President Obama is accompanied by Vice President Biden as he delivers a statement on the Affordable Care Act in the White House Rose Garden Tuesday. Photo by JEWEL SAMAD\/AFP\/Getty Images <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Today in the Morning Line: <\/p>\n
Reality check on health care law: President Barack Obama on Tuesday forcefully pushed back on Republican critics of the health care law, declaring, The Affordable Care Act is here to stay and proclaiming, The debate over repealing this law is over. But the reality is that the American people remain sharply divided over the policy and congressional Republicans gave no indication Tuesday that they were prepared to back down from their staunch opposition, even with the administration surpassing 7 million enrollments by its March 31 deadline. A Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday finds that 55 percent of Americans oppose the health care law while 41 percent support it. Those numbers are more in line with recent polling than Mondays Washington Post\/ABC News survey showing an even split. Even with the sign-up target met, its unlikely the issue is going to turn into a political winner for Democrats anytime soon. One Democratic pollster made this point in Politico: The less were talking about Obamacare, the better off we are. Since good things are now happening, we may be talking about it less, and thats a good thing. And 24 hours after his Rose Garden victory lap, the president is hitting the road, not to promote health care, but to go back to the Democratic message of raising the minimum wage. Hes scheduled to deliver remarks at 2:55 p.m. ET at the University of Michigan, then continue on to his hometown of Chicago for a Democratic National Committee fundraiser. The presidents minimum-wage push polls well, with Quinnipiac finding 50 percent of Americans would be more likely to vote for a candidate who supports the move. But with Republicans firmly opposed, its another issue that the president and Democrats can spend a lot of time talking about, with very little progress to show for it.When it comes to health care though, the legislation is not likely to get much more popular until, frankly, a Republican president decides to continue to implement and fix it. <\/p>\n
Koch is probably not it: Speaking of Democrats searching for a sticky message with the base, they continue to beat the drum on the billionaire Koch brothers, accusing them of trying to buy the election. Even on Wisconsin Republican Rep. Paul Ryans budget, which was essentially the same budget hes been releasing for three or four years, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., again took it as an opportunity to drive home the Koch message, calling it a blueprint for a modernKoch-topia. This messaging has Chuck Schumers, D-N.Y., imprint all over it, and Schumer said Tuesday its working. Polling shows fewer than half of all Americans know who the Kochs are, but Schumer thinks the fact that its that high is a tribute to Democrats hammering the message. But heres the thing: its never a good sign to be the party complaining about spending and fundraising. It didnt help Republicans when Mitch McConnell and others were complaining that President Obama was raising too much money in 2012. And it didnt help Ken Cuccinelli when the Virginia Republicans campaign was complaining they were being outspent on the air in last years gubernatorial contest against Democrat Terry McAuliffe. <\/p>\n
Gray loses DC mayors race: Who is Muriel Bowser, the likely next mayor? Councilwoman Muriel Bowser won the D.C. Democratic mayoral primary over incumbent Mayor Vincent Gray, 44 percent to 32 percent, making her the favorite in Novembers general election. We said the trend was heading in the wrong direction for Gray, embroiled in a campaign finance ethics scandal, and that if Bowser could consolidate the anti-Gray vote she could win, and she did. So who is she? The Washington Post profiles her and notes shes a protege of former Mayor Adrian Fenty who is not used to being the one in the spotlight. She also has a reputation for being serious and straightforward. Said one Bowser friend: Muriel is not someone I would invite to my card game. She doesnt seem to relax at that level and engage in that kind of camaraderie not that kind of let-your-hair-down-kick-back card player. Neither Fenty nor Gray was able to unify this changing city. That, and governing in a clean, non-ethically challenged way, are going to be major tests. <\/p>\n
Rands move on immigration: Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul made a move Tuesday to try and begin winning over Latinos. He told a conservative group that the GOP has to get beyond deportation if it wants to have a chance with winning Hispanics. The bottom line is, the Hispanic community, the Latino community is not going to hear us until we get beyond that issue. He continued, Showing up helps, but you got to show up and you got to say something, and it has to be different from what weve been saying. More: I think that whats happened is, there is not the perception of empathy coming from the Republican Party that we care about where theyre coming from and we care about what their problems are. Until we get to that point, theyre not going to listen to any of the next message. There is no doubt Paul is running for president in 2016. And speeches like this are designed to lay the groundwork, test a message and get attention from the media when it sounds like he is delivering tough medicine to his party. But this only goes so far for Paul. He voted against the Senates comprehensive immigration bill. And while some will try to argue theres a difference between saying, Dont deport everyone, and supporting the immigration bill, the fact is Latinos are looking for a solution to the problem of immigration, and if you were against that bill, its going to be very hard to win them over. <\/p>\n
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Health care law meets target, faces reality<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" President Obama is accompanied by Vice President Biden as he delivers a statement on the Affordable Care Act in the White House Rose Garden Tuesday. Photo by JEWEL SAMAD\/AFP\/Getty Images Today in the Morning Line: Reality check on health care law: President Barack Obama on Tuesday forcefully pushed back on Republican critics of the health care law, declaring, The Affordable Care Act is here to stay and proclaiming, The debate over repealing this law is over. But the reality is that the American people remain sharply divided over the policy and congressional Republicans gave no indication Tuesday that they were prepared to back down from their staunch opposition, even with the administration surpassing 7 million enrollments by its March 31 deadline. Continue reading