New Hampshire: Jeanne Shaheen one of handful of Dems to FINALLY embrace ACA whole-heartedly

Well isn't this a breath of fresh air!!

WASHINGTON -- Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen refused to shy away from Obamacare on Tuesday in the first televised debate of the New Hampshire Senate race.

Shaheen, one of several vulnerable Democrats up for re-election in November, forcefully defended the health care law moments after Scott Brown, her Republican opponent, said he would fight to repeal it. When specifically asked if Obamacare was a proud achievement, Shaheen responded, "Absolutely."

"I think making sure that almost 100,000 people in New Hampshire have access to health care is real progress for people in this state," Shaheen said.

Good for her!

Aside from Democrats running in solid blue states/districts, Shaheen is one of very few candidates in a competitive seat I know of who is solidly supporting and publicly embracing the Affordable Care Act. The other ones are Elizabeth Jensen (running for Congress in Kentucky) and Rick Weiland (running for Senate in South Dakota). Weiland is sort of a special case, however; it's really the wildcard factor of having Larry Pressler, a former Republican Senator-turned-independent trying to get his old job back, which makes Weiland's race "competitive" for a progressive Democrat in that state.

In any event, it's great to see Shaheen unapologetically support the healthcare law. Other Senate candidates such as Mark Pryor have kind of, sort of supported it without mentioning the "O" word, but Shaheen took the bull by the horns, so to speak.

Of course, over 20,000 people in New Hampshire have been newly added to Medicaid (which would cost the state $67 million per year if the law were repealed) and another 35,000 enrolled in private policies via Healthcare.Gov.

As for her Republican challenger (and displaced Bay Stater) Scott Brown, he's still utterly full of hooey about how what he'd replace Obamacare with:

For his part, Brown maintained that he would like to see the health care law repealed. But when quizzed on a GOP replacement plan, Brown expressed support for a proposal that would keep intact central Obamacare tenets -- including coverage for individuals with pre-existing conditions and allowing young adults to remain on their parents' plans.

Translation: "I'd replace Obamacare with Obamacare, minus the "Obama" part".