Was Obamacare the Big Election Issue?

Earlier today Bloomberg View columnists Margaret Carlson and Ramesh Ponnuru met online to chat about the elections in Virginia, New Jersey and Alabama and the continuing mishaps of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Below is a lightly edited transcript.

Margaret: I want to be wild and crazy and definitive but I can't draw big meaning from last night. If it weren't for Virginia, there would have been nothing to stay up for and I love to stay up waiting for results. One thought: Obamacare has more staying power than the government shutdown. Ken Cuccinelli was such a bad candidate hobbled late in the Virginia gubernatorial race by Senator Ted Cruz's government shutdown. Cuccinelli should have lost badly against Terry McAuliffe, a so-so challenger, but for the increasing anger over Obamacare's rollout and insurance companies behaving badly (President Barack Obama will now be blamed for everything insurance companies do.) The shutdown will fade; Obamacare won't. Democrats could lose the Senate.