(Above: Fox News commentators discuss Alabama PSC candidate Chip Beeker’s campaign messaging)
Fox News aired several segments on Thursday showing that the anti-ObamaCare sentiment around the nation is so strong that local and state-level candidates have joined conservatives on the national level in bashing the law in their campaign ads. Among the state-level candidates Fox News featured was Republican Chip Beeker, candidate for the Alabama Public Service Commission.
“Republican candidates both big and small are now stepping up their push to win votes by using ObamaCare as their rallying cry,” said America’s Newsroom host Martha Maccallum. “It’s all modeled on Congressman David Jolly’s victory in Florida, considered a referendum on the healthcare law. Even in small local races, Republicans are campaigning against ObamaCare.”
Fox News then aired a portion of Beeker’s campaign ad during which he mentions ObamaCare and urges Alabamians to push back against the ever-expanding federal government.
“Obama and his allies are pushing ObamaCare and his job-killing energy policies right here in Alabama,” Beeker says in the ad. “Stand with me, Chip Beeker, and let’s tell the Washington liberals enough is enough.”
Maccallum asked liberal talk show host Alan Colmes and former Bush Administration official Brad Blakeman if they believe running against ObamaCare is a winning strategy for Republicans on the state level.
“Can’t hurt,” Blakeman said without hesitation. “But you have to have more than ObamaCare. That fact that you’re seeing even local candidates now advancing ObamaCare as an issue tells you something. It tells you that people are hurting, even at the local level, and that is affecting local races.”
Colmes agreed with Blakeman that running against ObamaCare is probably a good strategy in Republican-leaning districts, but questioned what it has to do with the Alabama PSC race.
“I don’t know what it would have to do with the utility commission, but (yes it’s a good idea) if you’re running in a conservative state like Alabama, or a conservative district.”
Beeker told Yellowhammer Thursday evening that he made the decision to include ObamaCare in his campaign messaging because it has become a symbol of something bigger.
“I’m not just running against ObamaCare,” Beeker said. “I’m running against the entire idea that liberal government bureaucrats have the answer to any of Alabama’s problems. That certainly includes healthcare, but it also includes the energy sector where Obama’s EPA is attacking our job creators and energy producers.”
Beeker is running for Alabama Public Service Commission — Place 2 against incumbent Republican Terry Dunn, who has been derided by conservatives for siding with the environmental lobby on a number of key votes since taking office in 2010. Jonathan Barbee and Phillip Brown are also running for the seat.
Follow Cliff on Twitter @Cliff_Sims
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