Hillary Clinton continues to maintain strong momentum and has widened her lead over Barack Obama to a whopping 16-point margin, according to Rasmussen's daily tracking poll. Just less than a week ago, Obama had closed the gap to 8 points.
Rasmussen is the only national polling organization that tracks primary candidates in both parties on a daily basis. According to this morning's numbers, here's where the race stands:
Clinton: 40%
Obama: 24%
Edwards: 14%
Obama has dropped 4 points in the last 6 days, and Clinton has climbed 4 points.
Hillary's rise can be attributed to the following factors: increased media attention on the vast differences between Hillary's and Obama's health care plans, Obama's checkered past, and Bill Clinton's strong performances on the campaign trail.
The Clinton campaign strongly fired back at the latest negative attack from Obama today, stating:
Sen. Barack Obama is sending mail in New Hampshire attacking Hillary on health care and falsely claiming that his health care plan covers everyone.
The mailer selectively excerpts a passage from The Washington Post. The full quote actually explains that experts believe 15 million people would not be covered under Sen. Obama’s plan and describes who those people are:
Experts say that without a mandate, many Americans would still not have health insurance, and the picture of who those millions are is an interesting one.
...
So the 15 million people without insurance under Obama's plan would be a combination of relatively well-off people who choose not to purchase health insurance and people who qualify for public programs like Medicaid who don't sign up. It could be a struggle for Clinton to find someone who wants health insurance but doesn't qualify under the Obama plan, because it's not clear such a person exists.
Most health care experts want those 15 million to get health insurance even if they aren't asking for it, a point Clinton nodded to when she said Medicare, the health program for the elderly, works in part because "everybody is required to be in."
Experts agree that Sen. Obama's plan leaves 15 million people without health insurance. It's telling that misrepresenting The Washington Post, which also has editorialized that Sen. Obama's plan would leave at least 15 million without coverage, is the best the Obama campaign can do to support their position.
The mailer also claims that Hillary previously praised Obama's plan. Actually, Hillary has noted that Obama's plan would fail to cover every American since the day he announced it. From the New York Times:
Rival Democrats, recognizing the stakes on this signature issue, responded quickly, arguing that because Mr. Obama would not require every American to have insurance, it is not a true universal health plan. Neera Tanden, policy director for Mrs. Clinton — who had earlier delivered an economic policy speech to compete with Mr. Obama’s — welcomed Mr. Obama to the health care debate. Ms. Tanden added, "Senator Clinton believes that in addition to making healthcare more accessible, we have to achieve true universal health care so that every American has health care coverage."
The Obama campaign is pointing to the following remark to argue that Hillary "praised" his health care plan from an August 4 debate: "We are all in favor of universal health care." Hillary still believes that all the democrats want universal health care. Obama has just introduced a plan that leaves 15 million people out.
The mailer also says that "experts" agree with him. But he doesn't cite a single health care expert. Why? Health care experts agree with Hillary—without a mandate millions are left out.
SOURCES:
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/...
http://facts.hillaryhub.com/...