According to today's article in the Hill, Democrats appear to be about 60 votes short of a passing a public option healthcare bill in the House. http://thehill.com/...
The question is, who are those 100 House Dems that are willing to deny millions healthcare coverage and possibly endanger the Democratic majority in Congress in 2010? I have been looking through my almanac of Congressmen and I have found a 39 members where it would make sense for them to oppose it, by looking at their previous voting records and political makeup of their districts.
Here is the list I came up with:
- Bobby Bright(AL-02)
- Parker Griffith(AL-05)
- Ann Kirkpatrick(AZ-01)
- Harry Mitchell(AZ-05)
- Gabby Giffords(AZ-08)
- John Salazar(CO-03)
- Betsy Markey(CO-04)
- Allen Boyd(FL-02)
- Suzanne Kosmas(FL-24)
- Jim Marshall(GA-08)
- John Barrow(GA-12)
- Walt Minnick(ID-01)
- Melissa Bean(IL-08)
- Bill Foster(IL-14)
- Joe Donnelly(IN-02)
- Brad Ellsworth(IN-08)
- Baron Hill(IN-09)
- Charlie Melancon(LA-03)
- Frank Kratovil(MD-01)
- Collin Peterson(MN-07)
- Travis Childers(MS-01)
- Gene Taylor(MS-04)
- Harry Teague(NM-02)
- Mike McIntrye(NC-07)
- Heath Shuler(NC-12)
- Earl Pomeroy(ND-AL)
- Steve Dreihaus(OH-01)
- Zack Space(OH-18)
- Dan Boren(OK-02)
- Kathy Dahlkemper(PA-03)
- Jason Altmire(PA-04)
- Chris Carney(PA-10)
- Stephanie Herseth-Sandlin(SD-AL)
- Lincoln Davis(TN-04)
- Jim Cooper(TN-05)
- Bart Gordon(TN-06)
- Jim Matheson(UT-02)
- Glenn Nye(VA-02)
- Alan Mollohan(WV-02)
These are the members who have an excuse not to vote for the healthcare bill. They either come from Conservative districts or have a Conservative voting record that shows that they would probably oppose reform. Even if these members vote against it, we are still at the magic 218 votes in the House. The question is, who are the other 60 members who are blocking reform? We should be able to find out in the coming weeks.