It is helpful to the National Republican Congressional Committee that some incumbent House Democrats publicly self-identified that they were extremely vulnerable if they’re tied to Nancy Pelosi.
It appears there are at least 19 Democrats who could not afford to see “voted to make Nancy Pelosi Speaker of the House” ads in their districts in fall 2012.
Reps. Jason Altmire of Pennsylvania, Dan Boren of Oklahoma, Jim Cooper of Tennessee, Joe Donnelly of Indiana, Tim Holden of Pennsylvania, Larry Kissell of North Carolina, Mike McIntyre of North Carolina, Jim Matheson of Utah, Mike Michaud of Maine, Mike Ross of Arkansas, and Heath Shuler of North Carolina voted for Shuler as Speaker.
Reps. John Barrow of Georgia and Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona voted for Georgia Democrat John Lewis for Speaker.
In a cute show of mutual admiration, Reps. Dennis Cardoza and Jim Costa of California voted for each other.
Rep. Ron Kind of Wisconsin voted for Cooper; Rep. Daniel Lipinski of Illinois voted for Rep. Marcy Kaptur of Ohio; Rep. Kurt Schrader of Oregon voted for Steny Hoyer of Maryland; and Rep. Sanford Bishop of Georgia voted “present.”
None of them want their opponents saying, "the first vote he cast was for Pelosi as Speaker." Who missed the vote? Boehner got 241 votes. Someone has splaining to do.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseSanford Bishop of GA or Tim Bishop of NY? I've seen it both ways and Tim Bishop seems to be the more logical of the two.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseDBL - The "no show" for the GOP was Boehner, who chose not to vote at all. Typically the nominee himself would vote "present" but I guess Boehner didn't feel the need to do so, or was perhaps off the floor getting ready. The other "no show" was Peter DeFazio of Oregon, who is not present in Washington today (as far as I can tell).
It was Sanford Bishop who voted "present" - Tim Bishop voted for Pelosi. And Sanford is far more logical - he comes from a more conservative district and nearly lost this year as well. With Republicans ruling the roost in Georgia expect that they will try to make his district somewhat more Republican - he can't afford to have a vote for Pelosi on his record.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseOr maybe John was too choked up to vote.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseReps. Dennis Cardoza and Jim Costa of California voted for each other because they are both congressmen of Portuguese descent. Democrat Devin Nunes, also of California, is the only other Portuguese member - I think - but a much more liberal member of congress.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseEthan,
Devin Nunes is a Republican from California.
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