Put Alaska First, the pro-Mark Begich super-PAC, is running a 30 second television ad defending Begich on his vote for ObamaCare, something that he and other Senate Democrats have been playing defense on since they passed the bill in 2009.
The group, run by Anchorage based Jim Lottsfeldt, is spending $131,000 to run the ad across the state. The ad features Anchorage resident Lisa Keller, who describes herself as an Alaskan, a mother, a runner, and a breast cancer survivor.
“I was lucky. I beat cancer,” Keller says. “But the insurance companies still denied me health insurance just because of a pre-existing condition.
The end packs a punch: “Mark Begich fought the insurance companies, so that we no longer have to,” Keller’s voice-over says as she’s running next to the very recognizable Park Strip in Anchorage.
It’s powerful, because it’s a good ad, but also because there’s so few like it. As such, it will likely to be a model for others across the country who voted for the act.
All three of Begich’s Republican challengers—Joe Miller, Mead Treadwell, and Dan Sullivan—have vowed to work to repeal ObamaCare if they are elected to office. None of them have said what they would do about people like Keller and the thousands of other Alaskans and millions of Americans who had previously been denied insurance because of pre-existing conditions.
What is insurance, exactly? Should an insurance company be forced to sell you fire insurance when your house is on fire, and if so, do we call that insurance? Why purchase insurance if it need not be purchased until your house has burned?
Those are the fundamental questions avoided by everyone in Congress who voted for ObamaCare without reading and understanding the legislation. Begich is one of those.
We need to un-elect Mark Begich so Alaska is no longer blindly supporting President Obama and Senate President Harry Reid.
This is a so-so commercial. It is clearly Begich-esque in the sense it tells only part of the story. I, like many Alaskans, agree that pre–existing health conditions should be covered by insurance; however, Obama care is not the answer. I suspect that Begich’s supporters realize this and this is why there is no mention of O-Care in the ad. Thus my argument that is Begich-esque – – they only tell part of the story. Do they really believe that Alaskans are this dumb?
If the Pro-Begich forces are so proud of his vote on Obamacare, why do they run from its name? Alsalns aren’t going to be fooled by this slight of hand. Begich’s superpac is as disingenuous as he.