Bush Seen as Jinx by Republican Candidates, who Avoid Party `Brand'
- From: Florida <demeter547opine@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 31 Jul 2008 09:08:52 -0700 (PDT)
http://news.yahoo.com/s/bloomberg/20080723/pl_bloomberg/a1qaunot5fts
Bush Seen as Jinx as Republican Candidates Avoid Party `Brand'
Laura Litvan Wed Jul 23, 12:01 AM ET
July 23 (Bloomberg) -- In 2006, Republican Representative Marilyn
Musgrave welcomed President George W. Bush to her Colorado district
for a rally on the weekend before Election Day. In the run-up to this
year's balloting, Musgrave has bucked Bush by voting to override his
vetoes of Medicare and farm bills.
In Oregon, Republican Senator Gordon Smith is running a commercial
highlighting his support for federally funded embryonic stem-cell
research, which Bush opposes. Even Kansas Republican Pat Roberts, who
has been a loyal Bush backer in the Senate, is running ads promoting
his work, over White House objections, to expand health insurance for
children.
As Bush nears the end of his presidency with one of the lowest public-
approval ratings in polling history, Republican lawmakers striving to
save their jobs are proclaiming their independence from the White
House on issues from health care to the rescue plan for mortgage-
finance companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
``I'm hoping that people will look at us as individuals,'' said
Musgrave, whose House Web site last year started promoting a
``Bipartisan Accomplishment of the Week.''
Bush's Jan. 20 departure reduces White House influence as Republican
lawmakers make their own decisions about the political and policy
consequences of legislation, said Oklahoma Representative Tom Cole,
chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee.
Thinking About Elections
``Members are thinking about elections, and they're also thinking
beyond that to next year,'' Cole, 59, said. The president, he said, is
``not doing either of those things.''
Amid discontent about the Iraq War, $4-a-gallon gasoline and slumping
home prices, only 24 percent of voters said they have positive
feelings about Bush in a Bloomberg/Los Angeles Times poll of 1,233
adults surveyed from June 19-23. Bush's average Gallup Poll approval
rating during 2008's second quarter slid to 29 percent, the lowest of
his presidency.
Musgrave, 59, a three-term member of Congress, said she has disagreed
with Bush before, most notably in voting against his Medicare
prescription-drug plan in 2003. With the Republican ``brand''
tarnished this year, Musgrave said, it's important to show voters she
will stand up to her party when necessary to defend home-state
agricultural or other interests.
In Congress, scores of potentially endangered Republicans parted with
Bush in recent legislative battles.
Breaking Ranks
Resisting pressure from the White House, 16 of the 18 Republican
senators facing re-election this year broke with the president last
month by joining an 80-14 majority to override his veto of a five-
year, $289 billion farm bill. In the House of Representatives, where
all seats are contested every two years, Musgrave joined 98 other
Republicans in rejecting Bush's veto.
When the Senate last week rebuffed Bush's veto of a measure blocking
cuts in Medicare payments to doctors, Democrats were joined by 11 of
the Republicans running this year. That group included Smith, Roberts,
Norm Coleman of Minnesota, Susan Collins of Maine and Ted Stevens of
Alaska. The House's 383-41 override had support from 153 Republicans,
including Representatives Randy Kuhl of New York, Steve Chabot of Ohio
and Dave Reichert of Washington, all facing tough races.
Most notable was last week's reaction by House Republicans to Treasury
Secretary Henry Paulson's plan for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, said
Bruce Larson, chairman of the political science department at
Pennsylvania's Gettysburg College.
Fannie-Freddie Rescue
Paulson proposed legislation to let the government make unlimited
equity purchases and increase credit lines for both entities. While
the secretary is seeking swift action to reassure financial markets,
he met resistance from dozens of conservative House members, who
insisted on a go-slow approach to examine the proposal's potential
cost to taxpayers. After an emergency meeting with wavering
Republicans late last week, Paulson said he expects action on the plan
this week.
Conservatives ``are just very naturally opposed to any kind of
government bailout, but the opposition is still astonishing,'' Larson
said.
Representative Tom Davis of Virginia, a former NRCC chairman, said the
once-unified Republicans had every-man-for- himself conversions after
the party this year lost three special elections for vacant House
seats in districts that had been represented by Republicans, including
that of former Speaker Dennis Hastert of Illinois.
Adding to the anxiety are polls showing discontent with Congress,
Davis said. In a Gallup poll earlier this month, only 14 percent of
the adults surveyed approved of Congress's job performance.
``This is one of those years where you're not sure where it's going to
come out, because Congress is in such low repute,'' Davis, 59, said.
``You're just not sure how that's going to come back and bite you.''
Independent Identities
Some Republicans are looking for political identities independent of
Bush's policies and their party's traditional conservative positions.
Illinois Representative Mark Kirk, who won his last election with 53
percent of the vote, has created a ``suburban agenda'' aimed at less-
partisan voters in his Chicago-area district and other suburbs across
the U.S. About a half-dozen House Republicans have signed on to the
plan, which proposes expanded 401(k) savings accounts for children and
mass-transit tax credits.
Underscoring Bush's dwindling influence, Kirk, 48, didn't mention the
president when he talked about ways to expand Republican influence.
``We need a post-Reagan voice,'' he said.
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