Pagliuca ad blasts rivals’ on abortion, health care bill
US Senate candidate Stephen Pagliuca launched a statewide radio ad yesterday that targets two of his rivals - Attorney General Martha Coakley and US Representative Michael Capuano - for saying they would vote against any final health care bill if it restricts federal funding for abortion. It is the first ad of the campaign in which one candidate goes after another.
Pagliuca, without specifically naming the two, accuses them of jeopardizing the passage of the hotly contested health care bill that is making its way through Congress.
By a razor-thin margin, the House last weekend passed its version, which included a controversial amendment that would prohibit federally subsidized insurance plans from paying for abortions in most cases.
“Two of my opponents for the US Senate are putting this landmark legislation at risk,’’ Pagliuca says in the 60-second ad. “The next senator from Massachusetts represents a vital 60th vote to provide health care to over 30 million Americans who don’t have it, and to help lower spiraling health care costs.’’
Pagliuca says he would not “turn my back’’ on the uninsured families and individuals who he says “face bankruptcy, illness, and even death because they lack adequate health care coverage.’’
“We can’t afford to miss this historic opportunity,’’ he says.
Pagliuca’s strategy, as he and other candidates race to catch Coakley in the polls before the Dec. 8 primary, is clearly designed to take advantage of the flap between Capuano and Coakley over the issue in the last several days.
Capuano attacked Coakley on Monday for saying she opposed the House bill because of its antiabortion provision.
Capuano, who voted for it, at first said she was wrong to want to sink the bill over her objections to one part.
But on Tuesday, he shifted his rhetoric to say his vote over the weekend was merely to advance the legislation so it could be amended later in the Senate. He said he, like Coakley, would vote against any final version that contained abortion restrictions.
Capuano, who took some heat for the change, posted a statement yesterday on Blue Mass Group, a liberal political blog, defending his position.
“In short, I voted for an imperfect House bill on health care reform to keep it alive so that we can improve it in the US Senate and in conference committee,’’ he wrote, appearing to attribute confusion over his statements to “media reports.’’
Capuano yesterday also released his own new ad, “Never,’’ a 30-second TV spot in which he says he will not approve of more troops in Afghanistan until the military mission is clearer.
Alex Zaroulis, Coakley spokeswoman, said Pagliuca’s ad “does not represent the facts accurately’’ and sought to align the attorney general’s position with President Obama.
“Like President Obama, Martha Coakley believes that we can and must pass meaningful health care reform with a public option that will lower costs without compromising women’s access to reproductive health services,’’ Zaroulis said.
Obama, though, has never said he would refuse to sign a bill with the abortion restrictions. He told ABC News this week that he was not looking to “change what is the principle that has been in place for a very long time, which is federal dollars are not used to subsidize abortions.’’
Abortion rights advocates say the House amendment expands that ban.
