Our occasional commenter Lefty sends a clip from Roll Call, which I’ll attach at the end of this post and says Washington is abuzz in puzzlement that Blanche Lincoln let herself be the last Democrat to declare support for proceeding to debate on the health care bill.
Though her vote is no more important, really, than the other 59, it looks so by virtue of being the dramatic 60th announced.
I think she has decided to play her predicament offensively. I believe she wants to take credit now when the time comes over the next few weeks for getting a public option out of the bill and for any cost-reduction amendments that may ensue. I think she’s trusting she can convince her constituents that she did the hard and perilous and thankless work for them to make this bill the best of both worlds, or at least acceptable to both. I think she’s made a private deal or two with Harry Reid. My column this morning lays out a broader strategy.
And, remember, she can get credit for killing health reform by voting against cloture if the bill is not adapted to her specifications. Yesterday’s vote wasn’t really any biggie. It just looks like a biggie for a few-hour news cycle we are in the middle of this morning.
But, for now, at least, Blanche has merely set up herself for this front-page headline in the Little Rock paper: “Health bill advances with Lincoln’s vote.”
I’ve always adjudged her as more a creature of Washington process than of a political big picture. She came up through congressional staffing. She knows the jargon and the acronyms. For political touch, she thinks being a down-home good ol’ girl spouting platitudes will suffice. But it won’t. Not this time.
Meantime, semi-retired columnist David Broder in The Washington Post says here it’s not the public option that scares people, but that they don’t trust cost estimates and believe health care will further explode the deficit. And he quotes some budget people saying the public is right.
Anyway, here’s the Roll Call piece attached:
Lincoln’s Saturday Timing Puzzles Colleagues
Nov. 21, 2009, 10:28 p.m.
By Emily Pierce and John Stanton
Roll Call Staff
Senate Democrats and Republicans were left shaking their heads Saturday at Sen. Blanche Lincoln’s (Ark.) decision to be the last Democrat to declare her intentions on Saturday night’s major health care reform vote.
Facing a tough 2010 re-election fight back home, Lincoln was one of three centrist Democrats who withheld their votes on starting the health care debate until shortly before the vote. However, by waiting until after both Sens. Ben Nelson (Neb.) and Mary Landrieu (La.) declared, Lincoln arguably became the decisive vote that put the Democratic bill over the top. Of the three, Lincoln is the only one up for re-election next year.
The Senate voted Saturday night, 60-39, to break a filibuster of the motion to proceed to the $848 billion measure, with the vote breaking down along party lines.
Though Democrats were loath to publicly criticize Lincoln after she took a tough vote for them, many said privately they did not understand why she put herself in that position.
A Zogby poll released last week showed the two-term Democrat narrowly besting her largely unknown GOP opponent 41 percent to 39 percent, with 18 percent undecided. Her support dropped 4 points when Zogby asked whether Arkansans would vote for her if she supported health care reform.
National Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee Chairman John Cornyn (Texas), who has already aggressively targeted Lincoln for defeat next year, agreed Lincoln’s decision to make herself the last Democrat to commit was curious.
Cornyn warned that her role in the debate — and potential passage of a health care reform bill — would be a “problem” for her.
“She’s the 60th vote. It wouldn’t have happened without her. So yeah, it’s a problem for her, don’t you think?” Cornyn said.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) attempted to put even more pressure on vulnerable Democrats such as Lincoln by declaring that vote to start debate was a vote in favor of the bill.
“This bill right here costs $2.5 trillion the government doesn’t have and can’t afford,” McConnell said on the floor before the vote. “It imposes punishing taxes on almost everyone. It raises health insurance premiums on the 85 percent of Americans who already have health insurance. And if that were not bad enough, it slashes Medicare by half a trillion dollars. Anyone who votes ‘aye’ tonight … is voting for all of these things.”
On Saturday afternoon, Lincoln attempted to strike back at both liberal and conservative critics on the Senate floor as she declared her intention to vote with the rest of the Senate Democratic Conference to proceed to the health care measure.
“This vote for or against a procedure that allows us to begin open debate on health care reform is nothing more and nothing less,” Lincoln said. “I’m not afraid of that debate. … I will not allow my decision on this vote to be dictated by pressure from my political opponents nor the liberal interest groups from outside Arkansas that threaten me with their money and their political opposition.”
However, she used more forceful language than Nelson and Landrieu in warning she could not necessarily be counted on to vote for the final package.
“I am also aware that there will be additional procedural votes to move this process forward that will require 60 votes prior to the conclusion of the floor debate,” Lincoln said. “I’ve already alerted the leader, and I’m promising my colleagues, that I am prepared to vote against moving to the next stage of consideration as long as a government-run public option is included.”
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) needed all 60 members of the Democratic Conference to beat back a GOP filibuster attempt, which, if successful, would have prevented the health care measure from being debated and amended on the Senate floor. He will likely need 60 votes again in order to schedule a vote on final passage.
November 23rd, 2009 at 12:11 pm
Mary Landrieu is a straight up Call Girl. She got paid off. Lincoln got nothing, she’s an Idiot.