Iraq bill puts House Democrats on the spot

Tom Curry National affairs writer • Profile • E-mail

WASHINGTON -

As the House voted Thursday on more than $100 billion to pay for military operations in Iraq, the eyes of war critics were on Democratic members who supplied the margin of victory for the funding.

Despite misgivings about the war, 86 Democrats combined with 194 Republicans to pass the funding, as the House OK'd it by a vote of 280 to 142.

Moveon.org and other anti-Iraq war groups were fuming at House Democratic leaders.

In an e-mail to its members, Moveon.org said, “Democratic leaders were facing the president down on summer funding for the Iraq war. But they just blinked.”

Moveon.org said Democratic leaders “gave up on real timelines to end the war, which were key to progressive support. This is a failure of leadership.”

The future of the 232-member Democratic House majority hinges partly on whether anti-war groups such as Moveon.org decide to support primary challengers to Democrats who voted ‘yes’ on funding.

The effect of primary challenges
Will anti-war activists force Democratic incumbents to spend money to defend themselves in primaries next year — or could the party actually get stronger candidates as a result of contested primaries?

Which will face Republican attack ads for voting against the Iraq funds?

Anti-war leader Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, said Thursday no one should assume that any Democratic incumbent who voted for war funding is immune from a primary challenge.

“The depth of anger is so deep,” Kucinich said.

Here’s a look at four key House Democrats and their votes:

Five-term veteran Shelley Berkley, who represents Las Vegas and environs, said Thursday afternoon, “My district is pretty evenly divided. I haven’t done polling, but according to other polls it’s apparent that more than 50 percent now oppose the Iraq war in my district or in Nevada.”

So her vote for the additional finding will go against the wishes of the majority of her constituents, but she explained, “I’m on record as saying I’m not going to leave the troops stranded. As angry and dismayed as I am with the Bush administration having created a debacle, I’m not going to take it out on the troops.”

She predicted, “By September, there will be enough Republicans who will have expressed their concern to the president; it will be a bipartisan effort to moderate his position.”

She also forecast that “as we get closer to election time, more and more Republicans will see that Mr. Bush is not on the ballot, they are.”

And what about the potential threat of a Democratic primary challenger against her? “I don’t foresee that happening. I’ve been very candid about my position.”

She recalled, “I was in anti-Vietnam war protests in college.” She said the U.S. exit from Iraq, when it happens, “will be much more complex than the helicopter on the roof of the embassy” — a reference to the Saigon evacuation in 1975. “This is very complex. It is so much more complex than just ‘get out tomorrow.’”

Freshman Tim Walz of Minnesota’s Second District is a former high-school teacher and political novice elected last November in an upset win over Republican Gil Gutknecht. Walz represents a district that President Bush carried by four percentage points in 2004.

Alex Wong / Getty Images Rep. Tim Walz, D-Minn.

“I’m going to vote for it,” Walz said of the Iraq funding. “What’s become very apparent to me is the president’s reckless disregard for the troops — he’ll play the brinkmanship to the end, until they fall over the brink."

He added, “Having been in the National Guard, I say to those who say, ‘you have to vote no, you have to draw this out,’ there’s a process here and there’s the Constitution. If I thought that a 'no' vote would end this tomorrow in a responsible manner, of course I’d go in that direction.”

Print this Email this Blog this  IM this

MORE FROM POLITICS

Politics Section Front

Obama calls McCain foreign policy 'naive' Huckabee aims gun joke at Obama Brownstein: The health care divide NYT: Subdued Clinton, audience on the trail Democrats accuse McCain of hypocrisy on Hamas Lame duck presidents and candidates they hurt Florida, Michigan cannot save Clinton Russert: GOP issue is Obama's experience Why the Iraq funding bill was rejected by House Newsweek: Want women's vote? Don't call them 'sweetie' Politics Section Front   Add Politics headlines to your news reader: