First, they run away from Obama, not they're running away from Pelosi

[impik]

Stupid, stupid "Democrats".


http://mobile.politico.com/story.cfm?id=41608&cat=topnews


Some of the Democratic Party’s most endangered lawmakers are taking steps to distance themselves from Speaker Nancy Pelosi in an attempt to inoculate themselves from charges that they are beholden to the unpopular House leader and supportive of the ambitious national Democratic agenda.

Three vulnerable Democrats from conservative-oriented districts are already running TV ads spotlighting their defiance of Pelosi. One freshman incumbent recently joked about the possibility of Pelosi not being able to take up the gavel next year because she might pass away. Another member from a tough district suggested he might run for speaker himself.

The roster of Democrats currently playing six degrees of separation from Pelosi spans the map, from the Northeast to the South and across the Midwest to South Dakota.

The GOP has used Pelosi, who represents a liberal San Francisco congressional district, as a wedge against vulnerable Democrats for almost as long as she has been in Democratic leadership. But with Election Day just nine weeks away, the sprint away from the House speaker highlights the increasing urgency with which the party’s most vulnerable legislators are trying to prove their independence from Democratic leaders and the Capitol Hill agenda that has defined President Barack Obama’s first term in office.

“Republicans have worked to define her as what’s wrong with Democrats,” said Dave Beattie, a Florida-based Democratic pollster who is working on several top-tier races. “It’s playing to partisan stereotypes and she’s just a vehicle for that.”

[Champion Jack]

1. Another wank from Politico

[LiberalFighter]

2. You mean wanks and they are Alex Isenstadt & John Bresnahan.

[LiberalFighter]

3. Another member thinks he might run for Speaker?

Heath Shuler has only been in Congress since 2006 and he thinks he might be elected Speaker in 2010? If his past is any indication he will go down with little to crow about. He was a nobody in the NFL.

[FBaggins]

4. That's his own version of "running away from Pelosi"

As well as trying to build support in his district by making people think that he may have more clout (and therefore pork) after the election.

The problem with that is that if we retain the House, our majority will be both slimmer and more progressive. So there won't be many left who are inclined to move the party to the center by electing him Speaker.

And frankly, if we lose the House and he keeps his seat (not as sure a thing as it was a few months ago), he's as likely to switch parties as he is to run for minority leadership.

IMO... this is just one of the guys we have to put up with if we want to retain the majority... but we don't have to be happy about it.