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Health care suits didn't save
AGs<http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0810/Health_care_suits_didnt_save_AGs.html#>

This March, two attorneys general took the lead in lawsuits challenging the
constitutionality of the health care overhaul: South Carolina's Henry
McMaster and Florida's Bill McCollum. Another, Michigan's Mike Cox, soon
signed on.

The lawsuits made them national leaders on the central national issue, and
seemed tailor-made for Republican primaries. But all three lost those
primaries, as CNN's Peter Hamby noted of the first two last night.

McMaster lost to Nikki Haley, whose reform message trumped his series
of ads<http://thestatecom.typepad.com/ygatoday/2010/05/mcmaster-ad-attacks-obama-healthcare.html>touting
his health care fight. Cox, who also put his health care suit on
air<http://michigantruthsquad.com/mike-cox-tough-enough/>,
lost to a wealthy businessman who ran on a non-ideological platform under
the slogan, "one tough nerd." McCollum
lost<http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0810/41439.html> to
Rick Scott, and there the message may not be as clear -- Scott was also a
leading national foe of the health care bill.

But the suggestion to take from this, I think, is that the "throw the bums
out" sentiment shouldn't be mistaken for an argument solely, or even
primarily, about policy -- even about health care.
--
Eric D. Schwerin
Rosemont Seneca Partners
(202) 333-1880
eschwerin@rosemontseneca.co