Iraq bill puts House Democrats on the spot

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But, he argued, what a ‘no vote on funding would do is cause shortages in supplies. “There’ll be no bullets for live fire exercises for the training,” he predicted.

Could there be back in his hometown of Mankato, Minn., another high-school teacher or political novice getting ready to challenge Walz in a Democratic primary due to his vote on the war?

“It’s possible — and I would encourage them to do so if they want to get into the leadership position where you have to make this vote," he said. "For me, it might be some easy personal salvation to just say no, but the reality of this is we have a president who has gotten us to this point. A ‘no’ vote does not de-fund the war or even if it would, it would it would not stop it. And I have an obligation to find a real solution.”

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Freshman Jerry McNerney of California’s 11^th District, who represents a district that President Bush carried by nine points in 2004, is a ‘no’ vote.
Image: Rep. Jerry McNerney
Tue Nam Ton / Zuma Press
Rep. Jerry McNerney

“The president has said basically, ‘give me everything I want and nothing I don’t want and I’ll sign the bill.’ That’s not acceptable to me or to a lot of people and that’s not why I was elected,” McNerney said in an interview a few hours before Thursday night’s funding vote. “We need to bring accountability to the war, end the war, and re-deploy the troops. I don’t think we should give the president a free hand.”

Will Republicans say in next year’s campaign “McNerney refused to fund the troops”?

He replied, “They’ll say whatever they can say that works. We’ll see. I don’t know. We’ll get funds for the troops; we’re not going to abandon the troops. That isn’t what this is about.”

Does that mean he’ll vote ‘no’ partly because he knows the bill will pass anyway?

“I don’t know if it will pass or not. I’m voting to end the war. The president vetoed our spending plan and he cut off the finds for the troops when he did that,” McNerney replied.

Carol Shea-Porter, another first term Democrat, scored an upset win last year over Rep. Jeb Bradley in New Hampshire’s Second District.
Image: Rep. Carol Shea-Porter, D-N.H.
Jamie Rose / Redux Pictures file
Rep. Carol Shea-Porter, D-N.H.

“We tried to get the president to accept some kind of reason in this war. I’m not giving him a blank check. Too many people are dying; there’s been too much destruction. There’s been zero accountability. He’s asking us in Year Five of the war to continue the same. So I’m voting ‘no’ this time. I support the troops and you have to say ‘no’ if you support the troops.”

Like McNerney and Walz, Shea-Porter represents a district that Bush carried in 2004. And like them she is the target of a National Republican Congressional Committee one-week radio ad buy launched Thursday, accusing them of having “been strong-armed by Speaker Pelosi.”