My must read of the day is "Democrats race to embrace Obamacare in Pennsylvania primary," in Politico:
Democrats vying to be the swing state’s next governor are trying to one-up each other in showing their support for the law ahead of the May 20 primary — airing ads boasting ties to the president, tweeting old op-eds proving their pro-health law bona fides and even suggesting one Democratic contender is a "frenemy" of the law.
And while embracing the law is risky, since it could haunt the nominee in November’s general election, the jockeying is a reminder that Obamacare is still popular with at least one group important in the midterms: the Democratic base. […]
Chris Borick, who conducts polls for Muhlenberg College, noted that Obamacare is still relatively popular among Democrats in the state: Muhlenberg’s latest health care polling, released Thursday morning, found that 64 percent of Democrats approve of it, compared with just 18 percent who disapprove.
This just goes to show you the tough spot some Democrats are in. They have to vehemently praise and embrace the law in order to win a primary, where the party base decides the outcome—but what these gubernatorial candidates are doing is short sighted.
Over 50 percent disapprove of the law and independents increasingly disapprove. By strongly embracing it now, they’re leaving little room to convince independents in a general election that while they like and support the law, they will work to "fix" it or make sure it becomes better for the people of their state.
To ignore the obvious failings of the law, even in the most basic sense of the website, is either blind partisanship or complete incompetence. To not concede that there are some flaws isn’t a smart strategy, unless you’re in the bluest of blue state or district—Pennsylvania is not that.