Progress Illinois

North Shore Republican Rep. Mark Kirk has hit the airwaves with a new radio spot bashing the Democrats' health care reform effort. The Plum Line's Greg Sergeant nabbed the audio and has posted it online. Click on the video to hear the U.S. Senate candidate's message:

"Democrats in Washington want to put the government in charge of your health care. But Congressman Mark Kirk is fighting back. He's leading to effort to stop the government takeover. He offered the Republican alternative: lawsuit reform, no government interference with your doctor, the right to buy coverage from any state in the union, and no cuts to Medicare. Illinois needs a U.S. Senator like Mark Kirk who will stand up for seniors."

Like his machinations regarding cap-and-trade, this is certainly some red meat for the skeptical conservative base. And for those of you who have followed our coverage of Kirk's health care criticisms, there's nothing new in here. He claims the Democratic package represents a "government takeover" of health care, when employer-based coverage will actually increase under each of the current proposals floating around Congress. Meanwhile, savings from malpractice reform would be small and the president has called on lawmakers to include some measures in their bills. Without adequate federal regulation, something Kirk never discusses, opening up interstate insurance pools could lead insurance companies to move their operations to states withthe most lax laws, making the individual market even more ruthless than it is now. And the AARP has consistently rebutted his claim the Medicare would be cut. In fact, they contend that healthcare reform will "strengthen the financial status of the Medicare program."

If Kirk has any hope of winning statewide, he's going to have to take a different angle. Voters in Illinois do not trust the Republican Party on health care. And they do trust the president,who has made health care his first priority. In late August, only 33 percent of Illinoisans disapproved of his job performance. Conveniently, Kirk doesn't mention Barack Obama's name once. His eventual Democratic challenger won't let him off the hook so easily.