bobbyw24
07-01-2010, 05:24 AM
Stung by a series of setbacks on must-pass legislation, Democrats think they’ve found a culprit: local tea party influence in the home states of usually reliable moderates.
In a span of just a few days, Maine Republican Sens. Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe have forced Democrats to dramatically scale back an unemployment benefits and tax bill, and they were part of a small coalition that effectively killed a bank tax tucked into a major Wall Street overhaul bill.
Democrats believe their positioning is no coincidence if one looks at what’s going on back in Maine.
The Maine Republican Party has moved fiercely to the right with a new party backed by tea partiers, and GOP voters nominated a gubernatorial candidate who emerged as a tea party favorite. More pressing for Snowe, however, is that some conservative activists want to find a primary challenger to run against her in 2012.
And it’s not just the Maine moderates whose right flank back home is causing consternation over votes in Washington.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), a onetime supporter of cap-and-trade energy proposals, is suddenly facing a Sarah Palin-endorsed tea party candidate in her August primary. Murkowski is no longer thought to be a swing vote on a major energy bill.
“It’s getting increasingly difficult,” Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said, when asked about rounding up moderate GOP votes. “And I think Maine is going through its own transformation and challenge within the Republican Party. And I think that’s a factor.”
Montana Democratic Sen. Max Baucus, the Finance Committee chairman, said “different senators vote the way they do — who knows all the constellations and reasons.” And while he said he wasn’t sure about the Maine moderates’ motivations to hold firm against the tax extenders bill, he said he “heard” from others that home-state politics were a factor.
In interviews with POLITICO, Snowe, Collins and Murkowski all rejected the idea that shifting politics back home would change their votes in the Senate, saying they were concerned about the costs and provisions in the proposed legislation.
Informed of Durbin’s comments, Snowe said: “I think that Sen. Durbin shouldn’t ascribe political motivations.” Instead, she blamed “gamesmanship” for the initial impasse over the tax extenders bill.
more
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0610/39259.html
In a span of just a few days, Maine Republican Sens. Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe have forced Democrats to dramatically scale back an unemployment benefits and tax bill, and they were part of a small coalition that effectively killed a bank tax tucked into a major Wall Street overhaul bill.
Democrats believe their positioning is no coincidence if one looks at what’s going on back in Maine.
The Maine Republican Party has moved fiercely to the right with a new party backed by tea partiers, and GOP voters nominated a gubernatorial candidate who emerged as a tea party favorite. More pressing for Snowe, however, is that some conservative activists want to find a primary challenger to run against her in 2012.
And it’s not just the Maine moderates whose right flank back home is causing consternation over votes in Washington.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), a onetime supporter of cap-and-trade energy proposals, is suddenly facing a Sarah Palin-endorsed tea party candidate in her August primary. Murkowski is no longer thought to be a swing vote on a major energy bill.
“It’s getting increasingly difficult,” Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said, when asked about rounding up moderate GOP votes. “And I think Maine is going through its own transformation and challenge within the Republican Party. And I think that’s a factor.”
Montana Democratic Sen. Max Baucus, the Finance Committee chairman, said “different senators vote the way they do — who knows all the constellations and reasons.” And while he said he wasn’t sure about the Maine moderates’ motivations to hold firm against the tax extenders bill, he said he “heard” from others that home-state politics were a factor.
In interviews with POLITICO, Snowe, Collins and Murkowski all rejected the idea that shifting politics back home would change their votes in the Senate, saying they were concerned about the costs and provisions in the proposed legislation.
Informed of Durbin’s comments, Snowe said: “I think that Sen. Durbin shouldn’t ascribe political motivations.” Instead, she blamed “gamesmanship” for the initial impasse over the tax extenders bill.
more
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0610/39259.html