RACE OF THE DAY — Ore.-05

The Republican running against Rep. Kurt Schrader (D-Ore.) recently compared the Democrats’ healthcare reform bill to the Fugitive Slave Act.

State lawmaker Scott Bruun (R) told a crowd in Canby, Ore., during an Oct. 7 speech that the healthcare bill was “right up there” with the infamous slave act.

“I would argue that from a fiscal perspective, it’s probably the worst piece of legislation this nation’s ever passed,” Bruun said during a speech that was recorded by a Democratic campaign tracker.

The audience clapped its approval, but then Bruun continued.

“From a social perspective, it’s right up there, I would argue — probably the fugitive slave law was worse,” he added. “But still, the healthcare bill was pretty darn bad.”

The fugitive slave bill, passed in 1850, required runaway slaves who had escaped their bondage and were living free in the Northern states to be returned to their owners.

Bruun’s campaign was quick to issue a statement denying he was making a direct comparison between the two pieces of legislation.  

The healthcare bill, Brunn said, “pales in comparison … to laws that promoted the exploitation of humans, and I would never compare such reprehensible actions to any of the legislation passed by this Congress — no matter how flawed they might be.”

“It saddens me that my comments at a recent forum were construed as anything different, and for Democrats to suggest that I have ever placed this abhorrent law on the same level as the healthcare bill is not only false, but shows the true depth of their desperation.”

Republican strategists believe the GOP has a chance of picking up Schrader’s Democratic-leaning district. Bruun has been steadily pounding on the congressman’s “party-line votes” on the stimulus bill, cap-and-trade legislation and the healthcare reform bill.

National Democrats, meanwhile, have tried to support the incumbent by, among other things, dispatching Vice President Biden for a July fundraiser.