Today's unexpected (at least for me) news about the Supreme Court upholding the Affordable Care Act is welcome, but it's important to understand that this is not the end of the road for the Republican opponents. There's another "Appeal" in the wings, and we need to be prepared for it. Follow me over the fold for more information.
The Republican Party, Mitt Romney in particular, has made eliminating "Obamacare" the principle driving force in this election, even more so that retaining the Bush Tax Cuts. This is the issue that revs up their Tea Party base, who they'll need for their mediocre Presidential candidate, and they will be "appealing the decision" to the electorate in November. I think we can expect, within the next two hours, a statement from Romney rededicating himself to repealing the bill (or negating its effects where ever possible through Executive Orders). We can also expect the Republicans and their SuperPAC supporters to reinvigorate efforts to seize control of the Senate. If they can get a bare majority, my suspicion is they'll be willing to use Budget Reconciliation (since the Mandate has been deemed a "tax") and a bare 51-seat majority to repeal the Act, along with the Republican House.
I'd like to think we had a chance of taking back the House, but with the need to win net + 25 seats, I'm not currently optimistic. I DO believe we can hold the Senate, but only with a major effort. That's going to include electing some Democrats who are perhaps less progressive than many people here, but are still miles apart from their Republican opponents. It means we're going to have to find the time to work on the campaigns we can get to, however dampened our enthusiasm is this year. And, yes, it also means we're going to have to open our wallets, to the candidates, the DSCC, and the SuperPAC's supporting them. I don't like SuperPAC's any more than you do, but we can't disarm unilaterally. If you're looking for something different, consider American Bridge PAC, founded by David Brock, which spends its money on candidate tracking and oppo research.
My wife and I have spent approximately $60,000 for DSCC and the Senate, in addition to our support for the President and the House candidates we'd like to get elected. It looks like we're going to need to do more.