National

[I]n an interview today, Landrieu vowed to campaign aggressively against GOP foe Bill Cassidy’s opposition to the Medicaid expansion in the state, offered a spirited defense of the law—while acknowledging it has some problems—and even insisted he'd be at a "disadvantage" over the issue. […] "That would be a real setback for the people of Louisiana, many of whom are working 30, 40, 50 hours a week but find themselves caught in the Jindal gap because the state refuses to expand health care options to the working poor at little to no expense," Landrieu told me, referring to Governor Bobby Jindal’s opposition to the expansion. "This issue is not going away—it will become an issue in the 2015 governor's race," she added. "Cassidy has wrapped himself up with Jindal. The question is whether people who work full time or part time in the U.S. should have access to quality and affordable health care." […] "I think the benefits that people have received are worth fighting for," Landrieu continued, citing an end to discrimination against preexisting conditions and extended coverage for young adults on parents' plans. "I think Bill Cassidy is going to be at a distinct disadvantage. He has insurance, but he's also denying it to the 242,000 people who fall into the Jindal gap. He also wants to take coverage away from tens of thousands who have gotten it for the first time."

Earth Day began in 1970, when 20 million people across the United States—that's one in ten—rallied for increased protection of the environment. "It was really an eye-opening experience for me," Gina McCarthy, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency administrator, who was a self-described self-centered teenager during the first Earth Day rallies, told National Geographic. (See pictures: "The First Earth Day—Bell-Bottoms and Gas Masks.") "Not only were people trying to influence decisions on the Vietnam War," she recalled, "but they were beginning to really focus attention on issues like air pollution, the contamination they were seeing in the land, and the need for federal action."

"Until now, this is an issue where the intensity has been on the other side," he says. But defending Obamacare, he adds, has emerged as "a values argument for our base." Greenberg now believes Democrats "ought to lean much more strongly" to campaign on the virtues of Obamacare as a means of boosting progressive turnout. "Not apologizing for Obamacare and embracing it actually wins the argument nationally," he says. "And it produces much more engagement of Democratic voters. That's a critical thing in off-year elections."