Missouri's vote this week against a core feature of the nation's new healthcare law further emboldened GOP critics while reminding Democrats of the perils of pursuing change that doesn't enjoy broad public support. With the requirement to buy health insurance not taking effect until 2014, the wrangling in the judiciary has years to play out. But the politics surrounding the insurance law accelerated swiftly after the vote. Republicans trumpeted Missouri's passage of a ballot proposition aiming to nullify the provision of the new health care law requiring that all Americans purchase insurance. GOP leaders in Washington pointed to the Proposition C's passage with 71 percent of the vote as a further repudiation of the new health insurance law and a signal of their impending good fortunes in November. The measure won a majority of voters in every county in the state except for Kansas City and St. Louis city, according to the Missouri secretary of state's office.
