Congressional Democrats are using several budget gimmicks to disguise the cost of their health care overhaul, claiming the House and Senate bills would cost only (!) about $1 trillion over 10 years. Now that critics have begun to correct for those budget gimmicks, supporters of ObamaCare are firing back.
[…]When we correct for both gimmicks, counting both on- and off-budget costs over the first 10 years of implementation, the total cost of ObamaCare reaches — I’m so sorry about this — $6.25 trillion. That’s not a precise estimate. It’s just far closer to the truth than President Obama and congressional Democrats want the debate to be.
The contest for the 2010 Republican Senate nomination in Florida is a little closer this month, but Governor Charlie Crist still holds a 14-point lead over former state House Speaker Marco Rubio.
The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of likely GOP Primary voters in the state finds Crist outdistancing Rubio 49% to 35%. Four percent (4%) like some other candidate, and 12% are undecided.
In mid-August, Crist was beating Rubio by 22 points among GOP Primary voters – 53% to 31%. That was Rasmussen Reports’ first poll of next year’s Republican Primary race.
The fact that Crist has fallen below 50% in a primary against a lesser known opponent suggests potential vulnerability.
Both men are vying to be the Republican nominee in next year’s race to fill the seat vacated by retiring GOP Senator Mel Martinez. In August, Crist as governor named his chief of staff, George LeMiuex, to serve the remainder of Martinez’s term, but LeMieux is not running for a full term next year.
This is more good news, especially after that RINO Dede Scozzafava quit the NY-23 Congressional race. Doug Hoffman is now tied with the Democrat, but should get the majority of Scozzafava’s votes when she drops out of the race. The election is set for Tuesday. My concern at this point is that the Republican establishment waited too long to endorse the right candidate and now we may have trouble getting out the vote.
Here is the story about the 30-second TV ad on RealClearPolitics. You can watch the TV ad on that page.
Excerpt:
Political observers looking to see how the stimulus battle might play out in the 2010 midterms have an early example in the Kansas Senate race. Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R) launched the first TV ad of that campaign today, and it slams President Obama and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi while urging Kansans to join him in his fight against the government spending program.
“These two Washington politicians, Obama and Pelosi, sold America a bill of goods,” a narrator says in the 30-second spot. The Recovery Act hasn’t worked, it continues, but “one Kansas conservative” is fighting to stop it.
Here is the ad’s script:
“These two Washington politicians, Obama and Pelosi, sold America a bill of goods. A so-called stimulus plan. Since then, more homes are in foreclosure. More than two million jobs lost. And the economy is hurting. But one Kansas conservative, Todd Tiahrt, said the bailouts and stimulus were wrong from the start. Now, Tiahrt’s fighting to stop it. Go to this Web site. Help Todd Tiahrt stop Obama and Pelosi now.”
WINTERY KNIGHT 