GOP hopes to rally sentiment against Dems' health bills but face flap over RNC abortion coverage

"For the first time, when asked who voters trusted more on handling health care, congressional Republicans tied Obama at 40 percent with 21 percent undecided," in Ohio, according to a new Quinnipiac poll, Politics Daily reports. PD adds: "In September, respondents favored Obama by 49 percent to 28 percent. (Ohio) voters oppose Obama's health care plan by 55 percent to 36 percent with 9 percent undecided and disapprove of his handling of the issue by a similar margin" (Drake, 11/12).

Meanwhile, Republicans are pushing "to re-ignite the town hall fury that inflamed the health care debate and nearly derailed the legislation over the summer," Fox News reports. "GOP representatives are holding town halls in the next two weeks to rally opposition to President Obama's sweeping health care legislation that narrowly passed the House last weekend" (Clark, 11/12).

And in other GOP news, reports indicated on Thursday that the Republican National Committee has offered employees insurance plans that cover elective abortions since 1991 - even as Republicans have opposed measures that could cause taxpayers to indirectly subsidize the procedures, Politico reports. RNC Chairman Michael Steele quickly instructed officials to opt out of the abortion coverage. Cigna, the RNC's insurance company, said it offers customers the opportunity to opt out when they sign up and that the RNC chose not to (Allen, 11/12).