Corbett camp jumps on Schwartz's Obamacare push

U.S. Rep. Allyson Schwartz is enjoying an unpaid media boost to her campaign for governor since appearing on MSNBC last night to tout a new commercial she is running to highlight her role in passing the Affordable Care Act, a/k/a Obamacare.

The Washington Post, Politico and The Huffington Post have all jumped on the story.

Gov. Corbett wants a piece of that attention, it seems.  In an email to supporters this morning, Corbett's campaign had Lt. Gov. Jim Cawley ask for donations to fight Schwartz, labeling her "our extreme liberal opponent."

That email curiously says Schwartz appeared on television "last night while you were sleeping."  Schwartz was in the first block of "The Last Word" at 10 p.m., so her appearance wrapped by by 10:10 p.m. or so.  Is that really too late for Republicans to stay awake?

Cawley's email also claims Obamacare resulted in "hundreds of thousands of canceled insurance policies" in Pennsylvania.  The state Department of Insurance last November said insurers in Pennsylvania voluntarily reported that more than 250,000 policies were going to be canceled due to Obamacare.

But as we noted in the March 28 Clout column, Corbett's administration and campaign can't say what happened to those policies after that.  A series of delays in the law means those policies can be renewed until October 2016.

Schwartz this morning declared herself "one of the only Democrats in the country to tout her support of and involvement in 'Obamacare' in campaign advertising.

Her three opponents in the May 20 primary election -- state Treasurer Rob McCord, former state Revenue Secretary Tom Wolf and former state Environmental Protection Secretary Katie McGinty -- all support the law.