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Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Yes it Jolly well was a referendum on Obamacare

There is no way David Jolly's win in Florida's 13th congressional district can be judged as anything but a resounding defeat for the Democratic Party. They played their trump card and lost. Alex Sink carpet bagged into the district as if she were ascending a throne. There was no primary. After all this was Alex Sink, the lady who almost beat out Rick Scott for governor. She had run a statewide race and Jolly had never even run for precinct committeeman. He was a former congressional aide turned lobbyist who had been battered in a contentious primary.
In another post I quoted Stuart Rothenberg;
It’s rare in politics that anything other than a presidential contest is viewed as a “must win” — but the special election in Florida’s 13th District falls into that category for Democrats.
A loss in the competitive March 11 contest would almost certainly be regarded by dispassionate observers as a sign that President Barack Obama could constitute an albatross around the neck of his party’s nominees in November. And that could make it more difficult for Democratic candidates, campaign committees and interest groups to raise money and energize the grass roots
Naturally the Democrats will not admit it but the race was a referendum on Obamacare and the back and forth of the campaign produced a new conundrum for incumbent Democrats this fall. Supposedly it is the Republicans who must come up with a plan to replace Obamacare but when a Democrat who wants to keep but fix Obamacare is asked to be specific good answers are hard to come by. When asked what she would change Sink could not name specific changes that would pass muster with the voters without rendering the ACA inoperable. This fall the question Republicans should be asking of all those who want to keep but fix Obamacare is "Which parts of the law that Obama has not already delayed do you want to keep?"

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