Anti-HCR Suits Aren't Good Politics

It wasn't all that long ago that the Beltway media was extolling the political virtues of healthcare reform lawsuits, explaining how they were political gold for the GOP. It turns out, however, that such prognostications were dead wrong:

This March, two attorneys general took the lead in lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of the health care overhaul: South Carolina's Henry McMaster and Florida's Bill McCollum. Another, Michigan's Mike Cox, soon signed on.

The lawsuits made them national leaders on the central national issue, and seemed tailor-made for Republican primaries. But all three lost those primaries, as CNN's Peter Hamby noted of the first two last night.

Looking at all voters across the political spectrum, it has been fairly clear for some time that the lawsuits seeking to overturn healthcare reform were not popular; national polling from Quinnipiac found just 40 percent in favor of the effort, with 53 percent opposed, and Q polls out of both Ohio and Florida (where Bill McCollum lost last night) showed even worse numbers.

But it wasn't crystal clear until last night that these suits weren't even popular among the conservative base. One Attorney General losing a primary is one thing, and even two might be coincidental -- but all three seeking higher office losing in GOP primaries? That's a trend. And it really goes to show that just because some in DC think that something is good politics doesn't actually make it so.