Will GOP candidates profit from laser-like focus on health law?

Some Republicans worry the focus, which includes nearly every advertising dollar, is too heavy a bet. Meanwhile a Senate race in Colorado is shaping up to be one where health care issues play big.

The Washington Post: Republicans Too Focused On Health-Care Law, Some In GOP Warn
Will the Affordable Care Act be the Republicans' golden ticket in this year's midterm election? Some worry that the GOP may be placing too big a bet on it. Nearly every advertising dollar being spent against Democratic congressional candidates is going toward pounding them on the new health-care law (Tumulty, 2/26).

The New York Times: Gardner To Oppose Udall, Complicating Democrats' Senate Hopes
With the president's low approval ratings and the troubles plaguing his health care law, Colorado has joined New Hampshire, Michigan and Iowa as states where Republicans believe they will have competitive races (Peters, 2/26).

The Associated Press/Washington Post: Gardner In And Buck Out In Colorado's Senate Race
Republicans believe Gardner is a superior candidate to Buck because he does not have Buck's history of gaffes and is younger than Buck, 55. But Democrats immediately moved to link the two men, who have a lengthy political history in Colorado's rural northeastern corner. Matt Canter of the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee said Gardner "wants to decimate Medicare, slash education and even make common forms of birth control illegal." Colorado Democratic Party Chairman Rick Palacios released a statement calling Gardner "simply a Ken Buck radical who is neck deep in Washington sleaze" (2/27).