The Democrats who say "nay"
How many Democrats stand against President Obama?
ELEVEN Democrats voted against the House stimulus bill. John McCormack of the Weekly Standardsmells blood in the water: "most are considered vulnerable next cycle."
Unfortunately for the Standard, this isn't true. According to the Cook Political Report, which keeps track of these things, only five of the 11 breakaway Democrats are considered vulnerable in 2010. Bobby Bright of Alabama and Walt Minnick of Idaho are given even odds of being re-elected to their heavily Republican districts. Parker Griffith of Alabama and Frank Kratovil of Maryland are given slight odds at winning re-election; Paul Kanjorski of Pennsylvania, who won the closest race of his career in 2008, is seen as "likely" to return. The other six Democrats are seen to be safe. Four are "Blue Dog" conservatives who've defied their party for years, and two are rising stars, first elected in 2006, in districts that swung dramatically toward their party's presidential candidate in 2008.
The Democrats' situation becomes a bit clearer when you look at what happened in 2001, when the Democratic minority faced a vote on George Bush's first tax cut. Twenty-eight of the then 211 Democratic House members, or 13.3%, voted with the Republicans. Yesterday's gang of 11 Democrats represented only 4.3% of their conference. Another way to look at it: Twenty-four of the 29 freshman Democrats voted for the package, even though several come from districts that voted for John McCain. The failure to win Republican support was an embarrassment for Mr Obama and his party, but no one's losing sleep in the White House about the Democrats who voted "nay".