Club for Growth hammers Thompson on health care

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The conservative Club for Growth is hammering Republican Senate candidate Tommy Thompson on the eve of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling on President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul law.

The national group on Wednesday circulated a 2006 video clip of Thompson voicing his support for mandating that people have health insurance. Thompson has since disavowed the mandate, which is a key part of the Obama health care law, as not practical.

Thompson says in the clip that “just like automobile insurance, you gotta have coverage. And if you’re gonna be able to cover the uninsured you’re gonna have to have some degree of a mandate to cover the uninsured.”

Thompson campaign spokesman Darrin Schmitz says Thompson opposes the mandate and saying otherwise is a distortion of his record.