November 23, 2003
GOP TAILWIND (via Kevin Whited):
Istook changes vote, backs bill (Chris Casteel, 2003-11-23, The Oklahoman)
His approval made the Oklahoma congressional delegation unanimously in favor of the sweeping Medicare bill. Reps. Brad Carson, D- Claremore; Tom Cole, R-Moore; Frank Lucas, R-Cheyenne; and John Sullivan, R-Tulsa, also voted for it. [...][C]arson, who is running for the U.S. Senate, broke with most members of his party to support the bill.
"Adding a prescription drug benefit to Medicare is a major step forward," Carson said in a prepared statement after the vote."This package is not perfect, but at least it gives us a basis to improve upon at a later date. AARP believes, as do I, that it is better to have a working piece of legislation on the table providing a prescription drug benefit than no assurance at all."
As Brother Whited points out, Mr. Carson's vote is a pretty good indicator of where the political winds are blowing on this one. Posted by Orrin Judd at November 23, 2003 1:49 PM
The conservative pundits/sites hate this bill and if you follow their statements Bush and the GOP will lose more of their base than gain independents/Dems over this bill, making it a loser for the GOP.
Carson is running for the OK seat being vacated by Nickles - does he have a shot at winning it?
AWW:
Democrats think they have a shot because of the Largent fiasco--but with Bush winning by 20% there it's hard to see how, unless the GOP candidate implodes.
Posted by: oj at November 24, 2003 12:07 AMAWW:
Other people's pork may engender a lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth, but rarely does it translate into negative votes.
That's why special interest groups are effective, because the negative effects of pleasing them are minimal, the NRA excepted.
Posted by: Michael Herdegen at November 24, 2003 4:49 AMMancur Olsen lives.
Posted by: David Cohen at November 24, 2003 9:47 AMMichael - I guess it boils down to whether one thinks the medicare bill is a huge entitlement expansion (as most conservatives seem to) or a trojan horse bill, that, under the cover of prescription drugs, will dramatically modernize the medicare system (as oj does)
Posted by: AWW at November 24, 2003 9:50 AMAWW:
Even if it's the former, conservatives may not believe much in direct democracy, but do believe in representative democracy. When 75% of the American people want something they're going to get it--you can shape it while you're in power or be thrown from power and get a worse bill.
Posted by: oj at November 24, 2003 11:23 AMAWW: Humphreys will run a much better statewide campaign than Largent did last time (in my view). It may be close because Carson is fairly popular, but I don't see the GOP losing this seat because I don't see Humphreys imploding.
Posted by: kevin whited at November 25, 2003 12:20 AM