Obama Continues To Push Health Care Law In Face of Public Opposition

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President Obama on Tuesday kicked off a big push to promote the government's $1 trillion health care overhaul, following a string of critical reports about missed deadlines and rising costs related to the legislation.

The president used a "tele-town hall" in a Washington suburb to tout the $250-per-person rebates that will soon be going out to seniors to help cover prescription drug costs. The rebates, set for distribution beginning Thursday, are one of the earliest provisions of the new law. Most of the major spending measures don't go into effect until 2014.

But with an election on the horizon and a rapid-fire sequence of domestic and international crises consuming the president's time and the public's attention, Obama is trying to keep focus on the early benefits of the law. He's getting some help from his Democratic allies in making sure health care stays front and center in the months ahead -- and that criticism does not go unanswered.

Obama's town hall Tuesday was only one component of a multi-layered campaign to promote the health care law. Anita Dunn, Obama's former communications director at the White House, is teaming up with Democratic strategist Andrew Grossman to launch an advocacy arm to promote the bill. The effort reportedly aims to raise $25 million every year for the next five years.

They'll have their work cut out for them.

Republicans served notice early on they were going to make the November election all about health care. Former New York Gov. George Pataki is leading an effort to collect 1 million petition signatures and force congressional candidates to say whether they support repeal.

A Rasmussen Reports poll out Monday shows that 58 percent of 1,000 likely voters want to repeal the law, while 35 percent want the law to stay put.

Pollster Scott Rassmussen said even with support leaning for repeal, it's a long shot that Republicans will regain control of Congress with the mandate to overturn the law.

"It looks like Democrats will be able to hang on to majority control of the House. If that happens, repeal is going nowhere. If the Republicans gain control and have a very good night in November, the House is very likely to pass a repeal and then replace it with some kind of popular components from the legislation. It will probably die in the Senate," he said.

Nonetheless, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi got a taste of that enduring criticism Tuesday during a campaign-style speech at a hotel in Washington, where she was trumpeting the benefits of the bill. A protester screamed, "I'm not going back to a nursing home," and others started chanting as Pelosi tried to calm down the crowd.