SEIU On Bart Gordon

So, a mealy-mouthed conservative Dem goes down in Virginia while bashing the President's agenda, and the lesson Blue Dogs take from that loss is to be even more mealy-mouthed than they already were...Mark Naccarato points out the error his ways:

“This isn’t just politics for Bart – it’s bad politics,” said Mark Naccarato, SEIU Local 205’s political coordinator. “Only two days ago there were two special elections for Congress. Democrats won them both by running on a pro-healthcare, pro-public option platform – even in the district that hadn’t voted for a Democrat since the Civil War. I don’t know who Bart thinks he’s going to make happy by voting against this bill. The Tennessee Republicans already have a candidate ready to go against him and he’s angering the Democrats he needs to get re-elected. President Clinton just told Tennessee Democrats at their Jackson Day fundraiser a month ago that the failure to pass healthcare reform was how the Democrats lost the Congress in 1994 and I would think that Bart would remember that. This makes no sense politically, especially in light of the fact that his constituents want reform and that this is a fiscally sound bill – even by the standards of the Blue Dog caucus that Bart belongs to.”

Gordon already voted a health care bill out of committee...all the ads will say he voted for health care, rather than trying to fight that battle, might as well do something for your constituents and base so that they can reward you for it.