WRAL reports today that “Democrats in North Carolina are trying to pressure Republican U.S. Rep. Renee Ellmers to support the health care overhaul that passed Congress last year” by “holding a phone bank Tuesday to call constituents in Ellmers’ district.”

Right. Good luck with that. I first met Ellmers in 2009 when we both traveled the state speaking out against Obamacare as part of the Patients First bus tour, well before she had even given the first thought about running for Congress. (Her husband, Brent, also spoke on the tour.)

In this video you can see her standing (with an injured foot in a walking boot, no less) outside of former Congressman Bob Etheridge’s Lillington office speaking out about it to a receptive audience of her future constituents (she starts speaking about midway through the clip).

Hers is a district that ousted Etheridge especially for his vote in favor of Obamacare in the face of demonstrated opposition against it throughout the district. I suppose it would make sense for Democrats to try to tempt her to make the same mistake as the man she replaced, but given the circumstances it seems rather like a fool’s errand to me.