For Romney, big family at center of life, campaign

◼ Photos At Buzzfeed

◼ His five sons, five daughters-in-law and 18 grandchildren — "a bevy of Romneys," he's called them — were front and center on Independence Day - KASIE HUNT/AP/SF Chronicle

At a time when nontraditional families have become more common, and when even the Romneys watch "Modern Family," a popular sitcom that centers on unconventional family arrangements, the Romney brood stands out. Mitt and Ann Romney have been married for more than 40 years.

It's an embodiment of the family values message that resonates with Republicans and Democrats, and it offers a chance for Romney to portray himself as caring and authentic. That's a handy perception for him to cultivate in the face of Democratic attempts to paint him as a heartless millionaire....

There are five Romney sons: Tagg, Matt, Josh, Ben and Craig. All tall and photogenic, they range in age from 31 to 42. Three work in real estate, one is in private equity, and the fifth is finishing his medical residency.

...next summer, the lakefront estate could be the Wolfeboro White House. Surrounded by his family on Wednesday, Romney said he and his wife woke up that morning and marveled.

"We looked at each other," Romney said, "and said, 'Oh, gosh, our love really started something, didn't it?'"

Under the new mandates, ObamaCare makes HSAs much less attractive, not because they don’t work, but because they don’t qualify

◼ ObamaCare Putting Squeeze on
Health Savings Accounts - Bob Adelmann/New American

HSAs were first allowed under law as part of President George W. Bush’s prescription drug program passed in 2003. At the time it seemed a common sense answer to a sticky problem: over usage of health insurance benefits and the consequent rising costs to pay for that over usage.

Most of the health insurance offered by employers featured low-deductible, high-premium plans with some form of cost-sharing between employers and the covered employees. The premium for a family of four, for instance, might run $14,000 a year for insurance with a $200 deductible. The reason the premium was so high was because the plan covered nearly everything that could be crammed into the definition of “health care": regular checkups, coughs due to colds, elevated temperatures, minor scrapes, and so forth.

Plans with much higher deductibles, however, began to gain acceptance. That same family of four would have a premium of just $8,000 annually if their deductible were, say, $2,000 instead of $200. There were several obvious advantages: Aside from the $6,000 in annual savings in premiums, the plan rarely was used except for truly major medical expenses: serious illnesses, horrific accidents and the like. The deductible was paid by the family out-of-pocket, which meant that family was much more prudent about deciding if a doctor’s visit was really necessary.

HSAs amplified the advantage by allowing employees to deposit some of that $6,000 savings into a plan with some tax benefits: Those deposits were “before-tax” and monies could be withdrawn from the plan, when needed, without incurring a tax penalty. It was like paying medical expenses on a pre-tax basis. Additionally, any amounts not used up in a year were allowed to accumulate tax-free, and could, upon retirement, be used for other purposes, with taxes levied the same as withdrawals from an IRA....

Under the new mandates, ObamaCare makes HSAs much less attractive, not because they don’t work, but because they don’t qualify....

Got that? In order to make health care more affordable to the masses, the new rules are making it more expensive.

MEDIA REFUSES TO MAKE OBAMA PAY PRICE FOR LIES

◼ Over the airwaves and on the stump, Obama is currently running around the country portraying his opponent Mitt Romney as an outsourcer. This is a proven lie. - John Nolte/Breitbart's BIG Journalism

And what have we heard from a media currently obsessed with fact-checking? Not a peep, not a sound, not a word.

Obama told students that a bill to freeze student loan interest rates would save them $1,000 a year when it will only save them $87.

And what have we heard from a media currently obsessed with fact-checking? Not a peep, not a sound, not a word. Much more at the link.

Obama Saturday address: We need to rebuild this economy… again

◼ Short version: Pretend I haven’t been president for three and a half years, that Dems didn’t have carte blanche in Washington, DC for two of them, and that we didn’t just overhaul the health care system. - Doug Powers/Michelle Malkin

The administration has vowed to keep building and rebuilding the economy in any and every way as long as it’s not supply-side related until they stumble upon an alternate reality in which their policies actually work.

◼ Ramirez Editorial Cartoons - IBD

◼ WaPo: It’s looking like Obama has nothing new to offer on jobs, economy - Ed Morrissey/HotAir

How much damage did Friday’s jobs report — the third disappointment in a row — do to Barack Obama’s re-election effort? It might take some time for the answer to be fully known, but one measure might be the reaction in the media. The Washington Post news report of Obama’s response to the worst jobs quarter in two years explicitly wonders whether Obama can maintain the position that his policies are doing anything to help, and whether he has any new ideas to break the country out of this stagnation...

◼ OBAMA, THE BROKEN RECORD - David Bossie/Breitbart

North Carolina moves to “Lean Romney”

◼ North Carolina looks likely to revert to its past support for Republican nominees - Chris Cillza/Washington Post

For starters, the state’s unemployment rate (as of May) stood at 9.4 percent — more than a point higher than the national average and 48th nationally.

Then there is the alleged sexual harassment scandal surrounding the North Carolina Democratic Party that has led to the resignation — and unresignation — of the party’s chairman. (Not kidding. That happened.) And then there is the indictment of three aides to retiring Gov. Bev Perdue’s (D) campaign. And the ongoing tensions between organized labor and the Obama campaign for the decision to put the Democratic National Convention in a right-to-work state.

Polling — and there hasn’t been all that much of it — suggests a close race with a slight edge to Romney. The Real Clear Politics average of North Carolina data puts Romney at 47 percent to 45 percent for Obama.

MCCOTTER RESIGNS: 'STRIKE ANOTHER MATCH, START ANEW'

◼ "After nearly 26 years in elected office, this past nightmarish month and a half have, for the first time, severed the necessary harmony between the needs of my constituency and of my family," McCotter wrote. "As this harmony is required to serve, its absence requires I leave." - Breitbart

Economists React: This Jobs Number ‘Stinks’

◼ Economists and others weigh in on the tepid gain in jobs in June and the unchanged unemployment rate. - Phil Izzo/Wall St. Journal

–The best description I can come up with for this report would a technical term: blah… At this point, I am inclined to believe that employers have simply gone into slumber mode — waiting for some clarity in fiscal and regulatory policy that will only come November 6. –Stephen Stanley, Pierpoint Securities

◼ 10 reasons why jobs market even worse than weak June employment report - Andrew Malcolm/IBD

780,000 More Women Unemployed Today Than When Obama Took Office

◼ The unemployment rate for women in January of this year was 8.3 percent, or 5,997,000 unemployed, an increase of 992,000 since the president was inaugurated. - CNS

Obama: "Most People Would Acknowledge That I’ve Tried Real Hard"

◼ "I suspect that most people in Cincinnati would acknowledge that I've tried real hard, and we haven't gotten the Republicans to engage on a whole range of issues that, I wish had happened," Obama said in an interview with WLWT-TV in Cincinnati, Ohio. - Real Clear Politics

◼ Well, he has tried real hard at spending your money. He’s tried real hard at pushing a far left socialist agenda. He’s tried real hard at fundamentally changing America. You’ve got to give him that. - Jim Hoft/Gateway Pundit

12 Incredible Quotes About ObamaCare the ObamaTAX

◼ In the words of a commenter... let’s all see that these comments are SHARED and SHARED and SHARED… - Bert Atkinson Jr./Independent Journal Review

#1 Donald Trump: Let me get this straight . . .

We’re going to be “gifted” with a health care plan we are forced to purchase and fined if we don’t! Which purportedly covers at least ten million more people without adding a single new doctor, but provides for 16,000 new IRS agents, written by a committee whose chairman says he doesn’t understand it, passed by a Congress that didn’t read it but exempted themselves from it, and signed by a Dumbo President who smokes, with funding administered by a treasury chief who didn’t pay his taxes, for which we’ll be taxed for four years before any benefits take effect, by a government which has already bankrupted Social Security and Medicare, all to be overseen by a surgeon general who is obese , and financed by a country that’s broke!!!!!

‘What the hell could possibly go wrong?’ More at the link.

"America Can Do Better And This Kick In The Gut Has Got To End"

◼ Romney: 'It Doesn't Have To Be This Way' - Daniel Halper/Weekly Standard



"Not only is the 8.2 percent number unacceptably high and that has been in place for over 41 months, but in addition if you look at the broader analysis of people who are out of work or dropped out of the workforce or that are underemployed in part-time jobs needing full time work, it's almost 15 percent of the American public," Romney said, according to a rush transcript. "Then there those that are working, but working in jobs well beneath their skill level or multiple part-time jobs. Kids that are coming out of college not being able to find work. Veterans coming home not being able to do anything but stand in an unemployment line. These are very difficult times for the American people."

But while "the president doesn't have a plan," according to Romney, and "hasn't proposed new ideas to get the economy going," it can change: "It doesn't have to be this way." More, at the link.

◼ Mitt Romney addressed the press 90 minutes after the BLS released the June jobs report, and hammered Barack Obama for his economic policies and ObamaCare. “This kick in the gut has to end,” Romney told the press, and during a question-and-answer period put a large amount of the blame on ObamaCare. “When three-quarters of small businesses say that ObamaCare is keeping them from hiring,” Romney replied, “it shows that President Obama has put his liberal agenda ahead of job creation.” - HotAir

Obama, meanwhile, called today’s report “a step in the right direction.” Er ….
__________________
Mitt Romney

O NO: 8.2%

JUNE JOBS REPORT MISSES EXPECTATIONS, UNEMPLOYMENT 8.2%
◼ The U.S. economy created just 80,000 jobs in June: Unemployment 8.2% - CNBC
Drudge headlines:
◼ Just 80,000 jobs added in June... - Business Insider
◼ One-third at temp agencies... - TIME
◼ Unemployment rate for blacks jumps to 14.4%... - Business Insider
◼ Rate stuck at 11% for Hispanics... - Daniel Halper/Weekly Standard
◼ 780,000 Fewer Women Employed Under Obama... - CNS
◼ WHITE HOUSE: 'NO QUICK FIXES'... - Daniel Halper/Weekly Standard
◼ Romney: 'It Doesn't Have To Be This Way'... - Daniel Halper/Weekly Standard
◼ Anxiety mounts as economy limps into 2nd half... - CNBC
◼ DOW PLUNGES... - CNBC
◼ Team Obama predicted 5.6% today with stimulus... - AEI
◼ IMF to cut global growth forecast... - Reuters
◼ 'Tilted to the downside'... - Telegraph
_______________
◼ Mitt Romney addressed the press 90 minutes after the BLS released the June jobs report, and hammered Barack Obama for his economic policies and ObamaCare. “This kick in the gut has to end,” Romney told the press, and during a question-and-answer period put a large amount of the blame on ObamaCare. “When three-quarters of small businesses say that ObamaCare is keeping them from hiring,” Romney replied, “it shows that President Obama has put his liberal agenda ahead of job creation.” - HotAir

Obama, meanwhile, called today’s report “a step in the right direction.” Er ….

◼ Negative Job Growth - Larry Johnson/NoQuarter

After almost four years of Obama policies, the number of Americans unemployed or not in the labor force has ballooned to 4,817,000. That is the horrific increase and the statistics do not tell the story of mothers and fathers depressed because they cannot find work and feed their families. These are not mere numbers. Oh, and the ones hardest hit? African Americans and Latinos.

It is one thing to endure the inane verbal gymnastics and contortions of Obama cheerleaders who insist Obama’s economic policies are working, but it is outrageous that the mainstream media continues to probe the feces looking for flecks of gold. Shit is shit folks, and the latest numbers on unemployment are truly shitty.

The number no longer in the labor force is truly shocking. We have seen a surge of SIX MILLION THREE HUNDRED THIRTY THREE THOUSAND (6,333,000) men and women who are no longer in the labor force. That is the only way Obama can pretend that unemployment is holding steady.

Here is the critical number for measuring where we stand. I will put this in caps–THERE ARE FOUR MILLION EIGHT HUNDRED SEVENTEEN THOUSAND (4,817,000) AMERICANS WHO ARE UNEMPLOYED OR NOT IN THE LABOR FORCE AFTER THREE PLUS YEARS OF OBAMA POLICIES.

Let Obama run on that. His plan is to push Americans out of the job market. If you are comfortable with that kind of economy then Obama is your boy.

◼ Jobs report: 80K jobs added, 8.2% jobless rate; Update: Worst quarter in 2 years - HotAir

YRNF and CRNC Join “Crossroads Generation”

◼ The College Republican National Committee and the Young Republican National Federation and have partnered with American Crossroads and the Republican State Leadership Committeeto launch an unprecedented youth initiative, Crossroads Generation, to mobilize young people for Republicans. - yrnf.com

With young people facing high unemployment, a grim job market and record high student loan debt, the youth vote is up for grabs.

"The college students who voted for President Obama four years ago are now recent graduates who are 53% un- or under-employed. These young professionals are desperate for economic policy that can deliver a pro-business, pro-job environment that can help them establish themselves as they look to build careers and families," said Lisa Stickan, Chairman of the Young Republican National Federation.

The College Republican National Committee and the Young Republican National Federation are the nation's oldest, largest, and most active youth political organizations. The CRNC is an 527 group and boasts more than 250,000 members on over 1,800 campuses. The YRNF is also a 527 with over 100,000 young professional members.

Photoplay Diplomacy

◼ The foreign policy of a narcissist. - George H. Wittman/American Spectator

...It would appear that President Obama lost sight of the fact that the United States is desirous of Russia's cooperation rather than the other way around. It has been apparent for some time that Moscow intends to keep its foot in the doorway of Middle Eastern politics and stalwartly supporting Iran and Syria is how it intends to accomplish this. Putin already has shown he doesn't alter positions on anything unless his interests are enhanced. This fact should have been understood by Barack Obama. If he was as clever and expert in all aspects of negotiation as he obviously thinks he is, the meeting in Mexico with Putin would have gone quite differently. Obama's autocratic instincts are as deep as Putin's, even if his rhetoric pretends differently.

Unlike Obama, Putin is a graduate of the Cold War and the days of Russian ascendancy. A renowned historian of that period, Charles Gati, wrote revealingly regarding Russian foreign policy that it was " a mixture of assertiveness and accommodation." That accommodation comes, however, only when the alternative is feared. It was true during the days of the Soviet Union and it remains true today. The current Russian president has made quite clear his desire to return his country to the preeminence it once held when it was recognized as one of the world's two superpowers. Putin will never deal with Obama on an equal basis and certainly has no intention of granting him acceptance personally.

What President Obama does not appear to grasp is that his Russian adversary -- and Putin is that -- intends to treat him as strictly a "short timer" no matter the November election results. If President Obama is to get anywhere with Russia, it will have to be with the assistance of "Dimi" Medvedev with whom he is far more congenial. This, too, is part of the Russian ploy. Putin recognizes that the U.S. is the greatest military power in the world, but he also knows Obama will never use that power to get what he wants in the Middle East -- or anywhere else. Putin is a well-practiced tough guy who is careful in his assessment of his opponent. Russia's #2 is deemed adequate to deal with America's #1, as long as it remains Obama.

The world in which Barack Obama lives is dominated by himself; everything else is simply a backdrop. Putin has been well briefed on this by his intelligence profilers. It hasn't taken extraordinary talent to analyze the American president's narcissism, but the Russians surely know how to exploit it. Too bad that Barack Obama is incapable of doing the same thing the other way around. - More at the link.

Romney campaign goes on voter blitz for 'Super Saturday'

◼ In the first of a series of massive volunteer mobilization efforts, the campaign and the Republican Party will undertake "Super Saturday," a day when GOP volunteers call and canvass hundreds of thousands of swing-state voters, just as they will before Nov. 6.

In 2008, Republicans made 28 million voter contacts, Wiley said. That jumped to 44 million in 2010, a number that he says this year's effort will exceed.

Republicans have a formidable opponent in the Obama campaign, which has reactivated its volunteer network from 2008, opened dozens of offices in swing states and is running full tilt on social media.
__________________
You can help send Mitt Romney to the White House without ever leaving your home. The "Volunteer for Mitt" program is up and running for supporters who can spare a few minutes to make personal calls to other voters across the country, in those swing states.

Super-Easy Calling for Mitt Romney--From Your Home!

◼ Click here to learn how you can get involved!
To learn more about Call From Home:
◼ Click here to view the instructional video or
◼ Click here to view step-by-step written instructions.
__________________
Mitt Romney
LIKE Mitt on Facebook
◼ Humboldt Romney Volunteers

Americans should remember just how many rules, standards, and traditions had to be twisted or bulldozed in order for the [un]Affordable Care Act to become law

◼ Obamacare's Hideous History, Recounted - Quin Hillyer/American Spectator

...There will be time aplenty in the coming months to take apart Roberts' slipshod, intellectually illegitimate opinion clause by clause and argument by argument. There will be time enough to show that his transparent hackery quite devastatingly undermined the very "legitimacy" of the court that he made such a purely political decision to try to protect.

For now, though, it is worth studying the foregoing litany of injustices, committing it to memory, and letting its lessons burn with a cold fury in our brains and souls -- a well-considered and purposeful fury that impels us all to do everything necessary to counteract the baleful effects of this abomination, and to make sure such a creature never raises its horrendous head again. This law is (figuratively speaking) the spawn of vile political beasts. It must be decapitated.

California Assembly votes to approve funds for California high-speed rail

◼ The state Assembly voted this afternoon to approve initial funding for California's $68 billion high-speed rail project, setting up a crucial vote in the Senate on Friday. - Sacramento Bee

Mitt Romney sets GOP fund-raising record

◼ The Romney campaign, along with its Romney Victory fund, raised more than $100 million in June, obliterating the campaign's goal and setting the one-month record for any Republican campaign, according to a GOP official. - Politico

The Romney campaign outraised Obama in May — taking in $77 million, compared with $60 million for the Obama campaign and the Democratic National Committee.
The Romney campaign says much of the June haul came from new donors, with states from coast to coast out-performing their targets.

Ann Romney on CBS News

◼ link

'Hypocrisy on Debt'

◼ RNC Launches 'Hypocrisy on Debt' Video as Obama Kicks Off Bus Tour - Leah Barkoukis/Townhall

Ann Romney Says Woman Being Considered For Ticket

◼ Ann Romney says in an interview, “We’ve been looking at that and I love that option as well.”
- Washington/CBS local

◼ Romney's VP Short List: It May Be Down to Four - Real Clear Politics

Mitt Romney may be tight-lipped about his vice presidential short list, warning that only he and longtime aide Beth Myers know who is on it, but a close examination of the campaign's activity suggests four contenders have risen through the ranks: Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, Ohio Sen. Rob Portman, Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal.

New Hampshire Sen. Kelly Ayotte and Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell may be considered wild cards, and Romney has said he’s thoroughly vetting Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, though the first-term lawmaker’s status appears unchanged.

◼ When Mitt Romney marched in a small town Fourth of July parade, many eyes turned to the tanned woman at his side: vice presidential contender Kelly Ayotte, the young N.H. senator who meets a lot of VP requirements. - NY Daily News

"The bottom line is clear and troubling: The federal government is about to assume massive new powers"

◼ Officials have already drafted 13,000 pages of new regulations for the new ObamaTax law. - Gateway Pundit

...There has been much focus on the mandate that all Americans obtain health insurance, but analysts say that’s just a small part of the law — covering only a few pages out of the law’s 2700.

“The fact of the matter is the mandate is about two percent of the whole piece of the legislation,” Spalding said. “It’s a minor part.”

Much bigger than the mandate itself are the insurance exchanges that will administer $681 billion in subsidies over 10 years, which will require a lot of new federal workers at the IRS and health department....

Bad news: Wages drop, only 5th time in 33 years

◼ In the latest demonstration of the struggling economy that threatens President Obama's reelection, average weekly wages fell in 2011, one of only five declines since the category was created in 1978 by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. - Paul Bedard/Washington Examiner

The wage drop comes as employment has increased in a majority of the counties in the last quarter of 2011, said the agency. That irony makes it the only quarter in history where wages shrunk while employment grew, a grim reminder that more Americans are taking additional jobs to make ends meet.

Voters will go to the polls 18 weeks from today. And while Democrats had given up hope on a real recovery by then, they now have to face the strong possibility that there will be further contraction.

◼ 4th Of July Obama Economic Bummer News

Wall Street is coming out with a barrage of recent negative economic indicators that has to have the Obama White House panicked.

...The third quarter of the year, which began Sunday, is the time in which attitudes about the economy will harden. Between now and the end of September Americans will pass a final judgment on Obama’s economic stewardship. Every indication seems to be that voters will have ample evidence that things are getting worse, or at best, continuing to stagnate.

Romney: "It is a tax."

◼ The Supreme Court upheld the individual mandate as “a tax” in its ruling last week Romney said in the interview that he agreed with the dissent in the court’s ruling, but that the dissent lost. The majority of the court said it was a tax, and “therefore it is a tax.” - Washington Post

◼ Obama silent while spokesman denies mandate is a tax - Byron York/Washington Examiner

Anchor Soledad O’Brien asked LaBolt: “His spokesman…said it’s a penalty. The Supreme Court has said it’s a tax. What does he believe?”

“That it’s a penalty,” LaBolt answered. “You saw our arguments before the Supreme Court…”

“So then he disagrees with the Supreme Court decision that says it’s now a tax?” O’Brien asked.

“That’s right,” said LaBolt. “He said that it’s a penalty. You saw our arguments before the Court.”

At that point, O’Brien pointed out that the Obama administration’s solicitor general, Donald Verrilli, argued before the Court that if the justices chose not to find the mandate constitutional under the Commerce Clause, they could still uphold it because it is a tax, and Congress has broad power to levy taxes.

...Just a few days ago, a spokesman for the Romney campaign said that Mitt Romney, too, believed the mandate was a penalty. But on Wednesday Romney specifically said that the Court ruling means the mandate is a tax. Now, a spokesman for Obama is continuing to deny that the mandate is a tax. But the one person who has remained silent about the issue is President Obama himself. Where does he stand? Does he believe the mandate is a tax? Does he think the Supreme Court is wrong? What is his position?

A Country of Free Men or Free Things

◼ The Fourth of July is Independence Day, but every other day is Co-Dependence Day, the days we celebrate our integration, our volunteerism and our compliance with a vast system which makes everyone dependent on the government and which makes the government dependent on everyone who still works for someone other than the government—including the freest of free riders, who work for themselves. - Daniel Greenberg/Sultan Knish

...As the last wave of fireworks die out, the shooting stars sinking to earth and vanishing into the darkness, the light of Independence Day fades and the crowds slowly trudge away from the brief spectacle, past the lines of police barricades, through narrow streets, past government buildings, back to their co-dependent lives in a co-dependent nation where the will of the people and the rights of the individual matter less than the latest proposal to solve the problems of their independence by making the country a more dependent place.

A few hundred years ago in these streets, men and women celebrated the end of tyranny, and in its darkest hour, lines of grim men marched along the waterfront up to the highest point on the island to mount a final defense. Sometimes the older buildings still wear their shadows on their brick walls and by the golden light of the fireworks you can almost see them, shadows moving in the darkness, their footsteps taking them north, a faint song on their lips, muskets in their hands, their lives lost and gained in defense of their freedom.

◼ The Declaration of Independence, Fixed - The American Interest
◼ “It was a rebellion against the whole idea that some special anointed could tell everybody else what to do.” - Rachel Lucas

The Best of America

It's hot, but this is not time to give up! Let's keep pushing, please come in for an hour on Saturday for our Super Saturday event! If doors aren't for you, we have plenty of calls to make! RSVP today! (703) 766-4467

JOIN US July 4th in Old Town and in Ferndale!

Our REPUBLICAN booth in Old Town at the Eureka Main Street Fair will be open from 10 a.m. - 5 p.m, Wednesday, July 4. We will be at the Old Town July 4th Fair, stop by and say "HI!" Register to vote, find out how you can make a difference in this coming election.

The Humboldt Romney Volunteers committee will be driving two Model A’s, with banners, in Ferndale’s annual Fourth of July Parade.

Note: Due to the July 4th Holiday, there will be no Republican Central Committee meeting on Thursday, July 5th. Our next regularly scheduled meeting will be Thursday, August 2nd.

The Declaration of Independence: A Transcription

IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

PM Netanyahu's Message for July 4, 2012 US Independence Day

WEIGH IN: 2012 Survey of Republican Women

Take a break, grab a chair, pour a cup of coffee and tell us what is on your mind!

The National Federation of Republican Women invites ALL REPUBLICAN WOMEN to take a few minutes to participate in our anonymous ONLINE survey.

During this critical election year in which women have become the primary focus, the truth about who Republican women are and what they believe has been distorted by the media and our political opponents. Please help us paint an accurate picture and let your voice be heard.

The resulting data will be released to the media during the Republican National Convention in Tampa, and will continue to be released throughout the fall leading up to the November elections.

Special recognition will be given to each Republican women's club that achieves participation among 50 percent or more of its members. Details to come.

Your participation is invaluable! Invite your Republican women friends to participate, too. Share this survey link with your e-mail lists, and on your Facebook, Twitter, and web sites. Let's use our national network to promote this survey!

TAKE THE SURVEY NOW: ◼ HERE
DOWNLOAD THE PROMOTIONAL FLYER: ◼ HERE

25 Photos From Mitt's Family Vacation

◼ At Buzzfeed
◼ The Romney ‘Camelot’? GOP Candidate’s Family Compared To Kennedy Clan - CBS/DC

Fred Thompson on The Roberts Opinion

◼ The chief justice did remind us of one thing of overriding importance: We can’t sit back and count upon the courts to save us from ourselves. I believe that he made a mistake, but so did we. The real silver lining is that in a democratic republic we get another chance in November to fix it. - at National Review

The November elections are the last hope — we must elect a Congress and a president committed to repealing Obamacare. They, and all of us, will need to be armed with the facts to explain to the American people exactly what is in this monstrous law.

◼ The Top Ten Worst Things in Obamacare - Grace-Marie Turner/National Review

The president now must spend the next four months defending a law that the majority of Americans dislike, and the more they learn about it, the more they dislike it. Worse, the part of the law that is the least popular — the individual mandate — has now been declared a tax.

That’s double jeopardy for the president: The unpopular mandate stands, and it is called a tax. (And this is only one of the 20 new and higher taxes in the law.) Either the president admits it’s a tax as a way of keeping the law on the books, or he says that the Supreme Court is wrong, that it’s not a tax, in which case his law would be invalid.

...So let’s get ready for the debate. About seven in ten Americans had told pollsters they wanted the Supreme Court to strike down all or part of the health overhaul law. Since it didn’t do that, we all must be armed with the facts as the battles continue at least into November so the voters can issue the final verdict.

Here’s a quick checklist of the ten worst things in the law — in addition to the individual and Medicaid mandates... At the link...

◼ Obamacare Opinion Makes Voters More Apt to Back Romney - Jeffrey H. Anderson/Weekly Standard

By a margin of 21 points (32 to 11 percent), voters say that they are now more, rather than less, apt to vote for Romney. By a margin of 15 percentage points (29 to 14 percent), voters say that they are now less, rather than more, apt to vote for Obama.

The ObamaCare process involved breaking a long list of rules and laws and then defying the ragged remnants of the system to do anything about it. At every turn the United States was unable to stop a rogue chief executive and his ruling party from trampling the law.

◼ Lies We Can Believe In - Sultan Knish

Obama's rise to power is a mirror of the national problems that got him there. All the things wrong with him are reflected, to some extent, in the men and women who voted for him. It could not be otherwise. His lawlessness is a symptom of an existing lawlessness. His contempt for values and morals, for tradition and history, for the nation itself, is a symptom of the contempt that the left has fed over the years until it has become a poison in the national bloodstream.

To truly defeat Obama, we have to be able to defeat those negative traits as well. To understand what gave someone like him power over so many people. It is not enough to just remove him from office, because, unless we understand the corruption that made his rise possible, he, or someone like him, will rise again.

Romney: massive support from North Carolina independents, topping Obama among the key voting bloc, 54% to 36%

◼ Poll: Romney Leads Obama By 5 In North Carolina

...The poll was conducted June 29-July 1 by SurveyUSA on behalf of Civitas Institute, a conservative organization based in North Carolina. Romney earns the support of 50 percent of Tar Heel State voters, compared with 45 percent who prefer Obama. The presumptive Republican nominee enjoys massive support from North Carolina independents, topping Obama among the key voting bloc, 54 percent to 36 percent.

THE POWER TO MANDATE - WHY YOU SHOULD DEPLORE ROBERTS' DECISION

◼ link - Tom Del Beccaro,/Political Vanguard

...Fifty years from now, the US will be interminably worse and this ruling will play a major role. It opens a new door through which even more federal centralization of power will enter. That is the hour hand of history that will toll for the American experience.

To preserve the American Experience, we need a Constitutional Amendment that states quite clearly that government cannot regulate or tax inactivity. If we do not fight for that, we will have accepted government as our Master and disappointed our Founders and History.

Two days after the Supreme Court handed down its landmark ruling on President Obama’s signature legislation, the president delivered his weekly radio address and didn’t utter one word about Obamacare or the ruling.

◼ One day later, when asked by Chris Wallace whether Obamacare “must clear another hurdle in the November election” (which of course it must), Obama’s Chief of Staff Jack Lew replied, “You know, Chris, one thing that’s great about our system is that when the Supreme Court rules, we have a final answer.” - Jeffrey H. Anderson/Weekly Standard

...Lew then fancifully added, “I think the thing that the American people want is for the divisive debate on health care to stop.”

These examples show how much Obama wants his centerpiece legislation to be a central part of the campaign — which is about all one needs to know about how much Mitt Romney should want it to be a central part of the campaign.

July 3, 1863 The Battle of Gettysburg ends

◼ Via Human Events: On the third day of the Battle of Gettysburg, Confederate General Robert E. Lee's last attempt at breaking the Union line ends in disastrous failure, bringing the most decisive battle of the American Civil War to an end.

Rasmussen: Conservative Anger Against Obamacare Hitting 'Stratospheric Levels'

◼ Conservative interest in the presidential election hit “stratospheric levels” following last week’s Supreme Court ruling upholding Obamacare, noted pollster and author Scott Rasmussen tells Newsmax.TV. - Paul Scicchitano and Kathleen Walter/Newsmax

“All that did was energize conservatives,” declared Rasmussen in an exclusive interview on Monday. “The conservative interest in the election was already much higher than that of moderates and liberals. It went up to really stratospheric levels right after the ruling. We don’t know if that will continue or if it’s just a temporary response to the news cycle.” Video and much more at the link.

CNN poll of 15 battleground states: Romney currently has a 51%-43% advantage over the president among registered voters

◼ A rare case in which a news outlet actually tries to undermine its own poll by pointing out problems in its methodology. - Allahpundit/HotAir

...If Romney’s lead across swing states is approaching double digits then I’m pretty sure he’s not sweating over Obama’s “home turf,” especially since polls of registered voters tend to underestimate actual Republican strength on election day....

◼ CNN Poll: Health care ruling has not impacted race for White House, so far - CNN

Thursday's landmark Supreme Court decision upholding the country's health care law appears to have had exactly zero impact on the presidential election so far, and has produced virtually no change in opinions on President Barack Obama or Republican challenger Mitt Romney, according to a new national poll.

And while the CNN/ORC International survey released Monday indicates the president with a very slight three point edge over Romney among registered voters nationwide, the presumptive GOP nominee appears to hold an eight point advantage among voters who live in the 15 states considered in play in the race for the White House.

Obama’s Air Force One Call to Donors Reveals Money Worries

◼ “We see where we stand, and right now on a month-to-month basis, we’ve fallen behind,” Obama told a group of high-dollar donors Friday on an 18-minute conference call from Air Force One, according to The Daily Beast, which obtained audio of the call from a participant. - ABC

“We just can’t be outspent 10 to 1,” Obama said. “That’s what happened in Wisconsin recently. The Koch brothers and their allies spent more than the other side’s entire campaign, our side’s entire campaign.

“We are going to see more money spent on negative ads through these super PACs and anonymous outside groups than ever before. And if things continue as they have so far, I’ll be the first sitting president in modern history to be outspent in his re-election campaign.”

An Obama campaign official confirmed the veracity of the recording to ABC News, describing the meeting as a “routine finance call.” (Obama uses a non-taxpayer-funded phone for political calls from the plane, the official said.)

Obama’s message – that he could be the first incumbent U.S. president outspent – seeks to instill a sense of urgency in supporters as the campaign heads into a crucial stretch before the fall conventions. It also comes as part of an aggressive public and private fundraising drive that has sharply escalated in the past few weeks.

◼ 4 EMAILS IN A DAY? Obama begs donors for more as Romney rakes it in... - Telegraph via Drudge

Living on your parents’ couch or being continually discouraged in a summer job search really helps to remove some of the luster from the once-enticing promises of Hopenchange.

◼ New youth voters are feeling oddly less enthusiastic about Obama now than in 2008 - HotAir
◼ Millennial Malaise: O is Like a Bad Boyfriend - Backyard Conservative
◼ Stung by Recession, Young Voters Shed Image as Obama Brigade - NYT

“I think the lack of excitement right now is palpable enough to be a challenge to the re-election campaign” of Mr. Obama, said Peter Levine, director of the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement at Tufts University.

The Romney campaign intends to seize the moment, with new online and campus-based initiatives rolling out in the next few weeks, said Joshua Baca, the campaign’s national coalition director. He said the message would be simple: Mr. Obama’s economic policies are not working for young people.

The strategy? “Dorm room to dorm room” or “parent’s basement to parent’s basement, wherever they are because of the economy, that’s where we’ll be going,” Mr. Baca said. “The key to this is having a very strong volunteer base to knock on doors.”

For its part, the Obama campaign has already started outreach efforts focusing on teenagers in high school. It has organized youth rallies in swing states over the last few months and plans to be a force on college campuses in the fall.

◼ Losing younger voters - Neal Boortz

The central weakness of ObamaCare is the same as the HillaryCare of 18 years ago. It does nothing for the middle class. The middle class already has health insurance. The Obamis tried to surround this truth with a bodyguard of lies about everyone being able to keep their present health insurance and with the canard that a penalty is not a tax. Now Chief Justice Roberts has insisted on telling the American people the truth.

◼ Roberts Hands a Poisoned Chalice to the President - Christopher Chantrill/American Thinker

Whatever you think of Roberts' decision, his message was unequivocal. If you don't like ObamaCare then you'd better vote it down in November. In this he gives conservatives real clarity....

Byron York: Conservative anger growing over Obamacare decision

◼ I ran into a prominent conservative member of Congress Friday night just before the huge storms moved through Washington. - Byron York/Washington Examiner

He was, he said, far angrier on the day after the Supreme Court Obamacare decision than he had been the moment he learned Chief Justice John Roberts had joined the Court’s liberal bloc to uphold the individual mandate at the heart of Obamacare. He didn’t resort to histrionics or profanity, but he was spitting mad — and his anger was growing, not diminishing.

A short time later, I saw another conservative lawmaker who said much the same thing. And yet another conservative leader who was in the same frame of mind.

At the same time, a backlash was forming in response to analyses by some formidable conservative writers — George Will, Charles Krauthammer, and others — who argued the Obamacare decision was actually a victory for conservatives because it placed a limit on expansive interpretations of the Constitution’s Commerce Clause. In the Wall Street Journal, Berkeley law professor and former Bush Justice Department official John Yoo called such silver-lining analyses “hollow hope” and wrote that Obamacare is precisely the disaster for conservatives it appears to be...

◼ John Yoo: Chief Justice Roberts and His Apologists - Wall St. Journal

◼ Why Roberts did it - Charles Krauthammer/Washington Post

...Obamacare is now essentially upheld. There’s only one way it can be overturned. The same way it was passed — elect a new president and a new Congress. That’s undoubtedly what Roberts is telling the nation: Your job, not mine. I won’t make it easy for you.

Secret Service shuts down ‘fire Eric Holder’ protest

◼ After discovering a “suspicious package,” the Secret Service ended the protest. - Joel Gehrke/Washington Examiner

“Several agents seemed hostile to our march and seemed anxious for us to leave the area,” Maurice Lewis, a University of California student, told Campus Reform. “The discover[y of] the ‘unidentified package’ came just as the protest began gain traction.”

◼ Secret Service disrupts students' 'Fire Holder protest' over 'suspicious package' - campusreform.org

This is a DEVELOPING STORY. Continue to check Campus Reform for updates as they happen. Follow the author of this story @JosiahRyan. Photo Credit CampusReform.org and photographer Josiah Ryan.

Alert from Legislative Issues Chair - Northern Division, CFRW

The Supreme Court ruling on Obamacare has many ramifications which are unknown to the majority of Americans. I believe that it is imperative for Republicans to get the word out about exactly what this bill will mean.

The Individual Mandate Tax (no longer a penalty) will require a couple to pay the higher of a base tax of $1,360 per year or 2.5% of adjusted growth income starting with lower tax base and rising to this level by 2016. Individuals will see a base tax of $695 and families a base tax of $2,085 per year by 2016.

The Medicine Cabinet Tax took effect in 2011 and prohibits reimbursement of expenses for over the counter medicine with the lone exception of insulin from an employee’s pre-tax dollar funded Health Saving Account (HSA), Flexible Spending Account (FSA) or Health Reimbursement Account (HRA).

The Flexible Spending Account (FSA) Cap, which begins in 2013 imposes a cap of $2500 per year (currently unlimited) on the amount of pre-tax dollars that can be deposited into these accounts. Funds in these accounts may be used to pay for special needs education for special needs children in the United States. Since tuition rates for this type of special education can easily exceed $14,000 per year the use of pre-tax dollars has helped many middle income families.

The Medical Itemized Deduction Hurdle is currently 7.5% of adjusted gross income. This is the hurdle to meet before medical expenses can be taken as a deduction on federal income taxes. Obamacare raises this hurdle to 10% of adjusted gross income starting in 2013.

Next is the Health Savings Account (HSA) Withdrawal Tax Hike. This provision increases the additional tax on non-medical early withdrawals from an HSA from 10% to 20% beginning in 2013. This provision sets these accounts apart from Investment Retirement Accounts (IRAs) and other accounts which remain at a a10% early withdrawal tax.

The Indoor Tanning Services Tax started in 2010 and places a 10% excise tax on people using tanning salons. While this tax may not mean a lot to many people, it is a move by the government to control the behavior of citizens.

The Excise Tax on Comprehensive Health Insurance Plans (“Cadillac” Health Insurance Plan Tax) imposes a 40% excise tax on employer-paid-premium on taxpayers covered by such plans starting in 2018. The reason for this delay in implementation was to spare union members from this tax for at least a period of time.

The Employer Mandate Tax will impose an annual non-deductible tax on employers with more than 50 employees who do not provide health insurance for their employees.

Employers will face three choices.

Provide some level of health insurance and there would be no impact on employees.
Pay the penalty (probably less expensive than providing health insurance) and force employees to buy their own insurance or purchase it through federal government controlled state exchanges.Estimates are that 20 Million Americans will lose their health insurance as a result of choice #2.

Employers will lay off employees or not hire additional employees.

The Tax on Medical Device Manufacturers that begins in 2013 places a 2.3% excise tax on all items retailing for more than $100. Besides driving up the cost of various medical devices it will also impact an industry that employs 360,000 in 6,000 plants across the country.

The Surtax on Investment Income for households earning $250,000+ begins in 2013 and will raise the Capital Gains Tax from 15% to 23.8% on investment income and will raise Taxes on Dividends from 15% to 43.4% for the same households.

Aside from the impact on retired citizens dependent on dividends this provision pulls income from the private economy. Other Investment Income earned by Subchapter S Corporations will rise from 35% to 43.4%. This provision will place additional pressure on small businesses.

Except for a tax on biofuels, all remaining new taxes in Obamacare are directed at health industry businesses. Undoubtedly, the additional costs will most likely be passed on to the public.

I suggest that Republicans continue to remind everyone that Obamacare was not going to be a middle class tax hike and everyone was going to get better and cheaper health care.

Thank you for all your work.

Edelweiss Geary
Legislative Issues Chair ◼ Northern Division - CFRW

First, Obamacare is not “affordable health care.” It’s not even close.

◼ Then there’s the matter of affordable health care being a right. From a practical standpoint, Obamacare will do more to take away that right than to safeguard it. - Tad Cronn/Godfather Politics

...Chief Justice Roberts actually saw through the lies about Obamacare in making his ruling. It is a tax, and it is a shameless play for expanding government intrusion into private lives. Even as it grasps for power, Obamacare will destroy that system that liberals claimed to want to fix....

Obama Takes the Week Off, back on the campaign trail

◼ Obama presumably also has his usual August vacation lined up as well, though it’s not been announced where he will be headed. It is known, though, that with an election coming up, Obama will not be restoring himself at his customary location, the super-rich enclave of Martha’s Vineyard. - Keith Koffler/whitehousedossier

The president has grumbled that Mitt Romney can campaign full time while he continues to have to perform his day job, but it’s questionable how many hours he’s putting in at the office. ◼ Obama found time for 33 fundraisers in June and campaigned widely, sometimes returning to the White House after Midnight and then sleeping in the next day.

Obama will return to the the White House from Camp David Tuesday and then preside over the White House Fourth of July festivities Wednesday. He will be campaigning in the critical battleground states of Ohio and Pennsylvania Thursday and Friday....

◼ Obama Held Nearly Three Dozen Fundraisers in June - Keith Koffler/whitehousedossier

The Obama fundraising tally – courtesy of the most trusted White House statistician, CBS News White House correspondent Mark Knoller – suggests a president furiously grasping for cash as his campaign fails to meet its fundraising targets and suddenly finds itself outraised by Mitt Romney....

Obama’s aggressive fundraising runs up a large bill for taxpayers, who must foot many of the exorbitant costs of presidential travel, though a portion is paid for by the Obama campaign.

Obama has begun to try to make a virtue of losing the money race – which he won handily in 2004 – sending an email to supporters Tuesday titled “I will be outspent.” The missive suggested that Romney is taking money from nefarious outside groups and is a tool of the rich while Obama focuses on small donors and sticks to his day job.

“I’ve got other responsibilities I’m attending to,” Obama said.

But the stats and Obama’s schedule tell a different story – of a president constantly on the road raising money, repeatedly returning to the White House after midnight and then rolling into work late the next day.

Local Missouri Report: Claire McCaskill Is Hiding From Reporters, Refusing To Say If She Still Supports ObamaTax

◼ They also note the New York Times report that Claire McCaskill lobbied the White House to not hold the Democratic National Convention in St. Louis. - Ace of Spades
◼ Missouri Dem. Senator 'Hiding' from Reporters After Obamacare - Daniel Halper/Weekly Standard

The Missouri senator is in the middle of a close reelection battle. Her past support of Obamacare is thought to pose a great political risk to her future.

McCaskill made news earlier this week by announcing that she will not attend the Democratic convention later this year.

Virginity testing forced on women

◼ Remaining a virgin until marriage can be an issue of life or death for women in the Middle East, where those who are seen as having dishonoured the family by having premarital sex are sometimes killed by male relatives. - Agence France-Presse, News24

...If a man thinks his new wife is not a virgin, he may take the issue to court, leading to the MLI performing a virginity test, said Dawood.

Asked about the results of the tests, Dawood said that "most of them (are) with the woman, not against the woman, but it is by itself... shaming."

However, he said that while women were killed in the past if blood was not found on the sheets after their wedding night, people now seek recourse through the courts and the virginity tests procedure.

The test, which takes between 15 and 30 minutes, is carried out by three doctors, at least one of them a woman, and the results are certified by two others, said Dawood, adding that the tests are done only when ordered by a court.

"The judge is required to send the woman for the medical test when she is accused by her husband of not being a virgin, and that is only done in this case," lawyer Ali Awad Kurdi said....

Liesl Gerntholtz, the director of the Women's Rights Division at Human Rights Watch, said: "The Iraqi government should urgently put measures in place to ensure that women and girls are not forced to undergo physical examinations that are degrading, painful and frightening."

"The use of these tests in court should be banned."

◼ Discussion at Lucianne
◼ SHARIA LAW: IRAQI WOMEN FACE COURT-ORDERED VIRGINITY TESTS - Atlas Shrugs
◼ Sharia in action: Iraqi women face court-ordered virginity tests - Jihad Watch

New Poll: Voters Dislike Supreme Court’s Obamacare Ruling

◼ By a 50–45 margin, voters disapprove of the court’s decision, a Newsweek/Daily Beast poll finds. - Nick Summers/Daily Beast

Voters are reacting in broadly negative ways to the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the legislation known as Obamacare, a new Newsweek/Daily Beast poll finds, with a majority disapproving of the ruling, fearing health-care costs and taxes will rise, and preferring Mitt Romney to President Obama on the issue.

◼ Read the complete results.

The poll was conducted by Douglas Schoen, a Democratic pollster who has worked for the campaigns of Bill and Hillary Clinton, Michael Bloomberg, and other candidates. A national random sample of 600 likely voters was interviewed June 28, immediately following the announcement of the Supreme Court’s ruling on the Affordable Care Act. The margin of error was plus or minus 4 percent.

◼ Chuck DeVore: Obamacare is just a $500 BILLION tax hike

The court has clarified that Obamacare is a massive tax increase on the American people. Americans also know that the onus is squarely on Congress. Does it stand behind this deceptively marketed tax increase on the middle class? Or will it repeal this unpopular law in its entirety and start over with a new patient-centered approach to health care that emphasizes the doctor-patient relationship?

Among other things, this approach would include individual ownership of insurance policies — giving individuals the tax incentive that currently goes to employers. It would promote Health Savings Accounts, which empower individuals with their health care decisions and are proven to reduce costs. And, it would allow consumers to purchase insurance across state lines, letting them choose a plan that fits their specific needs.
It is, after all, the people’s actions in 2006 and 2008 that led to Obamacare’s passage. And it was the people’s actions in 2010 and pending actions in 2012 that may prove this law’s undoing. Elections have consequences.

The July Newsletter is out

◼ CLICK HERE to view the June Issue of The Redwood Alert

(Note correction: RSVP by JULY 13th, not June. The editor sheepishly apologizes for the error.)

It’s a tax: Delegitimization isn’t a Supreme Court problem

◼ Consider this our latest entry in the Great Hunt for Silver Linings series, post-Mandate-mas. I’ll gather three wise men to muse upon the impact of the Supreme Court ruling, two of whom believe silver linings are easily found — and one of which believes the cloud to be even darker than we realize. - Ed Morrissey/HotAir

◼ Sunday Reflection: The Supreme Court, Obamacare and 'legitimacy' - Glenn Reynolds/Washington Examiner
◼ Obama's Supreme Court win may prove hollow - Michael Barone/Washington Examiner
◼ Is this 1936? - David Bernstein/SCOTUSblog

(8 mins)

We now know categorically that Obamacare was a tax after all. President Obama misled the American people and now we have an enormous tax increase on our hands. According to the House Ways and Means Committee, there will be 21 tax increases because of the Obamacare Tax, costing more than $675 billion over the next ten years. In simple terms, the American people were duped by President Obama. Whether you are rich or poor, white or black, male or female, Democrat or Republican, your taxes are going up.

◼ GAME CHANGE: THE OBAMACARE TAX - David Bossie/Breitbart

◼ Graph: the 10 grooviest new Obamacare taxes - Doug Ross

Today in History: The 26th Amendment

◼ On June 22, 1970, President Richard Nixon signed an extension of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that required the voting age to be 18 in all federal, state, and local elections... It was adopted on July 1, 1971.

On July 5, 1971, during the amendment's signing ceremony in the East Room, President Richard Nixon talked about his confidence in the youth of America.

As I meet with this group today, I sense that we can have confidence that America’s new voters, America’s young generation, will provide what America needs as we approach our 200th birthday, not just strength and not just wealth but the “Spirit of ‘76’ a spirit of moral courage, a spirit of high idealism in which we believe in the American dream, but in which we realize that the American dream can never be fulfilled until every American has an equal chance to fulfill it in his own life.

This is no longer a nation founded on the curious premise that the government should leave people alone unless they are causing problems.

◼ There Ain't No More Middle-Ground - Sultan Knish

Re-elect President Obama and it will be the full implementation of the biggest small-business-killer ever invented by the Congress--Obamacare. Choose another path and you will set a course for the complete repeal of Obamacare, and the beginning of a new day for small business owners across the nation.

◼ Why John Roberts is Mitt Romney's Secret Weapon - Kevin McCullough/Townhall

In boxing terminology no one has pulled a "rope-a-dope" this effective since Muhammad Ali himself. In doing so, it is clear that John Roberts duped the liberal wing of the Supreme Court into agreeing with him on calling out President Obama as legislatively dishonest, while assisting the conservative wing of the court into dismantling punitive measures against the states, and greatly limiting the ability of the legislature to use the powers of the commerce clause of the constitution to quietly take over people's lives.

Yes, conservative friends there are many silver linings in Thursday's odd verdict...

◼ Obama's Supreme Court win may prove hollow - Michael Barone/Washington Examiner

...Most voters want this law repealed. Mitt Romney and the Republicans want to repeal it. Barack Obama and the Democrats want to preserve it. It's not a winning issue for the incumbent....

The Supreme Court's decision, while upholding Obamacare, tilts the legal and political playing field away from big government more than anyone anticipated three years ago, and probably for years to come.....