Women's health issues key in Colorado Senate race

News outlets examine how contraception issues and the health law are playing in the Colorado and Kentucky Senate races.

The Wall Street Journal: Republicans Woo Women In Midterm Ads
A new television ad in the Colorado Senate race shows a group of women nodding approvingly as the candidate speaks in favor of a provocative idea: selling birth-control pills over the counter. The twist is that the idea comes not from Democratic Sen. Mark Udall, but from his Republican challenger, Rep. Cory Gardner, who once supported outlawing abortion and some forms of contraception. The ad, running in one of the battleground states that could determine whether Republicans win control of the Senate, is part of a broader effort that Mr. Gardner and other GOP candidates are making to cut into one of the advantages Democrats enjoy this year: Support among women voters (Reinhard and Hook, 9/3).

Denver Post: GOP Seizes On 2008 Statement By Mark Udall On Health Care Reform
Republican operatives believe they have found a smoking gun against Democratic U.S. Sen. Mark Udall, who said during a 2008 debate he was against a "government-sponsored" solution for health care. The then-congressman, who was running for an open seat in the U.S. Senate, echoed arguments made by conservatives. "I'm not for a government-sponsored solution," Udall said. "I'm for enhancing and improving the employer-based system that we have" (Bartels, 9/3).

The New York Times: 9 Things You Maybe Didn't Know About Mitch McConnell
McConnell and Grimes both have reasons for not pressing Obamacare. It is not exactly a mutual nonaggression pact, but neither McConnell nor Grimes has an interest in focusing on the Affordable Care Act. Grimes has been nudged by some Kentucky Democrats to embrace a law that has nearly halved the state's uninsured population, but she has so far resisted out of fear of giving McConnell any opportunity to link her to an issue so identified with Obama, who is quite unpopular in the state. McConnell criticizes Grimes for supporting the health law, but he and his allies have been more focused on linking her to what they see as the more culturally resonant issue of coal. Even if no one is trumpeting its success on the campaign trail, Obamacare has been successful in Kentucky. This is especially true in the impoverished eastern part of the state, where McConnell hopes to cut into Grimes's margins or even win some traditionally Democratic counties (Martin, 9/3).