Adler Ignores His Base And Digs His Grave-- Will Jon Runyan Tackle Him Next Year?

We've written a lot about how conservative Democrat Suzanne Kosmas has made a name for herself as always willing to ditch work to go for a nosh with the K Street whores a lobbyist. It hasn't gone unnoticed that this year she took in more from the Insurance Industry CEOs and lobbyists ($55,516) than any other freshman-- of either party-- save one (Jim Himes, who represents the district where they are headquartered and voted for the healthcare bill anyway). Kosmas doesn't deserve to be re-elected. And she isn't the only one. Another mark the insurance industry found is New Jersey Rep John Adler. He was their third biggest investment in freshman ($50,967) and he also voted against the wishes and needs of his own constituents to support his campaign contributors.

NJ-03 is a swing district, primarily the south Jersey suburbs of Philly, that gave Obama a 52-47% win over McCain last year. Adler also won the open seat with a 52% majority. (In a bit of a backlash in the district, Christie just beat Corzine 52%-48%.) It's a prosperous district but there are approximately 60,000 uninsured people in the district, 11% of the population who aren't on Medicare. The bill that Adler broke with Obama (and most of his constituents-- especially the Democratic ones-- to oppose would:

• Improve employer-based coverage for 459,000 residents.

• Provide credits to help pay for coverage for up to 115,000 households.

• Improve Medicare for 134,000 beneficiaries, including closing the prescription drug donut hole
for 12,000 seniors.

• Allow 16,000 small businesses to obtain affordable health care coverage and provide tax credits
to help reduce health insurance costs for up to 14,600 small businesses.

• Provide coverage for 27,000 uninsured residents.

• Protect up to 1,300 families from bankruptcy due to unaffordable health care costs.

• Reduce the cost of uncompensated care for hospitals and health care providers by $56 million.

But he had just about 50,967 reasons to oppose it. And now he has something else-- a pissed off and demoralized Democratic base-- and a big name possible opponent, ex-Philadelphia Eagles offensive lineman Jon Runyan, a legend.

Last year, an intense, nasty and expensive three-way Republican primary between Medford Councilman Chris Myers, Ocean County Freeholder Jack Kelly and former Tabernacle Township Committeeman Justin Murphy helped pave the way for a general election victory by Adler, who was spared a primary challenge.

Without Runyon the same thing would be likely to happen again. With Runyon in, no other Republican would waste their time. And that would probably be the end of Adler, who looks like a political coward to Democrats for voting against health care reform. His dismal 37.25 ProgressivePunch score-- easily the worst of any New Jersey congressmember-- and even worse than Kosmas' abysmal 45.10-- is unlikely to inspire Democrats to come out on election day-- and at a time when the Republican base is far more fired up.