ROSCOE BARTLETT (R-MD) WILLING TO COMMIT CAREER SUICIDE FOR THE PRINCIPLE OF KEEPING POOR CHILDREN WITHOUT HEALTH CARE

Roscoe with his mentors, Snidely & The Hammer

Maryland is a very blue state. There are 2 Democratic senators, a Democratic governor, and overwhelming Democratic majorities in both houses of the state legislature. Last year Ben Cardin was elected to the Senate with 54% of the vote and Martin O'Malley bested the incumbent wingnut with 53% of the vote. Bush only managed 40% in 2000 and 43% in 2004. Of the 8 congressional seats, the Democrats hold 6 and the Republicans hold 2. There were no close races last year. The closest call for a Democrat was a 65% win for an open seat by John Sarbanes. The closest any Democratic incumbent came to losing his seat-- the only one with less than a 70% victory-- was when moderate Cockeysville Democrat, "Dutch" Ruppersberger managed 65%. If there is a seat likely to change hands in Maryland, it's Roscoe Bartlett's in the sixth district (the entire north and west of the state), which is the most solidly Republican part of Maryland, even more so than the Eastern Shore (MD-01). The Eastern Shore is represented by quasi-moderate Wayne Gilchrest who is being challenged from the extreme right of his own party in a primary. Bartlett already is the extreme right so he has no worries-- in a primary.

But last year progressive Iraq War vet Andrew Duck started building a nice base for himself and he plans to run against Batlett again. Today's NY Times presents MD-06 as a micocosm of the debate on S-CHIP. It's a debate that Bartlett is losing and one that could augur poorly for his chances at political survival.

Gilchrest and all the Democrats voted for the popular S-CHIP bill. Bartlett stands out as "the only member of the Maryland delegation to vote against the bill, and he is coming under intense pressure to switch sides as the House moves toward a vote next week on whether to override President Bush’s veto of the legislation."

“Roscoe just looks mean and petty,” said Amy-Catherine McEwan, a manager at the Frederick County Humane Society. “He looks like Snidely Whiplash, the cartoon villain, taking medicine away from little kids.”

And although there are people in the district who have been brainwashed by years of Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter and Bill O'Reilly, even many Republicans think Bartlett is wrong on this. “'It’s a good program,' said Edward Wrzesinski Jr., a Republican who manages Frederick Primary Care Associates, a group practice with 24 doctors and eight offices. 'It’s benefiting children.'”

Bartlett says he doesn't care about the criticism he's getting. His voting record paints a picture of a complete and utter rubber stamp hack-- a straight down the line right-wing throwback. He may have to start caring. Editorials from newspapers big and small, and letters to the editors are solidly against him-- and loudly so. Duck is using the issue effectively and other Maryland politicians have chimed in, reminding voters than Bartlett could be the difference between overriding and sustaining Bush's veto.

The Rev. Barbara Kershner Daniel, senior pastor at the Evangelical Reformed United Church of Christ here, is among those trying to persuade Mr. Bartlett to change his vote.

“We are making more and more decisions based on fear and not on logic,” Ms. Kershner Daniel said. “We make decisions about immigration and the war based on fear. People voted against the children’s health bill because they were fearful of what the implications might be, instead of looking at the benefits to families and the whole nation. I refuse to live in fear.”

Mr. Bartlett won re-election last year with 59 percent of the vote, down from 67 percent in 2004.

Jennifer P. Dougherty, a real estate agent and restaurateur, said the issue of health care for children could galvanize independents and other swing voters.

“The war does not divide Roscoe from this district,” said Ms. Dougherty, a Democrat who was the mayor of Frederick from 2002 to 2006. “But S-chip is a Main Street issue. It affects family after family — our family health, our family’s pocketbook, and our grandchildren. All politics is local, and this is a local issue.”