Tom Ridge considers run for U.S. Senate.
Posted in Main Blog (All Posts) on May 3rd, 2009 4:34 am by HL
Tom Ridge considers run for U.S. Senate.
Bush’s former Secretary of Homeland Security, Tom Ridge, is considering a run for the Republican Senate nomination in his home state of Pennsylvania. Roll Call reports “Ridge’s moderate politics and national profile would make him a more viable candidate in the general election” against Arlen Specter, who recently switched to the Democratic Party because he […]
Bush’s former Secretary of Homeland Security, Tom Ridge, is considering a run for the Republican Senate nomination in his home state of Pennsylvania. Roll Call reports “Ridge’s moderate politics and national profile would make him a more viable candidate in the general election” against Arlen Specter, who recently switched to the Democratic Party because he feared that he would not be able to win the Republican primary. Several Democrats, including Rep. Joe Sestak (D-PA) and Pennsylvania Board of Education chair Joe Torsella, are considering competing against Specter in a primary. Specter has lined up the support of Gov. Ed Rendell (D-PA) and President Obama.
Ben Nelson opposes Obama?s health care plan.
President Obama has said that he would reform the health care system by establishing a “public insurance program to compete with private insurers” that would help reduce costs and guarantee coverage. But Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE), whose biggest campaign donor is the insurance industry, said he’s not interested in a public option. HuffPost reports why: Nelson’s […]
President Obama has said that he would reform the health care system by establishing a “public insurance program to compete with private insurers” that would help reduce costs and guarantee coverage. But Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE), whose biggest campaign donor is the insurance industry, said he’s not interested in a public option. HuffPost reports why:
Nelson’s problem, he told CQ, is that the public plan would be too attractive and would hurt the private insurance plans. “At the end of the day, the public plan wins the game,” Nelson said. Including a public option in a health plan, he said, was a “deal breaker.”
As the Wonk Room’s Igor Volsky has written, “When considering health reform, policy makers have a choice to make: restructure the health insurance market so that it provides affordable and comprehensive health benefits to all Americans, or protect the monopoly of private insurers and continue redistributing as much income as possible to the private insurance industry.” Unfortunately, It appears Ben Nelson values the profits of insurers over affordable coverage for all.
