It is becoming increasingly clear how important it is to liberals to try to insulate Obamacare from what is shaping up as another “shellacking.”  Sure, a few months after House Democrats passed Obamacare (over unanimous Republican opposition), they lost more House seats (63) while also losing control of that chamber than they had since the 1800s.  And, sure, President Obama’s approval rating in Gallup’s polling, which was 67 percent shortly after he took office, has been in the 40s for 18 of the 19 quarters since his Senate allies passed Obamacare (over unanimous GOP opposition) on Christmas Eve 2009.  But Obamacare can’t be to blame for any of this, can it?  For if it can, that would suggest that the liberal centerpiece of an entire presidency can be repealed and replaced.

Thus, the New York Times asserts, “Republican attacks on the health care law dominated the early months of the campaign, but now have largely receded from view.”  Unfortunately for the Times, this claim is false.  According to Kantar Media’s Campaign Media Analysis Group (CMAG), anti-Obamacare ads have dominated GOP ad buys in October.  In Senate races during the week of October 13-19, Republicans ran nearly 12,000 anti-Obamacare ads.  That’s nearly twice as many as they ran on jobs/unemployment, and it’s more than they ran on immigration and international affairs combined.  The top-5 issues for the GOP in Senate races for the week of October 13-19 were as follows:  1. Obamacare (nearly 12,000 ads); 2. Budget/Government Spending (nearly 9,000 ads); 3. Energy/Environment (nearly 7,000 ads); 4. Jobs/Unemployment (more than 6,000 ads); 5. Immigration (nearly 5,000 ads).