Cardin, Coakley stake out political positions using health law

News outlets report on how these elected officials are using health care messages to their advantage, and a fact-checker goes to work on recent statements by Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn.

Politico: Cardin Out To Rescue Health Reform
Sen. Ben Cardin has a tough job: He must defend the still-unpopular health reform law and 23 Democratic Senate seats in the 2012 election cycle. The Maryland Democrat says the heart of the defense is to win back small-business owners and seniors, while at the same time embracing widely popular efforts to modify the law, such as the repeal of the 1099 tax-reporting provision (Coughlin, 3/8).

Politico: Martha Coakley Backs President Obama's Law With Mitt Romney's
Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley is coming to the defense of the Democrats' health care reform overhaul — and she's using Mitt Romney's health care law as ammunition (Haberkorn, 3/7).

MinnPost: Michele Bachmann's Health Care 'Cover-Up' Charges Hard To Fathom
Last week, Rep. Michele Bachmann called health care legislative provisions a "deceitful cover-up." ... [O]n "Meet the Press" Sunday, Bachmann continued her theme, telling host David Gregory "that secretly, unbeknownst to members of Congress, over $105 billion was hidden in the ObamaCare legislation to fund the implementation of ObamaCare." ... It's important to note here that nothing has been added to the health reform law since it passed (Derek Wallbank, 3/7).