Democratic Reps. Stephanie Sandlin and Glenn Nye are running against the law. | AP Photos Dems run away from health care

A handful of House Democrats are making health care reform an election year issue — by running against it.

At least five of the 34 House Democrats who voted against their party’s health care reform bill are highlighting their “no” votes in ads back home. By contrast, party officials in Washington can’t identify a single House member who’s running an ad boasting of a “yes” vote — despite the fact that 219 House Democrats voted in favor of final passage in March.


One Democratic strategist said it would be “political malfeasance” to run such an ad now.

Democrats have taken that advice to heart; it appears that no Democratic incumbent — in the House or in the Senate — has run a pro-reform TV ad since April, when Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) ran one.

Most of the Democrats running ads highlighting their opposition to the law are in conservative-leaning districts and considered the most endangered. They’re using their vote against the overhaul as proof of their willingness to buck party leadership and their commitment to watching the nation’s debt.

Rep. Glenn Nye (D-Va.) says in an ad that went up last week that he voted against the law “because it cost too much.”

Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (D-S.D.) says she voted against “all the bailouts and the trillion dollar health care plan” because “it wasn’t right for South Dakota” or for children anywhere.

And an ad for Rep. Jason Altmire (D-Pa.) quotes constituents who say, “I like that Jason Altmire is not afraid to stand up to the president … and Nancy Pelosi.”

More “no” voters are expected to release similar ads as the November midterm elections approach.

It’s a far cry from where Democrats hoped they would be when they passed the landmark legislation in March. Many senior Democrats said last winter that the law’s popularity would increase as Americans were able to better understand the complex law and take advantage of its benefits.

But the public’s views on the legislation may have been more settled than anyone thought.

Public support for the overhaul ticked up a few points shortly after the legislation passed, but all of those gains have since disappeared.

A Kaiser Family Foundation poll released Tuesday showed 43 percent of the public supports the overhaul and 45 percent are opposed. Much of the disagreement falls along party lines.

Party officials insist they’re not bothered by the ads boasting of “no” votes. They know that members in more conservative districts need to put distance between themselves and their party’s leadership, and they say rank and file should be out telling voters that they’re willing to vote their consciences and put their district’s wishes above all.

“We have a big tent party, and we’re going to have a lot of districts that don’t necessarily agree on all the issues,” said a Democrat aide. “There’s no one in leadership who takes anything personally about these ads.”

Many of the Democrats who voted against the health care overhaul also voted against the recovery act or the cap-and-trade bill, neither of which is very popular in conservative-leaning districts.

Rep. Frank Kratovil (D-Md.) used his first ad to remind voters that he voted against the bailout, the budget and the health care bill.

“As a career prosecutor, I made decisions on facts, not politics. In Washington, I’ve tried to do the same,” he says in the ad, touting his ranking by CQ Weekly “as one of the most independent members of Congress."

Rep. Bobby Bright (D-Ala.) stresses his “ independent conservative” values in an ad that reminds voters he voted against the bailout, stimulus spending and “massive government health care.”

House Democratic aides say that if members went so far to vote against the health law, they should use it to their full advantage.

“If you’re going to vote against the health care bill, if you’re going to vote against the recovery act, if you’re going to vote against the energy bill, it wouldn’t make a lot of sense not to highlight that,” the aide said. “There’s a reason you did it.”

As for the members who voted yes? A Democratic strategist familiar with the polling on the issue says the most effective approach — when asked — is to highlight that the law provides consumers with the same health care that members of Congress get.

Another method is to tell voters that the law bans insurance companies from denying coverage once a customer gets sick — a provision that would be undone if Republicans repeal the law, as they have promised to do if given the opportunity.

The Kaiser survey found that likely voters listed health care as the third most important factor in determining how they will vote. It’s behind the economy and “dissatisfaction with government.”

About one-third of voters said support for the health reform law would make it more likely that they’d vote for a candidate. But one-third said it would make it less likely, and another third said it wouldn’t make much of a difference. Those figures haven’t changed much since the law passed.