The American Spectator

Records show that Mitt Romney aides met a dozen times with the White House to discuss health care reform, according to reports that are sure to refocus attention on the similarities between Obamacare and Romneycare. The Massachusetts health care plan Romney signed into law was an inspiration for the federal legislation, signed by Barack Obama, that the Republican frontrunner has pledged to have repealed.

It’s worth noting that at least two of the aides, Jon Gruber and John McDonough, are liberal Democrats, the latter a former aide to the late Sen. Ted Kennedy. The Romney campaign has downplayed Gruber’s role in crafting the Massachusetts law. These facts could either be mitigating, since it isn’t shocking a Kennedy aide would visit the Obama White House, or one could argue it revealed the liberal imprimatur on the Massachusetts health care law even during the design phase.