While the bill itself is dead, Democrats are hopeful that the ill-fated American Health Care Act will continue to haunt U.S. Rep. Dave Reichert.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has launched an online ad campaign calling out Reichert for helping to vote the bill out of the Ways and Means committee. The DCCC describes the campaign as a “5-figure ad buy” on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. The ads will be targeted at Reichert’s district, which straddles the Cascade Mountains and includes Issaquah, Auburn and Wenatchee.
According to the DCCC press release: “Specifically, the DCCC ads will be geo-targeted to Washington’s Eighth District and featured on YouTube pre-roll, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, targeting swing voters 35 years and older, grassroots activists in the districts, and those that have engaged with the topic of ‘healthcare’ on social media.”
Like the anti-cartab campaign launched last week, the Reichert attack ad is rife with political ad cliches, including a foreboding voice-over and manic/menacing editing. You can watch it here.
Since the bill was never brought to the floor for a vote, it is unclear how Reichert would have voted on the final measure. He himself is not clarifying things. However, the DCCC’s Republican counterpart, the Republican Congressional Campaign Committee, released a statement suggesting that Reichert hopes his vote for the bill in Ways and Means will be seen as a positive in voters’ eyes.
“Democrats are attacking him for delivering on his promise to protect Washington families from the law’s crushing effects,” NRCC spokesman Jack Pandol said in a written statement. Pandol said Reichert was working “in good faith to reform the death-spiraling Obamacare law.” (Whether or not the plan is really death-spiraling is a point of debate, especially in Washington state.)
We’ve noted before how Democrats clearly hope the Republican health care efforts will do to the GOP what Obamacare did to Democrats—that is prompt a midterm bloodbath. The DCCC ad campaign zeros in on 14 Republicans who helped vote the bill out of various committees.
However, we’re still a loooong way from the 2018 Congressional elections; along with producing these ads, the Dems would be well advised to make sure they can field a candidate who actually wants to run against Reichert.