Inside Politics

MONEY RACE

“To the many warning signs Democrats face in the 2010 midterm elections, add this: New fundraising reports show Republicans out-raised Democrats in the third quarter in all eight open Senate races on next fall’s ballot,” John Mercurio writes at www.nationaljournal.com.

“Reasons for the GOP’s success vary in this narrow, but important, category. While it isn’t the only indicator of party strength and momentum, fundraising in races without incumbents does offer an unfiltered prism through which to gauge the enthusiasm and organization of each party’s base.

“And for now, by that measure, the GOP’s base is more organized and enthusiastic - at least, about opening their wallets,” Mr. Mercurio said.

“The biggest disparity surfaced in Florida, where Gov.Charlie Crist, perhaps the GOP’s biggest Senate recruiting coup in 2010, continued to dominate the money chase, taking in $2.5 million and out-raising [Democrat] Rep.Kendrick Meek by more than 3-1. Even more troubling for Democrats: Crist’s [Republican] primary challenger, Marco Rubio, raised an additional $1 million of GOP money. (Of course, Rubio’s fundraising is also troubling for Crist).

“It was deja vu, of sorts, in Kentucky, where [Texas Republican Rep.] Ron Paul’s son Rand posted a surprisingly impressive $1 million haul. That’s almost as much as the two top Democratic candidates raised combined. Paul even out-raised his GOP rival, Secretary of StateTrey Grayson, who enjoys strong support from Senate MinorityLeaderMitch McConnell. The younger Paul, a surgeon, took a page out of his father’s playbook, conducting Internet fundraising blitzes known as ‘money bombs.’

“In Missouri,[Republican] Rep. Roy Blunt has trailed [Democratic] Secretary of State Robin Carnahan in recent polls, but Blunt led in third-quarter fundraising. In Illinois, [Republican] Rep. Mark Kirk out-raised [Democratic] TreasurerAlexi Giannoulias and has nearly as much cash on hand. Former [Republican] state Attorney General Kelly Ayotte raised more than [Democratic] Rep. Paul Hodes in New Hampshire, while former [Republican] Rep. Rob Portman out-raised [Democratic] Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher in Ohio. Two Republicans, Reps.Todd Tiahrt and Jerry Moran, raised about $860,000 in the open-seat race in Kansas, where no viable Democratic candidate has surfaced.[Republican] Rep. Mike Castle is the only announced candidate in Delaware.”

FISCAL DECEPTION

“President Obama has made serial promises that he will not sign a health care bill that ‘adds one dime to our deficits, either now or in the future, period.’ This was never plausible, but now we can begin to understand what he meant: Democrats plan to make ObamaCare ‘deficit-neutral’ by moving nearly a quarter-trillion dollars off the books, in the fiscal deception of the century,” the Wall Street Journal says Wednesday in an editorial.

“Later this week, or maybe next, Senate Democrats plan to vote on a stand-alone bill that strips a formula that automatically cuts Medicare physician payments out of ‘comprehensive’ health reform. Rather than include the pricey $247 billion plan known on Capitol Hill as the ‘doc fix’ as part of ObamaCare, they’ll instead make this a separate contribution to the deficit, without compensating tax increases or spending cuts. Majority Leader Harry Reid explained at a press conference last week that ‘all we’re doing is wiping the slate clean by adjusting the baseline to what is current policy. This is not new policy.’

“Wiping the slate is right,” the newspaper said.

“It’s true that Congress likes to pretend that the ‘sustainable growth rate,’ or SGR, is real. Created in 1997, the SGR slashes Medicare reimbursements if costs rise too steeply, as they always do. In January, doctors fees are scheduled to fall by 21.5 percent, and 40 percent over the next five years. That would force many doctors to stop seeing Medicare patients, so Congress intervenes every year and temporarily overrides the cuts. …

“So now Democrats are simply going to ‘untether’ this spending on doctors from ObamaCare, hiding even more of its true costs.”

SAVING MONEY

“Repeat after me: ‘Health care reform is going to save us money. Health care reform is going to save us money.’ Pay no attention, please, to the fact that the Senate Finance Committee’s bill imposes fees on insurance providers, as well as producers of drugs and medical devices, that it caps deductions for flexible spending accounts and slaps a 40 percent excise tax on so-called Cadillac health plans. Oh, yes: and that it raises the bar for itemizing medical expenses on your taxes,” Denver Post columnist Vincent Carroll writes.

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