Clinton tells Democrats to run campaigns on health law

But the former President also conceded that some Democrats may have to campaign against or stay away from the health law to have a chance at winning contentious races.

Los Angeles Times: Democrats Should Run On Obamacare, Bill Clinton Says
Bill Clinton encouraged Democrats to run on President Obama's health care law Wednesday, saying it was bringing down the cost of health care in the U.S. and that with 8 million people enrolled, "we're rockin' along pretty good here." Vulnerable Senate Democrats, including in Clinton's home state of Arkansas, have distanced themselves from the legislation in their reelection campaigns, but Clinton said they should highlight popular aspects of the law while assuring the public that they are focused on fixing the issues that remain (Reston, 5/14).

The Washington Post: Bill Clinton Urges Dems To Defend Obamacare
Speaking at the Peterson Fiscal Summit in Washington, Clinton said he realizes that some Democrats may have to campaign against the health-care law, or at least keep a distance from it. "There may be some places where the well may be so poisoned that they have to do it," he said. But by and large, he said, nobody-even Albert Einstein-could have perfectly managed the rollout. The law is popular even in places where it might not be, like his home state of Arkansas, Clinton said (Goldfarb, 5/14).

Politico: Bill Clinton's Advice To Midterm Democrats
Bill Clinton has some advice for Democrats who he said might have to run away from Obamacare "where the well has been so poisoned." "I wouldn't do it, but there may be some places where the well's been so poisoned that they have to [run from Obamacare]," Clinton said during remarks at the Peter G. Peterson Foundation's Fiscal Summit on Wednesday (McCalmont, 5/14).

ABC News: Bill Clinton Warns Democratic Candidates Not To 'Run Away' From Obamacare
Former president Bill Clinton offered a vigorous defense of Obamacare today, while sending a message to election-year Democrats who might be inclined to put some distance between themselves and their vote for the Affordable Care Act.  "I think it's a terrible mistake for people who voted for the health care bill to run away from it," Clinton said at a fundraiser for the Center for American Progress at the Newseum in Washington this evening. "I think it is a colossal error to be afraid to discuss policy with the American people or to think they don't care or to think they can't get it" (Walshe, 5/14).

In the meantime, a presidential hopeful uses abortion to defend his views on climate change --

Politico: Marco Rubio Cites Abortion To Defend Climate Comments
Marco Rubio said his liberal critics show their "hypocrisy" when they cite science and label him a climate-change denier when they decline to embrace the science of human life beginning at conception. In an interview with Sean Hannity on Wednesday afternoon, the Florida senator brushed off a backlash labeling him as a climate-change denier by aggressively accusing left-leaning critics as hypocrites given their abortion rights positions. He said emphatically that the "science is settled" that life begins at conception but that liberals "will never admit" to it (Everett, 5/14).

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