I must take issue with Andrew Cline’s conclusion that Mitt and Arnold were helpful in “neutralizing” the healthcare issue by mimicking Democratic style mandate plans. The GOP rarely succeeds in doing Democratic “lite.” It is not the act of addressing healthcare but how healthcare is addressed that will determine whether the GOP will be successful from a political and policy standpoint. Hillary now delights in pointing to RomneyCare –surely not a help in promoting conservative healthcare reform.

UPDATE: This from a Florida news account is one of many which makes the point that MittCare blurred the lines in this debate: “Clinton proposed a health care plan that would require individuals to buy health insurance, and require businesses to offer it to employees or contribute to a fund to offer it.The plan is similar in some ways to one instituted by one of Giuliani’s Republican opponents, Mitt Romney, while he was Massachusetts’ governor.” You can argue about the specific differences and point to some of the market innovations in Massachusetts but on the big issue– government mandates– press and public will have a hard time figuring out why Hillary’s plan is so much “worse” than Romney’s CommonWealth plan.