THANKS, HARRY:

The legislative schedule, affected by gridlock and campaign incentives, artificially boosted many Democrats' voting scores in an election year when that trend is very damaging. The irony here is Harry Reid's attempt to protect his vulnerable colleagues - preventing difficult amendments and scheduling messaging bills - inadvertently pushed them closer to an unpopular president. In hindsight, many may have like an opportunity to illustrate policy differences with Obama. Regardless, today many Democratic candidates in red states are now forced to stringently highlight a mere 5-10% "policy" disagreement between themselves and the president.

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