Blago’s poll numbers, especially Downstate, have gone south. So with all of that, why would anyone suggest that Blagojevich is well positioned to retake the governor’s office in 2006?
Women.
Unabashedly pro-choice, Blagojevich has taken on pharmacists who refuse to dispense emergency birth control. Without even asking the Legislature, he has just earmarked money for stem cell research. And he’s provided insurance to 330,000 uninsured families.
“As a woman in this state,” says state Rep. Sara Feigenholtz (D-Chicago), “what he has done for women and health care is taken the ball and run with it.” Feigenholtz argues that “too much testosterone” has clouded the political discussion about Blagojevich and his battles with the mostly male Legislature.
And let’s not forget, Patti has begun an initiative on contraception contraceptives.illinois.gov
From the Kaiser Network release:
Illinois first lady Patti Blagojevich on Wednesday launched a Web site — contraceptives.illinois.gov — aimed at helping women in the state attain insurance coverage for prescription contraceptives or gain access to lower-cost contraceptives, the AP/Belleville News Democrat reports (AP/Belleville News Democrat, 7/13). At a news conference launching the site, Blagojevich said, “Birth control in Illinois is supposed to be covered by insurance, but right now it’s far too complicated for women to know which insurers cover birth control and what they cover.” She added that women of reproductive age pay about 68% more than men in health care costs, mainly because of contraceptives. The Web site provides a list of the contraceptives covered by the five largest insurance companies in the U.S.: Blue Cross Blue Shield, Cigna, Aetna, Humana and UnitedHealthcare. The Web site also includes a link to a form allowing women to report insurance companies that do not comply with a 2004 state law requiring insurance providers that provide prescription drug coverage to cover FDA-approved contraceptives or with Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s (D) executive order requiring pharmacies in the state to fill all prescriptions — including those for contraceptives — “without delay.” For women without health insurance, the site provides a link to I-SaveRx, the state discount medication program, which imports drugs from Canada and Europe and sells them to state residents at discounts of up to 88%. The I-SaveRx program currently offers eight types of birth control pills, according to the Tribune.
If you assume you are going to face a social conservative, this strategy is a very good one. It takes stem cell research and contraception which are generally popular in opinion polls and allows him to side with public opinion as a strong advocate for women’s health care–an issue especially popular with suburban women.
Blagojevich has other problems that may make this irrelevant, but the strategy itself is quite smart. As soon as Kaiser sent out the release, Illinois Federation for Right to Life sent it out. He wants right wing groups to attack him over these issues so he can control the issues to be about social issues and not fiscal management, state operations or contracts. He gets to a substantive discussion that swings in his favor over talking about mismanagement and corruption.
In addition to changing the subject, it invites attacks by loons like the Pharmacists for Life or others who make over the top attacks at him and who he can then make the enemy.
The biggest danger he faces is Judy Baar Topinka who neutralizes the issues of abortion, gay and lesbian rights, contraception and I believe is pro-embryonic stem cell research and thus makes the advantage with women lower. The flip side with Judy is she has been around in state government so has ties to George Ryan and others, but it’s hard to see that without a significant scandal breaking how that swings Blagojevich’s way–especially with the number of scandals he’s racking up.
You make a lot of sense here.
Although, I don’t think any of the social conservative organizations have the clout or financial resources to dominate the debate with an adequately funded GOP gubernatorial candidate.
Couldn’t a GOP gubernatorial candidate undermine the Pharmacists for Life and groups like that?
Let me be clear–I don’t think that Pharmacists for Life is going to dominate a debate, I think their existence gives Blagojevich essentially a strawman to argue against and tar others with…I don’t think they are representative of your average conservative by any stretch either–but they give him a target to run against. And that’s the only way he seems to know how to run for office.
And yeah, a smart GOP candidate can move the debate away from such groups, but then he’s in the middle of debating an issue that he either annoys swing voters or the base. But certainly there are better spokespeople out there–one thing to do would be to get Watson out there complaining about it–perhaps about how it affects the small pharmacy owner with more regulations–diverting some attention from the primary issue even.
And who knows if Blagojevich is going to be able to turn away attention from scandals–right now, I’d say now, but a year from now, I don’t know. I suspect he won’t be able to, but these things are dynamic.
Definately agree. Blago needs his boogeyman.