Get ready for the debate over the 2010 health care law â€" its Medicare component especially â€" to be reignited on the airwaves.
The National Republican Congressional Committee started its first wave of advertisements in support of their candidates Friday, and one, aimed at Representative Mark Critz, Democrat of Pennsylvania, hits him for not voting to repeal the health care law along with House Republicans. Mr. Critz was not in Congress when the law was passed in 2010 but has said that he would have voted against it. He won his seat later that year in a special election after the death of Representative John Murtha, a Democrat.
“Critz joined Nancy Pelosi and the liberals in the government takeover of health care,†the ad announcer says, in the ominous voice that Americans have come to expect their televisions to emit this time of year. The ad also laments that the bill cuts $700 billion from Medicare, rough ly the same amount that House Republicans seek to cut in their budget.
The Republican campaign group has reserved $1.8 million for Mr. Critz's race in the state's 12th District, and the ad against him will run for a week at the cost of $111,000. Three other advertisements also begin Friday, in districts where Republicans are seeking to play offense against Democratic incumbents.
In Georgia, the group uses President Obama's support of Representative John Barrow to suggest that Mr. Barrow has hurt his home state and also slyly refers to the health care bill, which Mr. Barrow voted against.
In Kentucky's race for the Sixth District, the Republican campaign group unleashed an ad against Representative Bed Chandler, criticizing him for voting to increase the debt limit, while in North Carolina, the group attacks Representative Mike McIntyre over the stimulus bill and suggests that his votes led to jobs being shipped overseas, a sen sitive issue in his state.
