Where should Obama go to put political heat on filibusterers?

[ProgressiveEconomist]

In tonight's press conference, President Obama started by pointing out the plight of an area in Indiana where unemployment has tripled over the past year. He had just returned to DC from a visit there, designed to generate media coverage of his selling points for his economic rescue plan.

Similar visits are scheduled soon for Ft. Myers Florida and Peoria Illinois.

(A) Why did he pick these states? And (B) Which other states should he add to the list?

***** WHAT'S YOUR OPINION? *****

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Here's my opinion: With 58 or 59 Democrats (with Al Franken) in the Senate, the President needs only one or two nonmembers of the Democratic Caucus to cross over to break any Republican filibuster attempt.

Republican Senator Richard Lugar of Indiana just saw his state vote for a Democratic Presidential candidate for the first time in decades. Also, he has been associated with urban issues in the past. Finally, as a neighbor of Obama's home state, Indiana gets spillover favorable broadcast media coverage of the President. Visits to (1) Indiana and (2) Illinois thus may put pressure on Lugar not to support future filibusters of the President's priorities. The President doesn't need Lugar to vote in favor of his legislation; he just needs him to stop supporting extraordinary measures to obstruct change.

IIRC, Sen Mel Martinez (R-FL) has announced that he will not run for re-election. Thus bucking the minority leadership costs Martinez less than other Republicans who must rely on future party re-election support to continue their careers. A visit to Florida (3)
might help Martinez see the light--or feel the heat from outspoken foreclosure victims, seniors, and others seeking political change.

IMO Voinovich's profile of past support for urban issues is similar to Lugar's. So an Obama visit to a carefully-chosen venue in Ohio (4) might bear political fruit.

Iowa (5) and North Carolina (6) are sites of impressive Obama Presidential victories.

Finally, Sen Cornyn of Texas (7) did not vote with the rest of the Republicans today. It could be that he was sick--or it could be that he fears being labeled as an obstructionist. Either way, a Presidential visit to a heavily Hispanic area of Texas would not hurt at this point.

In my first Reply to this lead-in, I'll post the full cloture roll-call vote by state, with suggested priority for Obama visits soon.

[ProgressiveEconomist]

1. As promised in the lead-in--Full cloture vote roll-call

Cloture Motion roll-call vote Feb 9th, Grouped by Home State
============================================================
Numerals are suggested priority for Obama visits soon

01 Indiana: Bayh (D-IN), Yea; Lugar (R-IN), Nay
03 Florida: Martinez (R-FL), Nay; Nelson (D-FL), Yea
04 Ohio: Brown (D-OH), Yea; Voinovich (R-OH), Nay
05 Iowa: Grassley (R-IA), Nay; Harkin (D-IA), Yea
06 North Carolina: Burr (R-NC), Nay; Hagan (D-NC), Yea

07 Texas: Cornyn (R-TX), Not Voting; Hutchison (R-TX), Nay

Other states with at least one Republican Senator (18 states)
=================================================
Alabama: Sessions (R-AL), Nay; Shelby (R-AL), Nay
Alaska: Begich (D-AK), Yea; Murkowski (R-AK), Nay
Georgia: Chambliss (R-GA), Nay; Isakson (R-GA), Nay
Arizona: Kyl (R-AZ), Nay; McCain (R-AZ), Nay
Idaho: Crapo (R-ID), Nay; Risch (R-ID), Nay

Kansas: Brownback (R-KS), Nay; Roberts (R-KS), Nay
Kentucky: Bunning (R-KY), Nay; McConnell (R-KY), Nay
Louisiana: Landrieu (D-LA), Yea; Vitter (R-LA), Nay
Mississippi: Cochran (R-MS), Nay; Wicker (R-MS), Nay
Missouri: Bond (R-MO), Nay; McCaskill (D-MO), Yea

Nebraska: Johanns (R-NE), Nay; Nelson (D-NE), Yea
Nevada: Ensign (R-NV), Nay; Reid (D-NV), Yea
Oklahoma: Coburn (R-OK), Nay; Inhofe (R-OK), Nay
South Carolina: DeMint (R-SC), Nay; Graham (R-SC), Nay
South Dakota: Johnson (D-SD), Yea; Thune (R-SD), Nay

Tennessee: Alexander (R-TN), Nay Corker (R-TN), Nay
Utah: Bennett (R-UT), Nay; Hatch (R-UT), Nay
Wyoming: Barrasso (R-WY), Nay; Enzi (R-WY), Nay

Republican Obama Cabinet appointee (1 state)
==================================
New Hampshire: Gregg (R-NH), Not Voting; Shaheen (D-NH), Yea

Rs already cooperated with Obama on cloture (2 states)
========================================
Maine: Collins (R-ME), Yea Snowe (R-ME), Yea
Pennsylvania: Casey (D-PA), Yea Specter (R-PA), Yea

Two Democratic Caucus Senators (23 states)
==============================
Arkansas: Lincoln (D-AR), Yea Pryor (D-AR), Yea
California: Boxer (D-CA), Yea Feinstein (D-CA), Yea
Colorado: Bennet (D-CO), Yea Udall (D-CO), Yea
Connecticut: Dodd (D-CT), Yea Lieberman (ID-CT), Yea
Delaware: Carper (D-DE), Yea Kaufman (D-DE), Yea

Hawaii: Akaka (D-HI), Yea Inouye (D-HI), Yea
02 Illinois: Burris (D-IL), Yea Durbin (D-IL), Yea
Maryland: Cardin (D-MD), Yea Mikulski (D-MD), Yea
Massachusetts: Kennedy (D-MA), Yea Kerry (D-MA), Yea
Michigan: Levin (D-MI), Yea Stabenow (D-MI), Yea

Minnesota: Klobuchar (D-MN), Yea
Montana: Baucus (D-MT), Yea Tester (D-MT), Yea
New Jersey: Lautenberg (D-NJ), Yea Menendez (D-NJ), Yea
New Mexico: Bingaman (D-NM), Yea Udall (D-NM), Yea
New York: Gillibrand (D-NY), Yea Schumer (D-NY), Yea

North Dakota: Conrad (D-ND), Yea Dorgan (D-ND), Yea
Oregon: Merkley (D-OR), Yea Wyden (D-OR), Yea
Rhode Island: Reed (D-RI), Yea Whitehouse (D-RI), Yea
Vermont: Leahy (D-VT), Yea Sanders (I-VT), Yea
Virginia: Warner (D-VA), Yea Webb (D-VA), Yea

Washington: Cantwell (D-WA), Yea Murray (D-WA), Yea
West Virginia: Byrd (D-WV), Yea Rockefeller (D-WV), Yea
Wisconsin: Feingold (D-WI), Yea Kohl (D-WI), Yea

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SOURCE: http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=111&session=1&vote=00059

"Home > Legislation & Records Home > Votes > Roll Call Vote
U.S. Senate Roll Call Votes 111th Congress - 1st Session

as compiled through Senate LIS by the Senate Bill Clerk under the direction of the Secretary of the Senate

Vote Summary

Question: On the (Motion to Invoke Cloture on Collins-Nelson (NE) Amdt. No. 570 to H.R. 1 )

Vote Number: 59 Vote Date: February 9, 2009, 05:29 PM

Required For Majority: 3/5 Vote Result: Cloture Motion Agreed to

Amendment Number: S.Amdt. 570 to H.R. 1 (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009)

Statement of Purpose: In the nature of a substitute.

Vote Counts: YEAs 61 NAYs 36 Not Voting 2"

[texastoast]

2. Cornhole has been getting some Texas heat

even in the late winter. We are fed up with it. Even some of the pukes here are appalled at the utter hypocrisy of TARP and the obstructionism against this stimulus package that is for US instead of the goldhats.

:grr:

[Skink]

4. As Texas goes so goes the nation.

Or pretty soon.

[ProgressiveEconomist]

7. Do you have any links?

[kenny blankenship]

3. Senate Committee Chairs. Obama needs a "gang" of them on his team, working like a team.

If they act together to push an agreed-upon agenda, by rewarding Senators who help pass the agenda and freezing out those who obstruct the agenda, they and the Senate Majority Leader can make the Senate work more like the House and dampen the threat of filibusters.

It's not just the Repukes who seek leverage by Repuke filibuster but the outlying members of the Democratic caucus. These nobodies become important when the Repukes block cloture because a handful of them can join in blocking cloture and then insist that their asses be licked in just the right way before the process can move forward again. That means vitally important bills getting watered down by the likes of Ben Nelson and Joe Lieberdouche - for no better reason than to prove that they can take Obama down a few pegs.

[OhioBlue]

5. I agree with your reason that he picked those States

and the States that you mentioned he should visit.

I will talk on Ohio, because that is what I know.

Voinovich (R) seemed to be close to crossing over. As you mentioned, he can be a moderate at times rather than bound by ideology. His seat is up in 2010 and he is not running for re-election. Ohio has been very hard hit economically. This has been going on for several years. State and local Governments are struggling.

I think Voinovich can be flipped if he gets enough pressure. I also think his seat can be flipped to (D) in 2010.

[ProgressiveEconomist]

6. Are Voinovich and Lugar both ex-mayors? Are there any other ex-mayors or

ex-Governors in the Senate? Many of them might be especially sensitive to economic stress for hundreds of thousands of voters, since they are less "coccooned" than other Senators who might focus on the interests of a narrow class of "contributors".

Is there a website that has prefab answers to these kinds of questions about the backgrounds of Senators? If not, IMO someone should put one up.

[salguine]

8. Maybe he should start by stopping this practice of

surrounding himself with the people who caused all these problems in the first place. Henry Kissinger, for fuck's sake!? And three quarters of his other appointments have left me feeling pretty damn betrayed. The "stimulus" or "recovery" or whatever the hell you want to call it, has been so misproportioned and diluted that the help is not going to get where it needs to go most, all because Obama seems to feel this compulsive need to make sure the biggest assholes in the Republican Party don't get upset, and as a result it probably won't help as it should. I'd really like to see him and the Democrats grow a pair and start acting like the majority they are, and shove it right up the Republicans' asses, and if they don't like it, tough shit. Making sure the feelings of obstructionist assholes don't get hurt is the last thing we should be concerned about given the seriousness of the situation we're in right now.

I'm going to make a prediction. Not a statement of what I want to happen, because I don't, but a statement of what I think WILL happen. I'd bet on it, if I had any money: While many people seem to think that Obama is here as a messiah to preside over America's return to greatness—I continue to be dismayed by the breathless swooning over his every move that I continue to see from too many people here—I predict that the only thing he's going to preside over is the completion of her final slide into third-world status and ultimate ruin, from which her still-powerful military won't save her. Wish/hope I was wrong, but I remain to be convinced otherwise.

I suppose none of this would upset me so much if I didn't care, and didn't love my country as much as I do, and especially if I didn't think there was now potential for things to get better once Dubya was gone. Not that I ever really expected anything revolutionary to happen in the first place—I'm too much of a realist and a cynic and I've been around too long, and seen too much, to think that anything like real change was really gonna happen. Shame on me for feeling a glimmer of hope, even briefly.

Surely I'm not the only one who feels this way?