The independent newspaper of the University of Iowa community since 1868

The Daily Iowan

The independent newspaper of the University of Iowa community since 1868

The Daily Iowan

The independent newspaper of the University of Iowa community since 1868

The Daily Iowan

Obamacare a decisive issue in 2014 midterms

As the final days of the 2014 midterm election cycle wind down, a key theme among Republican attack ads waged against national Democrats has abundantly become clear: They nearly all deal with the words, Obama, Obamacare, or extreme.

Case in point: the National Republican Senatorial Committee’s ads attack Democratic Senate candidates for being loyal backers of President Obama.

In Iowa, the Republican organization recently took an ad titled “Million” to the state’s TV markets.

“Bruce Braley and Barack Obama teamed up to give us Obamacare and trillions in wasteful spending. But even Obama thinks Bruce Braley is too extreme on taxes,” the female moderator says in the ad that was uploaded to several online video sites, including YouTube on Oct. 21.

The ad later pulls two lines from articles published in the Washington Post, Bloomberg, and the New York Times that allegedly claim Braley voted to raise taxers on every Iowa taxpayer and his tax plan would hit the middle class families the hardest.

In the face of the attack ads, however, one national political analyst says the Republican fight to slap Obamacare, Obama and Extreme on any national Democrat looking to maintain or earn a seat in office is a moot argument.

Chris Arterton, a professor of political management at George Washington University, said health care is an issue in this year’s races, albeit one of many.

“I don’t know of any race where it is really a key factor, he said about Obamacare, the 2010 national health-care plan that is formally known as the Affordable Care Act.

The issue ran rampant among the media, voters, and analysts in 2010, he said, but has since faded in part because those who have signed up for the federal health program have realized that the changes are not as extreme as first thought and benefits are available.

Many national Democrats have labeled the benefit of young people being allowed to stay on their parent’s health-care plans until they turn 26 as a positive reinforcement.

“I really don’t see nationally that there’s one issue that is punsating the election,” he said. “Unless you consider Obama [himself] as an issue.”

Obama’s job-approval rating has waned since he swept his second term to office in 2012.

“Republicans won the branding of labeling Obamacare as a bad idea, but it will be very difficult for Republicans to repeal it,” he said.

Approximately 8.5 million Americans had signed up for Obamacare by October, the administration announced last month.

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