Former Gov. Terry Branstad’s endorsement of Democratic Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., in 2000 helped him win his seat and eventually allowed him to join fellow Democrats in moving their health care reform bill forward, GOP gubernatorial hopeful Bob Vander Plaats said Monday.

“Ben Nelson gave Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid the vote he needed to get the 60 votes to steamroll Republican opposition,” Vander Plaats said, adding: “Whatever happens from here on out, Terry Branstad is going to have to accept some responsibility because he was a very active supporter of Ben Nelson in his first campaign for the Senate.”

Nelson joined his Democratic colleagues on a procedural vote Saturday that allows a health care reform bill to be debated by the full Senate.

Vander Plaats said Branstad’s endorsement of Nelson during his 2000 campaign help the Democrat defeat his Republican opponent. Branstad also donated money to Nelson’s campaign. Branstad and Nelson formed a friendship while both were serving as governor during in the early 1990s.

“We’re all going to pay an extremely high price for that friendship and that’s especially true for thousands of Iowans who work in the insurance industry,” Vander Plaats said. “If Ben Nelson really did think like an Iowa Republican he would’ve voted no this weekend – just like Chuck Grassley did. Once again, this proves that elections have consequences and ideologies have consequences. The Democrats want to control us with our own dollars by taxing us more to pay for their ridiculous health care plan and Terry Branstad helped give them the leverage to do it.”

A spokesman for Branstad told Radio Iowa’s O.Kay Henderson that Republican candidates should not attack each other and instead focus on attacking incumbent Gov. Chet Culver.