Politics play into state-level implementation issues

The AP reports on how some GOP governors are flexing their political muscle to undermine the health law. Meanwhile, a Democratic governor is considering using her veto power on a bill passed by the state legislature that challenges the federal law.

The Associated Press: GOP Governors Undermine Obama's Agenda In States
Their ranks swollen after the last election, Republican governors from Florida to Alaska are undermining President Barack Obama's agenda at every turn ahead of the Democrat's 2012 re-election campaign. Some are rejecting federal money for high-speed rail. Many are fighting the president's health care law. And several are going after the Democratic Party's bedrock constituency, pushing laws that would weaken the power of unions. Not that any Republican governor will acknowledge that this is politics at play — even if it is (2/27).

USA Today: U.S. Health Care Law Not Immune To Nullification
In their battle against the federal health care legislation, Republican lawmakers in at least 11 states are turning to a centuries-old and rarely used tactic in an effort to wrest power from the federal government (Adams, 2/28).

McClatchy/The (Raleigh) News & Observer: Health Care Law challenge Is 'Unenforceable,' N.C. AG Says
State Attorney General Roy Cooper says a North Carolina challenge to the federal health care overhaul is "unenforceable" and could endanger federal health care funding to the state. … The Cooper letter apparently caused [Democratic Gov. Bev Perdue] — who had been signaling that she did not want to pick a fight with the GOP legislature on the issue — to give closer consideration to vetoing the health care bill (Christensen and Biesecker, 2/25).