Vulnerable Senate GOPers Can Vote With Dems

Republican Senate leaders are giving fellow GOPers permission to do whatever it takes to get reelected in November, even if that means voting with Democratic on any issue except energy and national security.

That means those senators facing touch re-election challenges - Norm Coleman of Minnesota, Susan Collins of Maine, Elizabeth Dole of North Carolina and Gordon Smith of Oregon, to name a few - get a free pass and are free to flip-flop as it suits them.

Politico reports today that on at least four votes over the past month - Medicare, housing, the GI Bill and the Farm Bill - Republican leaders haven't even bothered whipping members to toe the party line or back President Bush's veto threats. Instead, a GOP leadership aide says leaders have told vulnerable senators that it's all right to "get well" with constituents by taking the more popular positions.

That could explain why so many Senate Republicans seem to not care much about partying with Bush and their leaders on issues of late. For example, Politico notes, shortly after the Medicare vote, the Web site for Sen. John Cornyn - an ardent Bush supporter and party loyalist - featured news that the Texas Republican had voted to override the president's veto.

"I joined with a majority of my colleagues in voting to override the President's veto, because I could not in good conscience allow this year's cuts to go forward," Cornyn said in his July 15 statement, though he did call the bill a "short-term fix" that does not "free Congress from avoiding its long-term responsibility to protect Medicare."

Sen Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., also was personally asked by Dick Cheney about his Medicare veto. An aide to a Republican senator who voted to override the veto said, "Republican leadership wrote us off from the get-go. We were never whipped on this. Leadership just left us alone."

And of course, the Democrats are pouncing on the apparent trend.

"It looks like after months of hanging together with their leaders, they're beginning to have an every-man-for-himself attitude," said Jim Manley, a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. "They started the year with a strategy of doing everything they could to grind the Senate to a halt. What's changing now is we're getting closer to the election."

But Cornyn said such split votes doesn't mean the party is in pieces. "I don't think you can infer from that that we're not going to come together and block bad bills," Cornyn said. "I think Medicare was a special case."

CQ Politics has changed its rating of the Colorado Senate race to reflect a slight edge for Democratic Rep. Mark Udall, who hopes to take over the seat of retiring Republican Sen. Wayne Allard. Udall, who has lots of money to spare and a slight lead in the polls, is facing Republican former Rep. Bob Schaffer. The race previously was rated as ""No Clear Favorite" but now rates "Leans Democratic." The primaries are Aug 12.

The New Mexico Senate race now "Leans Democrat." Democratic Rep. Tom Udall (Mark's cousin), is favored against Republican Rep. Steve Pearce for the seat of retiring Republican Sen. Pete V. Domenici. And in Virginia, a state thought most likely to change party hands among the 35 up for grabs this year, Democratic former governor Mark Warner has a strong edge over Republican James S. Gilmore III, another ex-governor, for the seat of retiring Republican Sen. John W. Warner. The Virginia Senate race is rated "Democrat Favored" by CQ Politics.

Big news in Alaska, where Democratic Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich, has pulled ahead of Republican incumbent Sen. Ted Stevens with a 50% to 41% lead in a Rasmussen Reports poll conducted July 17. Stevens had a statistically insignificant lead over Begich just a month before. Voters who view Begich favorably increased from 55% to 63% while Stevens' favorable-to-unfavorable ratio in June of 51% to 44% is now 50% to 48%. CQ Politics still rates the race "Leans Republican."