National pundits keep saying Obamacare is not a major issue in this years elections. But Florida Republicans from Rick Scott to Steve Southerland keep playing it up against their respective Democratic opponents.
This election will be about getting out the party faithful. Both Scott and Charlie Crist are unpopular and the gubernatorial contest is quickly descending into a choice between the lesser of two evils. None of the other Cabinet races are compelling and most of the congressional races arent that competitive. Theres simply not much to excite voters to come out, even with medical marijuana on the ballot.
Scott pelted Crist on Obamacare and Southerland did the same against Gwen Graham this week. The Republicans ran new TV spots associating their opponents with Obamacare and they had good reason to do so.
Obamacare might not be of much interest to moderates or independent voters. But these are precisely the voters the ads are not targeting. Instead, Scotts and Southerlands ads are designed to rile up conservatives and ensure they come out to vote. Even as Democrats try to ignore Obamacare or come out with plans to tinker with it to improve what it can, Republicans continue to oppose the law and the politicians who put it together.
To be sure, Scott and Southerland have their flaws for conservative voters. The governor angered conservatives on immigration matters, failing to bring an Arizona-style law to Florida and backing away from mandatory E-Verify. A bridge between the GOP leadership and the tea party in Congress, Southerland has made a series of gaffes which Gwen Graham and the Democrats have played up in recent weeks. Neither Republican is the most inspiring of candidates.
But they have both been adamantly opposed to Obamacare from the start. Scott made his political debut with Conservatives for Patients Rights (CPR) which was active early and often against Obamacare. Even though Bill McCollum launched the constitutional challenge to Obamacare, Republican primary voters thought Scott was more of a conservative and backed him in 2010. Southerland also rose up by opposing Obamacare. He came out of nowhere to beat out a crowded primary and go on to defeat Democrat Allen Boyd by pegging that congressman with Obamacare.
Now both Scott and Southerland are turning back to Obamacare to use against Crist and Graham. Theyre not trying to win new voters from the independents or Democrats in these ads. Theyre trying to get their bases to the polls. That usually works in an off-year election in Florida for Republicans, and, four years after it was first passed, theres still no better issue to get the GOP faithful out to vote than Obamacare.
Tallahassee-based political writer Jeff Henderson wrote this analysis exclusively for Sunshine State News.
