Hillary Healthcare and Iowa
As many of you know, I often disagree with Joe Paduda regarding his healthcare views. I don’t have to look far to find good examples of where I disagree with him. Below is a post from Joe on 01.03.2007 the day of the Iowa Caucus at, www.joepaduda.com
“Hillary’s strength - health care
Among Democrats polled in Iowa who are most concerned about health care, Hillary Clinton has a substantial lead (38% v 21% for Edwards and 18% for Obama). While health care is not the top issue (the economy is), it is for 24% of Iowa Democrats.
And it remains a big issue for the rest of America - a gut issue, one that keeps voters up at night, worried about coverage for their moms, dads, and kids. It bleeds over to the economy and jobs - with health insurance tied to employment, many middle-class voters are keenly aware that losing a job means losing health insurance. This is not an esoteric, remote intellectual issue - it is the neighbor who just lost her job, the “pennies for a cancer victim” tin can at the convenience store, the parent too young for Medicare and too wealthy for Medicaid.
With the Iowa race wide open, the gut issue of health care could be a deciding factor.
The caucus environment is one where neighbors talk to neighbors about issues that concern them, and about which candidate is best suited to fix that problem. Yes, Hillary Clinton has her share of detractors, but many are undecided and Hillary owns health care. And that may just make the difference for her in Iowa.”
The results of the Iowa Caucus are in, and Hillary came in THIRD. If healthcare is owned by Hillary, as Joe states, then democrat voters in Iowa must not be as interested in the topic as Joe believes. Yes, polls indicate it is an important issue. Yet, they also have indicated for some time that the economy is very important as Joe states, despite what is still a great economy in the US. Voters will ultimately decide who our next President will be, but don’t be so sure that Hillary owns healthcare. She nearly socialized our system in 1993/1994 and I don’t know that voters have forgotten.
January 6th, 2008 at 11:30 am
As the political landscape continues to shake out, I thought I would update my original post. Obama is now leading in the NH polls, and may indeed take that state. However, it should be noted that Hillary is hoping for a significant victory on Super Tuesday. So, by no means am I saying that Obama is destined to beat Hillary, and therefore healthcare must not be on the table as a major issue. Instead, I believe that Hillary does not “own” the healthcare debate. However, I would suspect that for the Democrats, the issue of who will be the nominee will be settled after Super Tuesday.
As for the Republicans, who knows? The field is way too crowded and no one has risen to the top just yet.
October 27th, 2008 at 12:05 pm
Good post.