Republicans Plotting An Agenda Of Obstruction-- With The Help Of Right Wing Democrats

Yesterday CongressDaily examined alternative means that Republicans are thinking of using to obstruct Obama's agenda of change. The GOP is hysterical at the idea of a filibuster-proof Senate and a strengthened Democratic House majority. As further polls come out showing more and more Republican incumbents needing to type up their resumes for K Street human resources officers, their party acknowledges that it needs to reach out to the far right of the Democratic Party to hold up the policies that have persuaded Americans to vote for Barack Obama. The latest Senate race veering towards the Democrats: despite Wicker's vicious and idiotic attempt to turn the contest into an anti-gay jihad, Mississippi is trending blue.

Their first targets are red state Democrats who tend to vote with the GOP on core substantive issues. That will especially include Ben Nelson (NE), Mary Landrieu (LA), Tim Johnson (SD), Evan Bayh (IN), Mark Pryor (AR) and Blanche Lincoln (AR). They also have it in their minds that they can bamboozle red-state Democrats elected in 2006 like Jon Tester (MT), Bill Nelson (FL), Claire McCaskill (MO), Jim Webb (VA) and Sherrod Brown (OH). Although Brown has shown political cowardice in the past-- like when he voted for torture during the 2006 election-- and the others have been known to routinely drift right now and then, all of them are committed to most of Obama's agenda-- and Brown has apologized for the torture vote and acknowledged it was a mistake.

Obama, Missouri, today. Will McCaskill remember?

Some senators, including Ben Nelson, McCaskill and Webb, have established moderate voting records. But one Republican said even senators like Brown, who has a fairly consistent record of voting with Democrats, could be more susceptible to joining Republicans now that he is past the first two years of his term. "We will not see the same adherence to leadership positions they had in the 110th Congress," one aide said. Another GOP aide said that even if Democrats can get to 60 seats, some Democrats from swing states might become more vulnerable as the party's agenda swings to the left. "It's going to be hard for people like Claire McCaskill," the aide said.

Ben Nelson said he expects many pleas for help from the other side of the aisle. "I'm sure there'll be efforts of one sort or another to try and get me to support some things," Nelson said. For his part, Nelson agreed he was likely to find common cause with Republicans on some issues. "There probably will be," Nelson said. "I'll put partisanship aside. That's been my approach, and I wouldn't see that changing whatsoever." Nelson stressed, however, he was not interested in lending his vote to efforts to prevent legislation from moving. "If they're counting on me to stop legislation, they've got the wrong senator," he said.

We'll see about that. Over the course of his Senate career, Nelson has voted with the Republicans far more than any other Democrat-- and has voted with the Republicans almost as frequently as he has with the Democrats, much more so than even Joe Lieberman! Worse yet, several of the Democratic recruits this year are from the Republican wing of the Democratic Party and can be expected to join forces with the GOP on key issues, the worst of all being Bruce Lunsford (KY). Another right-of-center Democrat who can't be counted on to support any kind of a progressive agenda is North Carolina's likely winner, Kay Hagan. Studied moderates who I expect to win and frequently veer right include Mark Udall (CO) and Mark Warner (VA). And we'll have to see about Jeanne Shaheen (NH) and Al Franken (MN) as well. Better than their Republican opponents? Goes without saying! But part of a progressive solution? Certainly not the treacherous arch-reactionary Lunsford. The others? We'll see. More certain to support a progressive approach to governance would be... well, proven progressives, of course. If you want to see progressives win, and not just Democrats, support candidates who walk the walk and talk the talk, like Jeff Merkley (OR), Tom Allen (ME), Andrew Rice (OK), and Rick Noriega (TX), the Senate candidates endorsed by Blue America.