The Kochs have a number of organizations on the ground this election, trying to save their Republican-controlled Senate and drum up some Koch love—and Obamacare hate—while they're at it. That's not working so great in Nevada.
I went door knocking with field staffers from Americans for Prosperity, the Koch-funded group, last Friday afternoon on the outskirts of Las Vegas. Over two hours, knocking on almost 50 doors, not a single person said that they oppose Obamacare or are negatively impacted by it. In fact, everyone who engaged with the door-knockers said they view the law positively. […]
[A staffer] approached a modest, stucco, two-story house—painted in pastels—and a middle-aged woman with children inside answered. He opened by asking what she thinks of the law. “Obamacare is not Obamacare,” she replied sternly. “It is the health care reform program. And it is actually a good thing. I didn’t qualify for Medicaid but couldn’t afford to pay the $400 a month that an employer offered me health care coverage from. So I used the exchange and got health care for my family at half the price!” […]
A similar scene repeated itself four other times before the end of their walk packet. At another house a few minutes later, Daniel asked another woman what she thought of the law. “I like it,” she said. He told her 240,000 Nevadans have seen their insurance premiums rise by an average of 15 percent and asked if she has friends who have been adversely effected. “My family actually got insurance from Obamacare that we couldn’t afford before,” the woman replied.
So, maybe the vaunted Koch research machine isn’t so hot? "The iPads the field reps carry say which doors to knock on—and the names and ages of who lives inside. In this case, Daniel and Erinn were approaching households with people who the data scientists believe are with them on the issues and less likely to vote. But they still kept striking out." There's your Republican ground game in the battleground states, since Donald Trump's is all but nonexistent.
Might this be enough to convince the Kochs—and the Republicans—that the nation is really, really over fighting Obamacare? Yeah, no. It's going to go on forever, or as long as Charles and David are drawing breath.
Want to end the incessant attacks on Obamacare and crush the Kochs? Help elect more Democrats to Congress.
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