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Healthcare’s dealbreakers: Blanche Lincoln wants to focus on jobs
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Candidate
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| Contributor | Scott³ |
| Last Edited | Scott³ Nov 27, 2009 02:02am |
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| Category | News |
| Author | Gail Russell Chaddock |
| News Date | Tuesday, November 24, 2009 08:00:00 AM UTC0:0 |
| Description | "After casting the decisive vote to begin debate on healthcare reform, Sen. Blanche Lincoln returned to Arkansas this week to hold her first field hearing as the new chair of the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee.
It’s a chance to get back to talking about what most concerns her constituents – jobs and the economy – instead of what makes them angry: big government programs, taxes, and deficits. With a tough reelection bid in 2010, Senator Lincoln’s effort to change the subject comes none too soon.
She has taken tough votes to support the Democratic caucus, but none at such a vulnerable moment in her own election cycle. A recent poll by Zogby International shows Lincoln narrowly edging out a likely Republican opponent – until healthcare is added to the mix. When asked how they would respond if Lincoln voted with Democrats on healthcare, her two-point advantage shifted to a 14-point deficit.
Healthcare is “something that can hurt her in a reelection bid,” says pollster John Zogby, who notes that the poll was conducted for a conservative group that opposes healthcare reform. “Americans want health care reform, but what they see so far scares them more than it appeals to them.”
For months, the dialogue inside the new Democratic majority has been on bills Arkansas voters don’t warm to – an overhaul of the US healthcare system and new mandates on climate change. Lincoln is urging congressional leaders and the Obama White House to shift the focus to jobs.
At the Senate committee hearing in Little Rock, Ark., Lincoln said she was “excited about the opportunities this presents for Arkansans to elevate their voice in Washington on issues critical to the economic well-being of our state.”
While both of the state’s US senators are Democrats, they must be attentive to a conservative electorate. President Bush won here in 2004 by more than 20 points." |
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