Vander Plaats: Dems health care bill is Branstad's fault

Republican gubernatorial hopeful Bob Vander Plaats is blaming rival Terry Branstad for Democrats' 60th vote to bring health-care reform legislation to the floor of the U.S. Senate.

 Branstad, who served as Iowa governor for 16 years, has given $1,250 to the campaigns of Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska, a conservative Democrat, who voted to bring the measure to the floor. Branstad called Nelson a friend and once said that if he was in Iowa Nelson would be a Republican.

“We're all going to pay an extremely high price for that friendship and that's especially true for thousands of Iowans who work in the insurance industry,” Vander Plaats said. “If Ben Nelson really did think like an Iowa Republican he would've voted ‘no' this weekend – just like Chuck Grassley did.

“Once again, this proves that elections have consequences and ideologies have consequences,” Vander Plaats said. “The Democrats want to control us with our own dollars by taxing us more to pay for their ridiculous health care plan and Terry Branstad helped give them the leverage to do it.”