All eyes on Clinton as big vote nears

[onehandle]

Source: AP

WASHINGTON - The top presidential candidates and their big-name supporters campaigned from coast to coast Sunday, but one contender seemed atop everyone's mind: Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Republicans John McCain and Mitt Romney contrasted themselves, and each other, with Clinton as though she were the nominee. Her Democratic rival, Barack Obama, played along to a degree, saying Clinton is so polarizing that he is their party's better bet. Rather than diverting the less-than-flattering attention, Clinton embraced it.

"I've been taking the incoming fire from Republicans for about 16 years now, and I'm still here, because I have been vetted, I have been tested," she said in a TV interview before campaigning in Missouri and Minneapolis.

"There's unlikely to be any new surprises," Clinton added, implying the same cannot be said of Obama, who has been in Congress three years.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/campaign_rdp

[ixion]

1. all eyes? not really... very poor reporting, IMO

these eyes, for one, are not on her at all.

[wtmusic]

4. agree...and not LBN, either

but what the hell, it's Primary Season at DU!

[seriousstan]

2. Hillary,"going after people's wages" ..Obama."possibly fine them if they refused".

n a day dominated by familiar stump speeches, Hillary Clinton made news by saying she might allow workers' wages to be garnisheed if they refuse to buy health insurance. She has criticized Obama for pushing a health plan that she says would not require universal coverage.

Pressed on how she would enforce her mandate, Clinton said: "I think there are a number of mechanisms" that are possible, including "going after people's wages, automatic enrollment."

She said such measures would apply only to workers who can afford health coverage but refuse to buy it, which puts undue pressure on hospitals and emergency rooms. Under her plan, she said, health care "will be affordable for everyone" because she would limit premium payments "to a low percent of your income."

Obama has said he would require parents to buy health insurance for children, and possibly fine them if they refused. But he would not insist that all adults buy insurance.

[ixion]

3. I'm so glad that Hillary is going to determine how my wages are allocated

NOT! :grr:

[hay rick]

5. NOT?

So you are in favor of FREE insurance or NO insurance?

[ixion]

8. I'm not in favor of being forced to buy insurance whether I want to or not

I have insurance that I pay for now, but it really irritates me when pols start talking about garnishing wages. This is simply a hand out to the insurance companies, who I'm sure are licking their chops at the thought of mandatory insurance, just like they were when they made auto insurance mandatory.

[hay rick]

10. garnishing wages

You're looking at the stick but forgetting about the carrot. Garnishing wages would be the rare exception- an unused prod in the experience of most consumers. The carrot would be subsidies for low income families. The threat of garnishing wages would be necessary to offset the effects of adverse selection (young and healthy people opting out, driving up costs for everyone else). Good article touching on "mandates" and more in this debate...http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/04/opinion/04krugman.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

The usual next objection to this kind of reform is "we can't afford universal health care." That's probably true if we adhere to our current highly privatized health care system. The elephant in the room for these discussions is the fact that we already spend approximately twice as much per capita for our health care as citizens of other countries with advanced economies. The added value of those extra dollars is little, nothing, or less than nothing depending on who you use for comparison. Google "health care costs per capita." Here's one hit: http://dll.umaine.edu/ble/U.S.%20HCweb.pdf

[Divine Discontent]

6. she's gonna win in a landslide on super tuesday

sure feels that way at least...

[aquart]

7. Not according to the polls.

How does any one person staunch the rising tsunami of Obama?

God help us all.

[Divine Discontent]

9. lol..

I like that line...

take care aquart