Allyson Schwartz says she's the only one willing to express pride in the law. Dems embrace ACA in Pa. primary

Democrats across the country have been fleeing the health care law, fearing it will sink them in the midterms in the face of relentless GOP attacks.

Apparently they didn’t get the memo in Pennsylvania.


Democrats vying to be the swing state’s next governor are trying to one-up each other in showing their support for the law ahead of the May 20 primary — airing ads boasting ties to the president, tweeting old OpEds proving their pro-health law bona fides and even suggesting one Democratic contender is a “frenemy” of the law.

( Also on POLITICO: Schwartz ad touts Obamacare)

And while embracing the law is risky, since it could haunt the nominee in November’s general election, the jockeying is a reminder that Obamacare is still popular with at least one group important in the midterms: the Democratic base. President Barack Obama just last week called on Democrats to “forcefully defend and be proud of” the law.

On Tuesday, Rep. Allyson Schwartz released an ad touting her role in passing Obamacare in the House.

“I worked with President Obama on the Affordable Care Act and getting health coverage to all Americans,” Schwartz says in the ad, which includes images of her and Obama together. “It was my legislation that said insurance companies can no longer deny coverage for kids with preexisting conditions.”

( PHOTOS: Governors’ offices up for grabs in 2014)

Schwartz also hits incumbent GOP Gov. Tom Corbett — who is considered one of the most vulnerable Republican governors in the country this year — for refusing to accept the federal Medicaid expansion, pledging that, if elected to replace him, she’d make it a top priority to reverse that decision.

On Wednesday, Schwartz went further, telling reporters on she’s the “only one in this race who’s willing to express pride” in the law. In particular, she singled out fellow primary contender Tom Wolf, the self-funded businessman who has led the polls after pouring millions of his own money into the race and going up on the air early.

( PHOTOS: 20 quotes: More Obamacare, less work)

Wolf and the other two primary candidates quickly pushed back.

Wolf tweeted out both a link to a local news op-ed he’d written about health care and video footage of himself in February saying, “We should set up state exchanges and do everything in our power to make the ACA work.”

His campaign also forwarded to reporters a post on the progressive blog Keystone Politics that called Schwartz a “frenemy” of Obamacare, noting that she’d “worked to undermine key cost controls that special interests don’t like, at the same time as she stresses her support for the law overall.”

Former state environmental protection director Katie McGinty’s campaign, meanwhile, claimed that Schwartz has worked to “weaken” the law, and called the congresswoman’s statements “mind-boggling.” State Treasurer Rob McCord’s campaign noted that he and Schwartz hold the same position on the law — and used the occasion to play up their differences on another issue, the state’s potential drilling tax.

With less than four weeks until the primary, Schwartz, who was once considered the frontrunner for the Democratic nomination, is looking for momentum to propel her back to the top spot, and her embrace of the Obamacare could provide the jolt she needs.

( CARTOONS: Matt Wuerker on Obamacare)

“It’s about moving her campaign off the dime and energizing a base of voters in the southeast — Philly and the suburban counties — with its large pool of female voters and liberals that are sympathetic to these appeals,” veteran Pennsylvania pollster Terry Madonna said. “This is probably her best chance to catch Tom Wolf.”

Chris Borick, who conducts polls for Muhlenberg College, noted that Obamacare is still relatively popular among Democrats in the state: Muhlenberg’s latest health care polling, released Thursday morning, found that 64 percent of Democrats approve of it, compared with just 18 percent who disapprove.

“The candidates are trying to carve out identities that might resonate with perhaps not a majority of voters in the party, but a strong cohort,” he said. “The law still plays well among most Democrats, and especially liberal Democrats who are the ones that are going to show up during primary elections.”

The Democratic candidates in Pennsylvania are running toward the health care law just as it is coming off of several weeks of relatively good news, including the announcement that more than 8 million people have signed up for insurance through the exchanges — beating earlier projections following the disastrous launch of the HealthCare.gov website.

After making that announcement, the president himself urged Democrats to proudly embrace his administration’s signature accomplishment.

“I don’t think we should apologize for it. I don’t think we should be defensive about it. I think there is a strong, good, right story to tell,” Obama said at a White House press conference last Thursday.

In Pennsylvania, though, a pro-Obamacare campaign could ultimately backfire. Corbett may be highly vulnerable, but he’s still an incumbent, and polls show that overall support for the health law is tenuous in the Keystone State.

The Muhlenberg polling found that, among all adults in the state, approval of the health law has dropped to 39 percent (disapproval stands at 47 percent). Among Republicans, approval of the law is at just 19 percent.

Robert Blendon, a Harvard expert on health care politics, said views on the law are increasingly polarized.

“Democrats really like this bill … and Republicans and independents are as or more negative than before,” he said. “In Democratic primaries, or areas where there are considerable Democratic voters, people want you to talk about it, and they feel good about it.”

Corbett, of course, is already worrying about the general election. The Republican’s team has focused its attacks on Schwartz, whom many expect could catch up with Wolf now that she’s on the air as well.

The Corbett camp sent an email to supporters on Wednesday about how Schwartz, “our extreme liberal opponent,” is “doubling down” on the “Obamacare failures she crafted.”

“Do we really want someone like this calling the shots in PA?” the email asked.