Groups take to streets, airwaves for health overhaul endgame

The Charlotte (N.C.) Observer: "With the health care debate headed toward a showdown on Capitol Hill, the battle is being joined locally at street rallies, in television ads and through phone banks. Members of Congress, particularly Democratic moderates such as Rep. Bob Etheridge, are facing stepped-up lobbying efforts as President Barack Obama makes a final push for passage of a bill aimed to change the health care system. At the same time, conservative critics are waging a last effort to derail the bill" (Christensen, 3/12).

Fox News: The Chamber of Commerce is expected to spend around $200 million on political campaigns this fall, targeting mainly open seats and "vulnerable Democrats like Sens. Michael Bennett in Colorado and Blanche Lincoln in Arkansas." The Chamber has typically supported Republicans, but its leaders maintained an "uneasy" relationship with the Obama White House last year until breaking over health care and climate change legislation (Rosen, 3/11).

Roll Call: The American Future Fund, a conservative advocacy group, has launched a "$250,000 television ad buy targeting Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) over Democrats' procedural maneuvering on the health care bill. The 60-second spot, airing statewide on network and cable television starting Thursday night, comes as Republicans step up their rhetoric opposing Senate Democrats' plans to pass a controversial health care overhaul via reconciliation" (Cadei, 3/11).

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This article was reprinted from khn.org with permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent news service, is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health care policy research organization unaffiliated with Kaiser Permanente.