Republican rivals' attacks on 'Romneycare' gaining traction

GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney's health policies are not only the target of his Republican opponents but are also drawing attention and barbs from Democrats. Also on the trail, Newt Gingrich, another GOP primary candidate, criticized the tenor of the campaign season so far.

USA Today: Republican Rivals' Stabs At 'Romneycare' Gaining Traction
After months of trying, Republican presidential contenders managed to draw blood from former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney during Tuesday night's debate, and campaign observers said Wednesday that voters should expect more such attacks. Romney's support for a 2006 Massachusetts health care law that provided many of the ideas for what turned into President Obama's law from last year will remain Romney's weak spot among Republican primary voters, says Sherry Bebitch Jeffe, a political analyst and senior fellow at the University of Southern California (Kucinich, 10/19).

The Wall Street Journal: Republican Rivals Put Focus On Shifts In Romney's Views
They say Mr. Romney has yet to bring to his side conservative voters wary that he has in the past taken varying positions on abortion, backed a Massachusetts requirement that individuals buy health insurance and cast himself as a champion of "full equality'' for gays and lesbians (O'Connor and King, 10/20).

The Associated Press: Democrats Target Romney, Draw From Bush Vs. Kerry
For now, the Obama camp is focusing on portraying Romney as a finger-to-the-wind politician who changes his convictions to meet the political circumstances. They cite his embrace of mandatory health insurance when he was governor of Massachusetts and his criticism of Obama's health care bill, which relies on the same mandate, or his previous stance in favor of abortion rights against his current opposition to abortion (Kuhnenn, 10/20).

Fox News: Obama Aide Attacks Romney For Running From Health Care Plan
President Obama's top political adviser accused Mitt Romney of having "no core," saying Wednesday that the former governor running from his record on health care in Massachusetts is the reason he's hit a ceiling in Republican support for the presidential nomination. David Axelrod said Romney, who has steadily drawn about 25 percent in national polls while his opponents rise and fall around him, is struggling to consolidate more Republican support because "there's a sense that there's no core to him" (10/19).

Arizona Republic: Newt Gingrich, In Phoenix Stop, Decries 'Bickering' GOP Foes
A day after what many said was his strongest debate performance of the season, GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich came to Phoenix, where he drew a standing-room-only crowd to hear him criticize the tenor of the campaign and make his case for his candidacy. ... Gingrich said one of the first things he would do as president is kill President Barack Obama's health care act. In a meeting with reporters before the speech, he said that every American should be able to obtain health care, though he didn't specify how he would make the happen (Madrid, 10/20).

And the legislation held up by Herman Cain during Tuesday's GOP debate as his starting point for replacing the 2010 health law actually has very few Republican co-sponsors -

The Hill: House Republicans Slow To Back Health Bill Endorsed By Candidate Herman Cain
The health care bill that Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain plugged as an alternative to President Obama's reforms has only 16 cosponsors in the House. During Tuesday night's debate in Las Vegas, Cain referenced the "Empower Patients First Act," which Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.) introduced in 2009 as an alternative to Obama's health care proposal. A revised version of the bill would repeal Obama's health care law and replace it with a new system that includes several leading Republican priorities (Baker, 10/19).