FACT: 39 Dems Voted Against Health Care Reform...

[madinmaryland]

Of them, only 12 were re-elected. The other 27 will be heading home.

[Egnever]

1. Interesting

[Kennah]

4. One hopes the message won't be lost on the White House

[niceypoo]

2. See ya

If there is going to be a bloodletting, let it be the bluedogs.

[Skinner]

3. I think this might be a case of correlation rather than causation.

(And I say this as someone who supported the health care bill.)

Your OP implies this:

Vote against health care bill = Lose 2010 election.

I think the reality is probably more like this:

Democratic legislator from conservative district = Vote against health care bill.
- AND -
Democratic legislator from conservative district = Lose 2010 election.

[aquart]

6. It means that Congressperson didn't do what the people wanted.

THAT's what it means.

[joshcryer]

9. That assumes far too much of the electorate.

[Winterblues]

23. Does the same hold true for Republicans that voted against Health Care Reform?

I doubt it does....

[zipplewrath]

8. Alternately

Being a democrat from a conservative district, voting against HCR wasn't going to "protect" you.

Hope they really opposed it, or they don't have much to show for their vote.

[DevonRex]

11. Your comment actually fits in with Skinner's comment quite nicely. nt

[zipplewrath]

17. But does not repeat

The nuance is that we often heard how these democrats in conservative districts "had" to vote a certain way. Apparently, it didn't do them any good, so I hope they actually opposed the legislation, as opposed to merely being politically expedient.

[DevonRex]

10. Thank you. That's the right way to look at it. nt

[mzmolly]

Exactly.

eom

[BlueCheese]

13. Exactly. n/t.

[HughMoran]

15. That was my first thought as well

It makes sense, so I assume very few will agree with you - lol :D

[madinmaryland]

16. I actually found it to be an interesting factoid. It would be simplistic

just to say x caused y.

I will let people draw whatever conclusion they want.

[TNLib]

22. I think it also means the Dems in those district that supported the health care bill

Were probably not going to do to much to help those candidates get elected.

[zipplewrath]

5. Which means

There was a shift of 60 seats or so. 27 of them were lost by folks voting against HCR. Which means 33 of them voted FOR the Health Insurance Stimulus Package. (technicality alert: some of those seats may have been "lost" to people retiring so the dem didn't actually lose, or the one that did hadn't voted on HCR).

What's that lesson?

[JackRiddler]

24. This comparison is invalid.

More than 80 percent of Democrats in the House voted for. The yes votes are a much larger group than the no votes.

Therefore you can only compare the two groups on the basis of rates.

[RC]

7. Must not have been enough like Lieberman

[kctim]

12. So, of those 27

how many lost to a more 'progressive' candidate because they did not support it?
And how many lost to a Republican for simply being in the same party that was pushing HCR?

[gratuitous]

18. How many of them presented a Republican Lite choice

And their district preferred the real thing? It seems to happen a lot that when people are presented a choice between an ersatz Republican and a real one, they'll choose the real one. Why not vote and govern like a Democrat, unapologetically, and then stand or fall on the party's merits rather than try to appease an unappeasable conservative bloc and in the same motion, alienate the liberal/progressive bloc? Blue Dog governance seems like a sure ticket to Political Palookaville.

[kctim]

19. THAT is what progressives refuse to understand or respect

We do NOT prefer what progressives consider to be the 'real thing,' and when Democrats in these areas govern as progressives dictate, they lose.

Why not vote and govern in these areas like progressive Democrats want? Because there is NOT a liberal/progressive bloc that must be catered to.

[gratuitous]

20. Perhaps they should have been even more conservative

It seems to have worked out so well for more than half of them.

[kctim]

21. Depends on which issue, doesn't it

[BurtWorm]

14. That could be significant.

:think: