Reid strategist sets path for Dems to sell health reform

Democrats are going to need to keep their "big message guns" trained on health care in 2010 even as they turn to other issues in the new year, or else suffer consequences, a party strategist says.

Dems still have a lot of work to do if they expect to sell the public on health care reform, according to Mark Mellman, a polling director whose clients include U.S. Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada.

Mellman said Democrats can't afford to drop the ball even as they might prefer to talk about job creation and other things.

"After January, the legislative process will move on, and the natural tendency is to refocus communication efforts to deal with the battle of the moment," Mellman wrote this week in The Hill.

"Democrats cannot afford to let that happen," Mellman said. "A health care reform that is left vague and uncertain in the public mind works to our detriment. It is incumbent on Democrats to keep the big-message guns trained on health care, even as efforts to create jobs and make us energy-independent move to center stage on the floor of Congress."

Mellman says the public can be sold on health reform, and he set out a road map. Even though polls and focus groups indicate opposition to reform, they also show people don't know what's in the bills that Dems hope to meld into a final product that can be sent to President Barack Obama.

"While voters narrowly oppose a controversial 'reform,' the content of which is opaque, the individual elements are popular," according to the strategist.

He said for instance that few polls make clear that the bill would require large and mid-sized companies to provide health insurance to workers. Or that it would enable adult children up to age 26 to be covered by their parents' plans.

Mellman said he has run surveys that focus on consumer-friendly parts of the bill, and they "found widespread support."

"In truth, voters can find a lot of specifics to love in this bill," Mellman said.