What do Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich...

...have in common? Well, among other things, they both supported national health care plans in the past that included an individual mandate. But they weren't alone among Republicans. According to Ezra Klein's blog (my emphasis):

Health-care plans including an individual mandate have been proposed or co-sponsored by Bob Dole, the Heritage Foundation, Phil Gramm, Chuck Grassley, Orrin Hatch, Richard Lugar, Judd Gregg, Kay Bailey Hutchison, Jesse Helms, Lamar Alexander, Bob Corker, Mike Crapo, and Strom Thurmond -- and that's only a partial list. In 2008, Jim DeMint endorsed Mitt Romney for president, and specifically mentioned his health-care plan as one of Romney's qualifications. The Republican Party has since turned on the individual mandate. 

And why did Republicans change their minds? Because in 2009 the Affordable Care Act was sponsored by Democrats in the White House and Congress and the GOP wanted to deny them a legislative accomplishment. But I think this is going to come back to bite them. As the law gets implemented in the next few years and more and more people find out what is actually in it, Republicans may regret taking such a strong stand against it. Who knows? They may even start reminding people it was their idea in the first place.