Tuesday Open Thread [12.3.13]

President Obama is launching a new push for Affordable Care Act today after the successful reboot of healthcare.gov. Yet, even before the December 1 deadline, Obamacare enrollments reportedly quadrupled from October to November, with 100,000 signing up. And remember, we are only talking about the federal exchanges that is provided for the states who have an evil Republican governor who wants his citizens to die. In states that have their own Exchange, enrollments are off the chart.

So like much in President Obama’s presidency, something started out rocky, but now is working. And working better than expected. The New York Times reported Tuesday that “the government is expected to spend billions of dollars less than originally projected on the law.” The reduction is due to the law’s Medicaid expansion and the subsidies for private insurance plans proving less costly than initially anticipated.

Dana Milbank noticed something yesterday that really does speak to the recent good news on Obamacare:

Democratic lawmakers came out of hiding and spoke of the improvements with a spirit that had eluded them in the weeks since the Web site crashed on launch. But the real gauge of HealthCare.gov’s improvement was Republicans’ response — or lack thereof. When the House returned from Thanksgiving recess on Monday afternoon, the GOP speakers on the floor essentially ignored the Web site, instead returning to their earlier denunciations of Obamacare overall and President Obama in general.

Kevin O’Holleran, who managed Mark Herring’s (D) campaign for Virginia attorney general, writes that gun control was the key to Herring’s narrow win.

“Political conventional wisdom has it that in a purple state, such as Virginia, support for gun-safety legislation is best played down. As manager of Mark Herring’s campaign for attorney general, I got a lot of advice. One of the things I heard most frequently was that we should soft-pedal his strong record and advocacy for sensible gun legislation. It would hurt us outside of Northern Virginia and wasn’t a voting issue within the Beltway, I was told. Like much conventional wisdom, this was wrong — and we not only ignored this advice but did the opposite.”

You know why? Because those who are against gun control to such an extent that it is their number 1 issue will never vote Democratic. They will always vote Republicans. So those voters are lost. And Democratic candidates will lose even more voters, from their own base, if they soft pedal or play down not only their records but their positions on reasonable gun control. Stand up and Man and Woman Up, Democrats.

What are the most popular baby names for 2013? Well Babycenter.com has the answer.

Boys
1. Jackson
2. Aiden
3. Liam
4. Lucas
5. Noah

Girls
1. Sophia
2. Emma
3. Olivia
4. Isabella
5. Mia