The NRCC and the Tim Burns campaign team up to go negative on Mark Critz with less than two weeks left before PA-12’s special election, and the subject matter is telling. The campaign must believe that ObamaCare is a deep negative in John Murtha’s old district, even though the partisan split is just about even. They also save one argument for the last two seconds of this television spot by asking which side Critz is on — and providing the visual answer:

Both special elections this month, PA-12 and HI-01, will be tough for Republicans to win, but they have a real chance thanks to Democratic overreach (and a Democratic split in Hawaii). The success of the attempt to paint Critz as a sycophant of Nancy Pelosi will be interesting to see. Pelosi is very unpopular outside of her own district and makes an excellent millstone to hang around the necks of House Democrats in every district this year. If that succeeds in PA-12, expect every Republican candidate to double down in the midterms. That will have the unpleasant side effect of seeing much more of Pelosi in the fall, but it will be in a good cause.