With approximately 30 million additional people entering the mainstream healthcare system with health care reform (from the Affordable Care Act), time with patients will likely become even more limited.

FORBES: Medical Malpractice: Broken Beyond Repair?

Allard, a veterinarian, labeled Strickland a "millionaire-lawyer-lobbyist, " while Strickland attacked Allard as voting outside the mainstream on issues like the environment and health care.

CNN: Allard re-elected in Colorado

And I think that may be what we have here, is a case of a concerted decision to abandon what was considered very mainstream conservative thinking on an issue like health care policy once it had been adopted by the other party.

WHITEHOUSE: Press Briefing

The combination of bold goals and mainstream means is evident in two other Edwards plans: health care and energy reform.

ECONOMIST: The candidates: John Edwards

The consensus reflects the view of most mainstream economists and budget analysts that spending on programs such as health care will inevitably rise as the population ages and use of medical technology grows.

FORBES: Areas Of Agreement On Tackling The Budget Deficit

There was no "conspiracy" linking those two events, but the mainstream media quite predictably chose to make them headliners, all but obliterating detailed discussion of health care reform for more than two weeks (and this just when the subject was beginning to resurface after the blanket coverage of Michael Jackson's and Sarah Palin's exits).

NPR: The Nation: Race, Lies And Health Scares

But the bulk of the RNC releases to the mainstream media this week focused on rising unemployment and the higher taxes and fees Democrats suggest to pay for health care reform.

CNN: King: GOP sees fertile ground in taxes, pocketbook issues