Earlier today, the Democratic-controlled House of Represenatives passed another major plank of their 100 Hours platform: promoting stem cell research. The legislation sailed through the House with a strong, but not quite veto-proof margin of 253-174. 37 Republicans defected from their party line to vote for this sensible legislation, which as mcjoan describes, “allows addtional stem cell lines; imposes ethical guidelines; contains reporting guidelines; and authorizes federal funds only for stem cells from embryos that fertility clinics would discard.”
Many of those 37 defectors include names that shouldn’t be surprising: Dent, Kirk, Reichert, Porter, Pryce, Shays, Wilson, et cetera–Republicans who either barely beat back stiff challenges in 2006 or those representing purplish (or slightly bluish) territory. It would definitely not be in their best interests to oppose mainstream American values like promoting ethical embryonic stem cell research in the search for cures to end the suffering of millions of families nationwide. However, many House Republicans representing tight districts are sticking to their guns on opposing such legislation in defiance of public opinion, common sense and empathy. I’ve taken the liberty of compiling all of the worst culprits–those representing districts with a PVI of less than R+5.0. With Democrats controlling the legislation in the House, votes like these will be very useful in determining which Republicans are the most badly out of step with their districts.
| Member | District | PVI |
|---|---|---|
| Bilirakis | FL-09 | R+4.3 |
| Buchanan | FL-13 | R+4.1 |
| Camp | MI-04 | R+4.0 |
| Chabot | OH-01 | R+0.5 |
| Diaz-Balart, M. | FL-25 | R+4.4 |
| English | PA-03 | R+1.6 |
| Feeney | FL-24 | R+3.1 |
| Ferguson | NJ-07 | R+0.6 |
| Gallegly | CA-24 | R+4.8 |
| Garrett | NJ-05 | R+4.4 |
| Graves | MO-06 | R+4.8 |
| Hayes | NC-08 | R+3.0 |
| Keller | FL-08 | R+3.0 |
| King | NY-03 | D+2.1 |
| Kline | MN-02 | R+2.7 |
| Knollenberg | MI-09 | R+0.1 |
| Latham | IA-04 | D+0.4 |
| Lobiondo | NJ-02 | D+4.0 |
| Manzullo | IL-16 | R+4.5 |
| McCotter | MI-11 | R+1.2 |
| McHugh | NY-23 | R+0.2 |
| Mica | FL-07 | R+4.1 |
| Miller | MI-10 | R+4.4 |
| Murphy | PA-18 | R+2.2 |
| Renzi | AZ-01 | R+2.2 |
| Reynolds | NY-26 | R+2.6 |
| Rogers | AL-03 | R+4.3 |
| Rogers | MI-08 | R+1.9 |
| Ros-Lehtinen | FL-18 | R+4.3 |
| Roskam | IL-06 | R+2.9 |
| Ryan | WI-01 | R+2.2 |
| Saxton | NJ-03 | D+3.3 |
| Smith | NJ-04 | R+0.9 |
| Tiberi | OH-12 | R+0.7 |
| Walberg | MI-07 | R+2.5 |
| Walsh | NY-25 | D+3.4 |
| Weldon | FL-15 | R+4.1 |
| Weller | IL-11 | R+1.1 |
Check out some of those names: Walsh, Chabot, Ferguson, Reynolds, Renzi, King, Buchanan. Did they learn nothing from November 7, 2006?
We saw it a number of times in ’06 and stem cell research should be used even more frequently in ’08 – this is an issue that Republicans have NO defense of. These embryos, if not researched on, WOULD OTHERWISE BE DISCARDED!
Shame on every single member of the House who voted against the bill, especially the 17 Democrats who did so. They are not pro-life; they are pro-embryo. They have no sympathy and refuse to give the millions of Americans suffering simple hope.
In my opinion, this is the most important issue of the 100 Hours and I hope and urge Pelosi to discipline the 17 who broke rank.
Embryonic Stem cell research in Wisconsin was perhaps the leading issue that allowed Gov. Jim Doyle to easily beat back the challenge of uber Catholic Mark Green in 2006. Green is of the new generation of Wisconsin GOPers that have sold their souls to the Religious Right.
Wisconsin icon former Gov. Tommy Thompson even cut a commercial backing Green on the issue. But it was an inherently dishonest dodge and Democrats need to be ready to react when other GOP candidates attempt the same dodge.
What Thompson//Green did was the cut an ad where Thompson endorsed Green (of course) and then lit into critics claiming that “Mark Green does back stem cell research”. The kicker is that Green was a down the line backer of the Bush administration on the stem cell research issue and he was adamantly opposed to embryonic stem cell research, which is the type that medical researchers tell us holds all the potential for cures//treatments for so many chronic incurable illnesses. So the new GOP playbook is to claim they do indeed back stem cell research, just not the type of research that holds any promise for medical cures, which is the entire reason to promote stem cell research in the first place of course.
But the issue was especially prominent in Wisconsin because the leading embryonic stem cell researcher is right here at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Dr. James Thompson (no relation to Gov Tommy Thompson) and the Wisconsin Alumni Association owns the patents to most of the stem cell lines that researchers may legally use at this time. So the loss of stem cell research monies would have been catastrophic to the long term financial prospects of the Wisconsin University system.
The Democrats need to spin the issue as anti- business. Not only does the stem cell issue provide a wedge issue to separate families from the Religious Right, it can serve to drive a wedge deep into the heart of the Religious Right-Corporate America coalition that were the principal backers of George W. Bush during his rise to power.
English PA-03 R+1.5
LaHood IL-18 R+4.5
Rogers AL-03 R+2.8
Ros-Lehtinen FL-18 R+3.5
Wolf VA-10 R+4.5
There’s been another case of a turncoat Democrat costing us a state legislative chamber when yesterday Senator James Walley changed parties.
The story can be found here
That is also going to be an ace-in-the-hole for us in many Districts.
Also, Lo Biondo-R NJ-02 will be once again violating his ’94 Term Limit pledge and Dems have been making strong gains locally in Atlantic & Cape May Counties.The strongest potential contender decided against running in ’06: (Assemblyman Jeff Van Drew-D Cape May/Atlantic/Cumberland). A strong challenger with a strong top of the ticket Dem in a Prez year could flip this District.
CA-24 won’t be put into play by any specific thing Congressman Gallegly does this term, because we can safely assume he’ll retire after this cycle. He meant to retire this time, as you all recall, but the local party mismanaged the arrangements for annointing a successor, so he had to run again. The GOP will field someone else, who won’t necessarily be tied to Gallegly’s specific votes.
Speaking of which, I’ve been ransacking the sparse news accounts of Congressman Duncan Hunter’s quixotic bid for the Republican presidential nomination. At what point, I wonder, if he stays in the bigger game, will he have to commit himself about whether or not he will try to simultaneously try to retain his seat in the House?
http://www.ncsl.org/…