Republican Presidential Hopefuls Refine Their Anti-Obamacare Credentials
WASHINGTON, April 7, 2010 -- Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty announced on Tuesday that he is going to sue over President Obama's federal health-care law.
"The federal government is now requiring citizens under penalty of a fine to buy a good or a service, and we think that's an unprecedented overreach by the federal government into the lives of individual citizens," the Republican said.
Pawlenty, who is gearing up to run for president in 2012, is one of several high-profile Republicans seemingly trying to prove they are the most anti-Obamacare candidate in the field.
Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who is weighing a GOP presidential run of her own, has used her Facebook page to put 20 House Democrats "in the cross-hairs."
The 20 districts targeted by Palin are all represented by a Democratic member of Congress who voted for Obama's health-care overhaul, even though they represent districts that were carried by McCain-Palin in 2008.
The health-care plan that Mitt Romney enacted as governor of Massachusetts served as a model for Obama's federal health-care plan.
But the Romney team knows that the individual mandate contained in the Massachusetts plan is unpopular among conservative activists.
So the once and likely future Republican presidential candidate is promoting what he calls his "Prescription for Repeal."
