"Where's The Train Wreck?"
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President Obama said Democrats should run on Obamacare. So, will they? "The last seven days have been the best seven days for the Affordable Care Act in quite some time -- and maybe ever....Amid a (rare) victory lap on the law, Obama was asked whether the news of the past week meant Democratic candidates should run on the law this fall rather than away from it. His answer? 'I think Democrats should forcefully defend and be proud of the fact....we're helping because of something we did.' So, should Democrats listen?...'If you voted for Obamacare, you need to defend it and sell it,' said Steve Elmendorf, a longtime Democratic Capitol Hill operative and now a lobbyist in D.C. 'Running away won't work and being defensive [is] a bad idea. Sell it and sell it hard.'" Chris Cillizza in The Washington Post.
This Democrat's take on Obamacare suggests the answer is no. "As the daughter of powerful former Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Sam Nunn, Michelle Nunn is hardly a political outsider. But she's trying to aggressively distance herself from the nation's capital in her campaign's second ad."Andrea Drusch in National Journal.
One exception: This Democrat loves Obamacare, and she wants you to know. "The first 17 words out of Rep. Allyson Schwartz's mouth in her new TV ad don't sound anything like what you'd expect to hear a typical 2014 Democratic candidate say: 'I worked with President Obama on the Affordable Care Act and getting health coverage to all Americans.' Of course, Schwartz is not running in a typical race. She's running for governor of Pennsylvania in a contested Democratic primary. While in most races the ad would be a head-scratcher, in her race, cozying up to the president and emphasizing her support for the law could help....Don't expect to see Democrats lean into Obamacare as much as Schwartz is in her new ad. What may work in a race-to-the-left gubernatorial primary is still politically untenable in of the competitive races for Congress." Sean Sullivan in The Washington Post.
Most voters have already made up their minds on Obamacare. "Are there any voters left who haven't made up their minds about the Affordable Care Act? Not many, but Democrats are counting on a few at the margins to come their way. Tracking polls by the Kaiser Family Foundation suggest that support for and opposition to the law have remained about the same over the last six months, even as the law's impact began to be felt in people's lives, for better and worse. But there remains a narrow band of voters whose attitude toward the law and whose political allegiance may still be up for grabs: Voters who don't like the law but don't want it repealed." Janet Hook in The Wall Street Journal.
And one good example of why the elections, in return, matter to Obamacare. "Republicans are taking no chances when it comes to Obamacare's Medicaid expansion. They're closing every possible door. Under bills passed in Georgia and Kansas recently, even if a Democratic candidate were to pull off an upset and take the governor's seat, they would not be able to expand the program without the consent of the state legislature -- which will almost certainly remain Republican. In other words, GOP lawmakers have taken steps to guarantee that many of their poorest residents will remain uninsured under the health care reform law, no matter what happens in the gubernatorial election." Dylan Scott in Talking Points Memo.
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