Clearly, health care reform was a losing political issue for lots of congressional Democrats, especially those who were up for reelection in 2010. The issue helped mobilize Republican voters who managed to unseat enough Democrats to shift the balance of power on Capitol Hill. Democrats lost their Senate super majority and Republicans now hold a majority in the House. A new political science paper now offers evidence of the damage the Affordable Care Act did to Democratic power, arguing that the party could have held onto 25 more House seats and therefore a simple House majority if they hasn’t passed the health care law.
Ezra Klein of the Washington Post has said a version of this already today, but it’s worth repeating. There is only a very, very slim chance that the individual mandate will be repealed by Congress, despite Politico’s contention that the policy might be on the ropes thanks to four Democratic senators. As Ezra points out [...]
