Carnahan balks at health care bill

Candidates for the House and Senate are going to start having to weigh in on the health care bill, and it looks like they are doing so with a healthy dose of caution.

Martha Coakley's opponents in the race for Ted Kennedy's seat seized on her position that she would have opposed it because of the Stupak Amendment. Now, another Democratic Senate hopeful, Missouri Secretary of State Robin Carnahan, is hesitant for a different reason: its cost.

According to the AP:

Democratic Senate candidate Robin Carnahan says she is both excited and concerned about House-passed legislation that would overhaul the nation's health care system.

But Carnahan, who is Missouri's secretary of state, declined to specifically say Tuesday whether she supports the bill.

Rep. Roy Blunt voted against the bill that Democrats narrowly passed last Saturday. Blunt is the frontrunner for the Republican nomination in the 2010 Senate race. Blunt says the bill could lead to a government takeover of health insurance and higher premiums for consumers.

Carnahan says she has concerns about whether the bill does enough to make health care affordable. But she says she is excited about the debate and calls the House vote an important first step.

UPDATE: Blunt spokesman Rich Chrismer offers the following in response: "Robin Carnahan is excited about the bill and calls it a good first step, because she supports a government takeover of health care that will ration care, cut Medicare and cost taxpayers over a trillion dollars."

Carnahan has said she could support the so-called public option, but she has couched her position on that as well.