Over the years there have been various versions of "The Pledge," particularly for GOP candidates. Most commonly, it's been a pledge not to vote for income tax increases. But now, the Club For Growth offers a new one for the 2010 elections: a pledge to repeal health care.

Club For Growth's Chris Choccola wrote in today's Politico:

Now is the time, then, that conservatives must -- and Republicans should­ -- take full ownership of the health care issue, by pledging unequivocally that if elected, they will repeal any federal health care takeover and replace it with market-based reforms. And they should make this pledge now, before Obamacare even becomes law.

This will accomplish several goals.

First, it will immediately define the 2010 and 2012 election campaigns. Obamacare has the potential to be the most unifying domestic political issue in a generation, and one that plays to the GOP's traditional strength: principled policy debates. The election will no longer serve as a referendum on a personally likable president but as his loathsome signature policy.

Second, the pledge will remind wavering Democrats that throwing away their political careers for Obamacare will make them suckers, not martyrs. This thing will be repealed before most of it even takes effect. Indeed, it's possible that promising now to repeal Obamacare may be the only way to prevent its passage in the first place.

And third, it will realign, for the first time in years, the conservative movement and the Republican Party. Conservative voters are going to favor repeal. They should not have to drag Republican leaders -- once again -- to the principled and politically intelligent position. For once, the establishment could get to the party on time.

Already incumbent Sen. Jim DeMint and Rep. Jeff Flake have signed on. Florida Senate candidate Marco Rubio (R), who has the backing of the CfG, also issued a release swiftly agreeing to it.

An initiative like this guarantees that Republican candidates across the country, particularly those running in competitive primaries, will eventually have to make a definitive statement. What impact this will have is uncentain, however, particularly when you note the fact that Politico has also reported that House Minority Whip Eric Cantor said Republicans would only demand a "partial repeal" if they retake control of Congress.