Democrats May Get Key Election Chip

Members of Congress deciding whether to vote to override President Bush’s veto of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program should watch an old political advertisement on YouTube.

It’s called simply “Work” and can be found easily by searching for “Chet Edwards and CHIP.” Some believe it’s the main reason Edwards is still a member of the U.S. House of Representatives.

It was 2004 and Edwards was fighting for his political life along with five Democratic colleagues from Texas who had all been targeted by then-House Majority Leader Tom DeLay’s redistricting plan.

The Waco-area Democrat was opposed by Republican State Rep. Arlene Wohlgemuth. She had authored legislation that cut thousands of children from the rolls of CHIP.

In the minute-long ad that aired in the closing days of the 2004 campaign, you mainly hear the voice of Jamie Jones. Visually, there’s nothing really fancy about it; just a number of black and white photographs of Jones and her three-year-old daughter, Bailey. But Jones’ words are incredibly powerful.

After introducing herself, the 28-year-old Jones talks about how she lost her husband in a house fire and how even though she was working, she couldn’t afford health insurance for her daughter.

That situation was rectified by Bailey’s eligibility for CHIP. But then, even though Jones’ circumstances had not changed, her daughter was cut from the program after passage of Wohlgemuth’s legislation.

Jones explained that she didn’t want to quit work so that her daughter could have health insurance. Then, with a close-up of the adorable daughter on the screen, Jones said, “Look at my little girl. Look into her eyes and tell her why she’s not good enough to be taken care of.”

On Election Day, Edwards was re-elected in an overwhelmingly Republican district while his five similarly situated colleagues were all defeated. Upon his return to Congress, Edwards gave a lot of credit to the CHIP ad.

Now with his veto, Bush is offering Democrats one of those Clint Eastwood-type moments: “Go ahead, make our day!”

Anyone who doesn’t vote to override the veto can certainly expect to see a CHIP ad similar to Edwards’ when it comes time for reelection — and rightly so.

Under the SCHIP legislation, an additional 3.3 million children would be covered through an increase in the cigarette tax. Nowhere could that be more important than in Texas where we have almost 1.5 million uninsured youngsters, the highest number in the land. But Bush says he won’t support such a large expansion and hence his veto.

Lawmakers might be wise to note that Bush isn’t running for re-election. If they are and if they support his veto, they can soon expect to see the face of an adorable uninsured child staring out from the television screen.

You can probably write the rest of the script. I assure you most Democrats can — and they can’t wait for the chance to try.

(Originally published by Examiner Newspaper Group)