GOP gov.: Obamacare here to stay

Ohio Gov. John Kasich's comments that Obamacare won't be repealed even if Republicans take the Senate were a major departure from most members of his party.

• NEW: Governor's spokesman says comments were reported out of context


• Repeal "not gonna happen" even if GOP takes Senate, Ohio Gov. Kasich says in interview


• His comments are a major break from Republicans who argue the law should be repealed

Washington (CNN) -- A repeal of President Barack Obama's signature health care law is "not gonna happen" even if the GOP takes the Senate, Ohio Gov. John Kasich said.

The Republican governor's comments, in an interview with The Associated Press published Monday, are a major departure from the rest of his party -- and stunning for a potential 2016 presidential contender.

"The opposition to it was really either political or ideological," Kasich said of Obamacare. "I don't think that holds water against real flesh and blood, and real improvements in people's lives."

The governor later reversed course on Twitter, saying The Associated Press "got it wrong" and that he wants to "repeal and replace" Obamacare. A Kasich spokesman said the governor was referring solely to Obamacare's Medicaid expansion -- not the entire law -- and that his comments were reported out of context.

The AP got it wrong. Ohio said NO to the Obamacare exchange for a reason. As always, my position is that we need to repeal and replace.

— John Kasich (@JohnKasich) October 20, 2014

Kasich angered conservatives when he bypassed Ohio's Republican-controlled legislature and embraced Obamacare's Medicaid expansion last year.

His comments reflect the political balancing act facing GOP governors who criticized the law but have implemented parts or all of it.

Indiana Gov. Mike Pence has sought a middle ground, arguing for a version of the Medicaid expansion that includes changes such as individual health savings accounts requiring personal contributions -- a program initially crafted under his predecessor, Mitch Daniels.

Others Republican governors seen as prospective presidential candidates, like Wisconsin's Scott Walker and Louisiana's Bobby Jindal, have been outspoken opponents of Obamacare, refusing to implement it and saying they'd like to see it repealed.

In states that have expanded Medicaid, Democratic Senate candidates like Alison Lundergan Grimes in Kentucky have pressed their Republican opponents about what would happen to the hundreds of thousands of low-income residents who now have health coverage.

"We have over a half a million Kentuckians who for the first time ever are filling prescriptions, they're going to the doctor, they're getting checkups," Grimes said in a recent debate with Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell. "I will not be a senator that rips that insurance from their hands."

What key Senate race means for 2016

Hagan is showing strength going into the midterm election while many southern Senate Democrats are at serious risk of losing their seats.

• Kay Hagan is slightly ahead in most polls going into next month's elections


• Hagan's strength could provide Democrats a playbook for winning North Carolina in 2016


• Hillary Clinton will campaign with Hagan on Saturday

(CNN) -- Sen. Kay Hagan should be toast by now.

She's a Democrat in Republican-leaning North Carolina, voted for Obamacare and is under fire for skipping a meeting of the Senate Armed Services Committee to attend a campaign fundraiser -- a no no in a state with a large military presence. Her Republican opponent, Thom Tillis, is also trying to tie her to the Obama administration's uneven Ebola response.

Yet Hagan is surprisingly strong going into next month's election, slightly ahead in most polls at a time when other southern Senate Democrats are in serious danger of losing their seats. Her durability is cheering Democrats in an otherwise miserable year and giving the party a playbook for how to make North Carolina competitive during the 2016 presidential election.

Politicians get bad marks for absenteeism?

Tillis hammers Hagan over missed hearing

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"North Carolina is a political fulcrum on which the nation's politics balances," said Josh Stein, a Democratic state senator.

Potential 2016 contenders are paying close attention to this year's Senate race. Hillary Clinton will join Hagan at a Charlotte rally on Saturday. Sen. Rand Paul, a Kentucky Republican, has campaigned in the state for Tillis

READ: CNN poll: Libertarian could be spoiler in N.C. Senate race

To win, Hagan will have to solidify the coalition from 2008 that helped Barack Obama spring a surprise and become the first Democrat to win North Carolina in a presidential election since Jimmy Carter.

The president won the state by turning out record numbers of African Americans along with young, well educated voters moving to Charlotte and the high-tech "Research Triangle" of Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill.

But that base thinned in 2012, returning the state to Republicans.

"It may be that North Carolina becomes a bona fide swing state," said Andrew Taylor, a political scientist at North Carolina State University.

Hagan is hoping to rev up the base by lambasting Tillis, who is currently the state House speaker, over his unpopular legislature's policies on education and women's issues. She can't afford for any Democrats to stay home, as often happens in midterm elections.

OPINION: 4 ways Democrats have already won the midterms

Midterm debates echo similar themes

Tillis says rival 'kept quiet' on ISIS

African American turnout -- which could diminish without Obama on the ballot -- will again be crucial and Democrats are furious about new voter registration laws which they say discriminate against their core supporters.

Winning the North Carolina battleground won't be easy — or cheap. The Senate race is attracting a record amount of outside money -- $55.7 million, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. A Center for Public Integrity analysis of data collected by Kantar Media/CMAG found North Carolinians have been deluged by nearly 80,000 television ads in a preview of what could be an even costlier presidential campaign in two years time.

The intensity will only increase in 2016 if each party thinks the state is up for grabs.

For Republicans, maintaining their grip on North Carolina is vital. They would have a hard time finding a path to the White House without it.

"This notion that it used to be a deep red state that is now going Democratic ... is just not an accurate picture of reality," said John Hood, president of the open market John Locke Foundation.

"North Carolina is likely to be highly competitive, but I don't see it turning blue," he said, noting that the state has in the past sent both staunch conservatives like Jesse Helms and liberals like John Edwards to the Senate.

Republicans see a 2014 victory in North Carolina as a crucial bulwark against Democratic encroachment on the coastal south in 2016. A loss now would inevitably spark tough questions about the party's viability in national elections.

Tillis campaign sources say they learned the lesson of Obama's mighty turnout machine in 2008 and have spent a year building a field operation.

They believe the infrastructure left behind by Obama has frayed and see the state Democratic Party as disorganized. But the Hagan campaign says it has enrolled 10,000 volunteers to identify supporters and make sure they vote.

But the Ebola outbreak is transforming the contours of the race, underscoring how quickly the state's political ground can shift.

READ: Senate slates Ebola hearing as calls for ban grow

Republicans are slamming Hagan for finally backing an entry ban for citizens of west African nations afflicted by Ebola after she earlier adopted the White House position that travel restrictions would not work. Her delayed flip flop showed a "lack of leadership and an unwillingness to stand up to President Obama when he is wrong," said Tillis spokesman Daniel Keylin.

Hagan is staying focused on the party's core issues, calling Tillis "abysmal" on women's issues and "spineless" on global terror.

"At every step, he's fought for policies that are taking our state backwards," Hagan said in a debate in which she positioned herself a moderate.

Her survival strategy relies on making Tillis a bigger bogeyman than Obama, so she slams him as the enforcer of the Republican power monopoly in Raleigh, and distances herself from the president by backing the Keystone pipeline and opposing trade deals.

While she is a sitting senator running for re-election, Hagan is in effect making Tillis the incumbent and has infuriated Republicans by charging the Tillis-led legislature slashed $500 million in education funding.

Republicans believe they've blunted that line of attack with a series of ads but Hagan is keeping it up -- hoping that criticizing Tillis on education will be potent in a state that prides itself on its university system.

Hagan has also lacerated Tillis on contraception and goaded him into dismissing a federal equal pay bill as a "gimmick." Her efforts opened a gender gap of 12 percent among women voters, according to a Survey USA poll.

"Women voters will be the key to her victory in November," said Marcy Stech, national press secretary for EMILY's List, which has poured $3 million into the race.

READ: Ted Cruz has plans for a GOP Senate

Is that you, Renee Zellweger?

When Renee Zellweger arrived at the 2014 Elle Women in Hollywood awards October 20, some people said they couldn't recognize her. Perhaps that's because the "Bridget Jones" star has spent less time in the public eye recently; her last film credit was in 2010. That should change soon, however: Zellweger's next film, "The Whole Truth," is due in 2015.

Hip-hop artist Missy Elliott proved she can still work it as she flaunted a slimmed-down figure October 16 at the launch of designer Alexander Wang's line for H&M. Apparently, an autoimmune disorder is not slowing down the "supa dupa fly" producer, who tweeted a picture of herself in a workout cap that reads "You Can't Workout With Us" after performing at the runway show.

Is that you, Zach Galifianakis? If it weren't for the scruff, we might not recognize the comedic actor and "Between Two Ferns" host as he arrived at a New York Film Festival screening of his newest movie, "Birdman," on Saturday, October 11. The actor first started slimming down in 2013, when he decided to stop drinking.

"#RichKids of Beverly Hills" star E.J. Johnson lost 50 pounds in five weeks after undergoing gastric sleeve surgery. In September, he told People he is not setting a specific number in terms of his goal for weight loss.

On April 15, Dave Chappelle was spotted leaving Live Nation's offices in Los Angeles carrying some extra muscle. Apparently, the comedian has been spending his free time in the gym.

Roseanne Barr recently showed off a slimmer figure at the 2014 NBCUniversal Summer Press Day in Pasadena, California. Barr has been delighted by all the attention fans have paid to her new figure, and she thanked them via Twitter.

Lorraine Bracco of "The Sopranos" has lost 35 pounds since the HBO drama's end in 2007. She said it was the death of her parents three years ago that inspired her to make a change. Before their death, she remembers "sitting there, dividing these medications, who gets what when," she told ABC News. "It was insane. I watched and realized, 'I don't want to go like that.' ... I want to live every day the best I can be."

At 46, Lisa Marie Presley is feeling 16 again. Eating clean and organic has helped her to reach "the weight I was at when I was a teenager," she told People magazine. Presley, the daughter of Elvis Presley, was inspired to get fit because of her father's family history of shorter life spans. "I didn't know where I would land," she said. "So I said, 'OK, I'm going to play it safe and try to be as healthy as I can be.' "

Tom Arnold has lost about 90 pounds since his first child was born last year, and he was looking quite thin at this year's South by Southwest festival. He'd actually lost the same amount of weight before but regained it when he didn't maintain healthier habits. After his son was born, he knew he needed to make a lasting change. "I saw that little baby, and I thought, 'I gotta stay alive for as long as possible,' " Arnold said in January. "That's a lifelong commitment."

Jessica Simpson shows off a supersvelte look in a Weight Watchers ad released in February. "I was so insecure -- I couldn't even believe what I weighed," Simpson told "Good Morning America." The singer/fashion mogul says she is feeling better than ever since giving birth to her second child in June.

Christina Aguilera turned heads on the American Music Awards' red carpet for two years in a row. At the awards ceremony in 2013, Aguilera surprised onlookers by arriving in a skin-tight white gown with revealing cutouts, displaying a much different look than her voluptuous appearance at the 2012 event.

At the 2013 CMA Awards, singer Miranda Lambert revealed a slimmer physique. Apparently, her fit frame is courtesy of personal trainer Bill Crutchfield: "Hey @CrutchCamp," Lambert tweeted November 7. "I got some compliments last night thanks to you!"

Chaz Bono told People in April 2013 that he had lost 60 pounds since appearing on season 13 of "Dancing With the Stars." "Diets don't work," he told the magazine. "You just have to change what you eat, and I have." Bono is pictured arriving at the GLAAD Media Awards in April 2010, left, and in April 2013.

There's no way Marissa Jaret Winokur could play "Hairspray's" zaftig Tracy Turnblad these days. The Tony-award winning actress dropped 60 pounds in 2012.

Jennie Garth slimmed down after splitting with husband Peter Facinelli in 2012.

Lisa Lampanelli said she underwent surgery to help her shed 80 pounds and give her a new look.

From thong to thin: Matthew McConaughey reportedly dropped 40 pounds for a role in "The Dallas Buyers Club," and the transformation was startling on the "Magic Mike" star.

Paula Deen announced in June 2012 that she lost 30 pounds over a six-month period after she was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. These days, she is looking slimmer than ever.

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