Republicans feel heat over Medicare budget votes, seek to craft new message

By Jack Davis, B.Sc.May 13 2011

GOP lawmakers hope to get back on the offensive in the Medicare debate. Ads will begin airing later this week that target a Democrat from Northern California, but some say the party needs to focus on a long-term strategy to regain its footing in this debate. Meanwhile, some House Democrats are pointing to a special congressional election in New York as proof that House Republican's Medicare vote is backfiring.

Politico: GOP Seeks A New Message On Medicare
Rank-and-file Republicans took a pounding on Medicare during the last congressional recess, and now they're trying to figure out a way to get back on offense on an issue that's traditionally been Democratic turf. It starts Friday, when House Republicans begin airing three weeks of Medicare-focused Fox cable advertising attacking Democratic Rep. Jerry McNerney in Northern California (Allen, 5/12).

Roll Call: Medicare Vote Returns For The Recess
House Republicans are working to prevent Medicare reform from becoming the politically defining issue of their party for the 2012 election season…"If this issue continues to be mishandled during the negotiations, it will very likely end up becoming the Republican equivalent of the 2009 cap-and-trade vote," a Republican strategist said. "At some point, certain members of the leadership have to stop trying to win the battle of the daily news cycle and start trying to win the long-term strategic war" (Brady and Stanton, 5/12).

Politico: For GOP Freshman, The Shoe's On The Other Foot With Medicare
Politicians usually don't begin press conferences with an admission of guilt. But that's exactly what happened Wednesday, when freshman Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) called on the president to condemn the scare tactics Democrats have used against Republicans on Medicare — the same type of attacks Republicans used against Democrats throughout the 2010 campaign that helped put many of the GOP freshmen in office (Cogan, 5/11).

CNN: House Democrats Say Medicare Vote Already Hurting GOP With Voters, Cite NY Special Election
House Democrats are pointing to a special election to fill an upstate New York congressional seat as evidence that House Republicans' support for a proposal to dramatically change Medicare is already hurting GOP candidates with voters. Asked about the impact of the Medicare issue on the New York race, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi of California said Wednesday, "That certainly is a race that was not in play and now it is" (Walsh, 5/11).

ABC: Will Medicare Debate Cost Republicans A New York Congressional Seat?
New York's 26th district, where a special election is being held for a House of Representatives seat, has become the battleground for the Republican budget plan that would dramatically alter the way Medicare works. In a surprisingly tight election, GOP candidate Jane Corwin finds herself in a tight three-way race with Democratic Erie County official Kathy Hochul and businessman Jack Davis, who is running as a Tea Party candidate. … Hochul's campaign has aggressively targeted Rep. Paul Ryan's budget proposal that reshapes Medicare and was passed by the House last month. Her campaign has also portrayed Corwin as a Republican insider who would help, in effect, bring an end to Medicare. In a district where seniors make up 15 percent of the population, the message has struck a chord (Khan, 5/12).