Why is no one talking about Massachusetts?

( Massachusetts Blue Cross/Blue Shield Foundation )

Perhaps the weirdest part of this election is that no one is talking about the Massachusetts health reforms. As Jon Cohn writes, “given that Mitt Romney signed these reforms into law while he was governor and President Obama used the Massachusetts reforms as a model for national reforms,” you would expect them to be central to the campaign. But day-to-day, they’re entirely absent.

The reason, perhaps, is that neither campaign sees much upside in bringing them up. As Cohn writes, “nearly everybody in the state has health insurance, while data suggest more people have regular access to care and fewer people face crushing health care costs.” Plus, as you can see in the graph, costs are increasing more slowly than in the rest of the nation. But since that makes Romney look like a good governor and a closet moderate, the Obama campaign has little reason to mention it, and since it makes Obamacare look good, the Romney campaign has little reason to mention it.