Taegan Goddard's Political Wire

July 24, 2009

GOP Strategists Worry Attacks Will Backfire

"Republicans, seeking to regain political ground in the health-care debate, have launched a series of attacks on Democrats' overhaul plan. But some GOP strategists worry an aggressive approach could backfire, if voters decide the party is obstructing efforts to address an issue they care about," the Wall Street Journal reports.

Polling analysis by Resurgent Republic shows that worry about rising health care costs outstrips every other economic concern today.

"That is forcing Republicans to try to strike a tricky balance. Even as they hammer at President Barack Obama's plan, in a bid to reduce its size and delay its passage, they are trying to convince voters the GOP also wants to achieve changes that would reduce health costs and expand access to care."

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Taegan D. Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites.

Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.

Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country, including the Washington Post, USA Today, Boston Globe, San Francisco Chronicle, Chicago Tribune, Philadelphia Inquirer and Christian Science Monitor.

Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.

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