Obama Sharpens Health Care Message
At a fundraiser, President Barack Obama stepped up charges against the GOP, saying the party's policies will keep Americans uninsured. Also in the news, a Democrat in West Virginia wins a special gubernatorial election, in spite of Republican efforts to tie him to Obama and the new health law.
Politico: Obama Adds Bite To Health Care Message
President Obama has been putting a sharper edge on his health care argument for 2012, accusing Republicans of wanting to strip away health insurance from 30 million Americans. The president has long defended the Affordable Care Act as a law that will bring health insurance coverage to millions of previously uninsured Americans. Obama delivered a more aggressive version of that message during a Dallas fundraiser Tuesday afternoon, saying of the GOP: "We thought that one of the problems that we were facing in health care was that we have 30 million people uninsured; they're now running on the idea of making sure that 30 million people don't have health insurance" (Burns, 10/5).
Politico: Democrat Earl Ray Tomblin Wins West Virginia Special Election
Democrat Earl Ray Tomblin beat back a torrent of late Republican attacks linking him to President Obama to win the West Virginia governorship Tuesday night. … Maloney fought back from what was once a 30-point race to narrow the contest to a near draw, with the help of nearly $3.5 million in television ads from the Republican Governors Association. The onslaught of commercials — including the final salvo linking Tomblin to "Obamacare" — clearly did damage to Tomblin's image, but did not prove to be the death blow that some Democrats had feared. Overall, Republicans outspent Democrats 2-to-1 on the race, including candidates and committees (Cantanese, 10/5).
The Associated Press: W.Va. Issues Trump Obama in Gov's Race, But Barely
Democrat Earl Ray Tomblin edged a Republican newcomer in West Virginia's special election for governor, suggesting the state's recent economic gains mattered more to voters here than an unpopular sitting president of the same party — barely. But the barrage of attack ads targeting Tomblin, the acting governor, likely tightened his race with businessman Bill Maloney in the final weeks...Maloney and the Republican Governors Association hammered the acting governor with TV ads depicting him alongside Obama and faulting him for failing to join an unfolding multistate legal challenge of the president's signature initiative, the federal health care overhaul (Messina, 10/5).