Heidi Heitkamp Doesn’t Want To Talk About Obamacare

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Written By:
Rob Port

Mar 17, 2012
9:45pm

Heidi Heitkamp tells the Bismarck Tribune that she expects her campaign to be “highly visible.” Except on the issue of Obamacare, it seems.

Democrat Senate candidate Heidi Heitkamp didn’t mention health care, or specifically Obamacare, during her address to her party’s statewide convention today. When asked why, she said it was because it isn’t an issue that’s important to her:

Heitkamp did not mention health care at all during her speech. When asked why, Heitkamp said that – while health care is important and “there will be a lot of discussion about health care” – it’s not one of the top priorities that define her campaign platform.

“What drives me to run for the United States Senate is energy policy, ag policy, kids, seniors and veterans,” Heitkamp said. ”I’m going to talk about those reasons why I’m running for the United States Senate. If (Republicans) want to talk about the reasons why I shouldn’t be running for the United States Senate, that’s their dime.”

“I’m going to use this time, that I have, to talk about what I care about,” Heitkamp added.

That’s a funny thing to say, coming as it does from a candidate who just completed a fundraising tour of the west coast with a bunch of other liberal female candidates the theme of which was the “Republican war on women,” a slogan Democrats (including Heitkamp herself) have been using to describe the right’s opposition to Obamacare’s contraceptive mandate.

Also, remember that back in 2009 Heidi Heitkamp thought health care was an important enough issue for her to headline union-organized rallies in favor of Obamacare (see picture above).

It’s not that health care isn’t an important issue for Heitkamp. It’s that she knows she’s so far to the left on the issue she can’t be honest about it with North Dakota voters and still hope to be elected.

Earl Pomeroy tried that same stunt, refusing to hold town halls about Obamacare with his constituents after he cast his vote for it. Berg ended up beating Pomeroy by 10 points.

The arrogance on display here is astounding. Obamacare will be one of the biggest issues of the 2012 election cycle. The Supreme Court will be ruling whether or not it’s constitutional in the middle of the election year. Heitkamp was an enthusiastic supporter of the law in the past.

But now Heitkamp has decreed that it’s not a campaign issue.