Television Wins from Health Care Reform

Over a nine day span prior to the House of Representatives voting on reconciliation for the Health Care Reform Act, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce spent $522,000 on television ads urging Rep. Betsy Markey (D-CO) to vote against the bill, as she had originally.

Unfortunately for them, she changed her position because as she told the Washington Post, she felt the revised measure had better cost containment, she liked the improvements to benefit small business, the better financing and the CBO's finding that it would reduce the deficit.

After she became one of the seven Democrats to change their vote, the Service Employees International Union and the Democratic National Committee spent $270,000 on advertising to thank her and the National Republican Congressional Committee spent $1,725 chastising her with spillover media from Wyoming.

Thus far in the first quarter of this year, she has raised $505,000 for her re-election bid in what promises to be a hotly contested race, with $355,000 coming after she had announced her change.