Today, Barack Obama promised to withhold campaign and organizational support for Dems voting “NO” on Obamacare.
Apart from arm-twisting by the White House, an advertising blitz that could cost £20 million by the end of the week, about the same level of a presidential campaign, has been aimed at about 40 undecided Democrats in the House of Representatives.
Most are conservatives who are worried that their support would cost them their seat in November, as the bill has become unpopular with a majority of Americans.
The YP Nation will remember that within hours of the Scott Brown victory, I correctly opined the impact this would have on the Mississippi Congressional delegation’s only in-doubt vote – that of Rep. Travis Childers.
. . . Childers has to tap dance on the razor’s edge. Local democrats have already threatened to pull support for Childers with a no vote on the final passage. A no vote that kills Obama’s key piece of legislation could also serve to lessen support that DCCC and other liberal interest groups give Childers to fund what looks to be a high dollar fight. And a yes vote on the Senate plan would play into Republican hands.
The truth is that Obama should promise to campaign for Democrats voting “NO”. At that point, he’d really have their attention and some leverage over them. He should take a cue from the Blues Brothers and threaten to campaign in Blue Dog districts non-stop in 2010 unless they vote for the bill.
