Let's not forget that there are other issues that may well emerge. One is the Zika virus. Not only has the link to microcephaly been made but also the harm it causes isn't limited to that condition. It has now been established that it can be passed by sex with an infected person whether male or female and doctors have advised that the infectious period has been raised to 2 months.
The US has had a fair number of cases but up til recently they were all cases contracted while the infected person was travelling overseas or from sexual contact with such a traveller. Florida has now notified 4 cases in which the infection appears to have been spread by mosquito bites in Florida. That is a major development. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/flor...5?section=
Even worse, the experts believe that the virus is no longer confined to a tropical species of mosquito which has limited penetration into the US. It now looks as though the virus has jumped to the most common species of mosquito in California and others: http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/health-...34182.html. This is a virus which seems to keep upping its game.
This plays into the Dems' wheelhouse. Obama tried to obtain $1.9b to fund efforts to deal with the possibility of an epidemic but the Republicans firstly would only consider authorising $1.1b in funding and even then they tried to attach riders to it so that it would divert funding from Obamacare and Planned Parenthood while overturning a ban o the flying of the Confederate flags in military cemeteries . It went nowhere. http://time.com/4406114/zika-funding-bil...ompromise/
Raising issues of national healthcare, Planned Parenthood's role in giving family planning advice to pregnant women who might consider abortions of affected foetuses and issues of science generally, this would give Clinton a major advantage. And the inaction of the Republican Congress would hurt it in the congressional elections too.
The US has had a fair number of cases but up til recently they were all cases contracted while the infected person was travelling overseas or from sexual contact with such a traveller. Florida has now notified 4 cases in which the infection appears to have been spread by mosquito bites in Florida. That is a major development. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/flor...5?section=
Even worse, the experts believe that the virus is no longer confined to a tropical species of mosquito which has limited penetration into the US. It now looks as though the virus has jumped to the most common species of mosquito in California and others: http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/health-...34182.html. This is a virus which seems to keep upping its game.
This plays into the Dems' wheelhouse. Obama tried to obtain $1.9b to fund efforts to deal with the possibility of an epidemic but the Republicans firstly would only consider authorising $1.1b in funding and even then they tried to attach riders to it so that it would divert funding from Obamacare and Planned Parenthood while overturning a ban o the flying of the Confederate flags in military cemeteries . It went nowhere. http://time.com/4406114/zika-funding-bil...ompromise/
Raising issues of national healthcare, Planned Parenthood's role in giving family planning advice to pregnant women who might consider abortions of affected foetuses and issues of science generally, this would give Clinton a major advantage. And the inaction of the Republican Congress would hurt it in the congressional elections too.