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In crimson-red Alabama, Parker Griffith, the Democratic candidate for governor, is running ads embracing a critical component of Obamacare. Griffith castigates his opponent, Republican incumbent Robert Bentley, for refusing to expand Medicaid, which the challenger says could benefit more than 300,000 Alabamians.

Of course, Griffith, a retired physician and former member of Congress, never refers to the Affordable Care Act by name. As a moderate Southern Democrat (who briefly switched to the GOP after Obama’s election), he voted against the bill in Congress.

And Griffith’s ads certainly don’t mention President Barack Obama, who some Southern Republicans believe is in league with the Antichrist.

But in a state where rural hospitals are shutting down for lack of funds, Griffith believes Bentley’s hostility toward Medicaid expansion creates an opening.

“It’s unconscionable to have somebody in an office as powerful as governor who will hurt a whole bunch of people because of some political ideology: ‘I hate Obama.’ ... We in Alabama would have benefited more than most others” from broadening Medicaid, which provides health insurance for the poor and near-poor, Griffith told me.