Senators up for re-election often serve as an early-warning system for presidential candidates, having an on-ground instinct of their constituents' feelings on an issue. And based on yesterday's reactions from senators and Senate candidates to the Obama administration's policy requiring some religious institutions to provide coverage for prescription contraceptives, President Obama faces plenty of road mines ahead.
 

Do You Like this Article? Then Like Us on Facebook.

 

A compromise on the issue could still be possible, an aide to the president has signaled. In the meantime, here's a closer look at how members of the president's own party running for the Senate in 2012 have been navigating the issue this week:

Former Democratic National Committee Chairman Tim Kaine:

The key Democratic break with Obama came from his close ally and former DNC chairman Tim Kaine, running for the Senate in a hotly-contested battleground. Kaine, whose Catholic devotion is a major part of his biography, said he favored additional religious exemptions for Catholic employers.

Here's what Kaine said in an interview taped on Tuesday with WHRV: "I think the White House made a good decision in including a mandate for contraception coverage in the Affordable Care Act insurance policy but I think they made a bad decision in not allowing a broad enough religious employer exemption. This is something that's been talked about a lot today and I have definitely expressed my grave concerns to the White House about that. I support the contraception mandate but there should be a religious employer exemption that is broader than the one they proposed."

Kaine isn't breaking with Obama on the decision to include contraception in the list of preventative services insurance companies need to cover; but he is rejecting the president's decision not to provide a broader exemption for religious organizations.

It's a notable break for a candidate who, for the most part, has stood with the president on most major decisions. It's also one of the clearest signs that the administration might have a made a political miscalculation with its decision. After all, it's not every day that a major Senate candidate in a key swing state Obama needs to win, who has stood with him on almost everything else, breaks with him.

Source: National Journal | Sean Sullivan and Kevin Brennan