEIU member Athena Jones, an uninsured home health care worker from Portsmouth, Va., has been regularly using the space for a year.

She calls herself an ambassador for her local union, tasked with sharing community concerns with legislators and reporting back what they say.

"[Lawmakers] have a tendency to always get the voice of the people who have," Jones said, adding that workers like her — the have-nots — have long been "wishing we could make a change, hoping we could make a change, but never feeling like we have the resources to do it."

The SEIU is already looking past health care at the next battle in Congress. Whether it is jobs, energy, or immigration, it appears the war room will play a part.

"There's going to be something that needs people to talk to their Members of Congress," Lodes said.

Ambreen Ali writes for Congress.org.

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