One can say that this is a symbolic vote which has no chance to make it through the Senate. Therefore, it is not news. I do not agree. Betsy Markey, lame duck or not, is our congressperson for the duration of the 111th Congress. The measure passed the House 234-188. Markey voted yes. Roll call vote …
Final Vote Results

You could say that the bill would have been better if the income limit had been raised to $500,000 … I do think that. Allowing Bush era tax cuts above 500k to expire would help to cut the budget deficit that so preoccupies those inside the Washington beltway. Markey may decide to run again in 2012. Three Republicans voted yes on this mostly party line ‘symbolic’ vote. One yes is Ron Paul [R-TX]. Twenty Democrats voted no. The one that jumps off the page is Jerry McNerney from California’s 11th District. He has just been re-elected in a squeaker against David Harmer. Harmer gained national attention because he campaigned on a platform to end all public education funding.

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Five Who Fell

Politico had an interesting story in mid-May this year. Five Democratic members of Congress, pictured here, cast a no vote on health care reform the first time it came up in the house. On the second go round these five Democrats switched from no to yes. Those changed votes provided the margin of victory needed to pass the measure. The Politico story went on to say that they became special targets of Republican wrath. They are from left Alan Boyd FL 2nd, Betsy Markey CO 4th, John Boccieri OH 16th, Scott Murphy NY 20th, Suzanne Kosmas FL 24th.

Photo credit to Politico because I stole it from them.

Results are in. All five have lost. Kosmas got 40.3% of the vote with 100% reporting. Markey got 40.5% with 96% reporting. Boccieri got 41.2% with 100% reporting. Boyd got 41.4% with 99% reporting. Murphy got 44.6% with 99% reporting.

All figures are from Nate Silver’s 538 blog at the Five Thirty Eight Blog at NYT. I compiled them very early this morning. Though incomplete and unofficial a material change is highly unlikely in my opinion.

Caution – I do not see causation in these results. Ever since the mid-May story in Politico I’ve been following these members to see how they were doing. A few weeks ago it looked like Boyd and Murphy might win and the others lose. One source I consulted today said that Boyd’s district on the Florida panhandle is more like Alabama than Florida. One could drive oneself crazy trying to sort out what is important and what is not. So the only thing I know for sure is that all have lost.

I am also suspicious about stories that talk about special targets for wrath as if that is going to have a material effect on the outcome. Wrathiness sounds too much like magical thinking to me. That said, it is likely that these particular outcomes will be interpreted as a rejection of “Obamacare”. I think we need a whole lot more research before reaching that conclusion.

Here is another conclusion one could reach. Sometimes doing the right thing is more important than getting reelected. Call me idealistic – that idea appeals to me.

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Vote Yes on 62 or Else

Most elections are decided by the great mass of independent voters. The hard left will always come out. They have their issues, you know what they are. The hard right will always come out too. And you know their issues. Each of these segments is too small to make up a majority. So to win the hard left or right has to bring along some independent voters.

Comes now the 2010 midterm election with all the bluebook items for Colorado. One of these is Amendment 62 the Personhood Amendment. This is a lot like a similar measure on the ballot in 2008. That measure went down to defeat in a landslide. So this time the strategy is to call everybody who opposes Yes on 62 a Nazi. Great way to persuade independent voters don’t you think?

If Helen Elizabeth “Betsy” Markey wins re-election to Colorado’s 4th congressional district seat, as seems increasingly likely, she can thank the Yes on 62 people for help in turning out voters to oppose the measure (are they closet Nazis???) and while they are at the polls anyway many of them will vote for her. Cory Gardner, her opponent, has flirted with the Yes on 62 crowd during the runup to the nomination. I’m not at all saying that Cory would call any No on 62 person a Nazi; but the offputting nature of Yes on 62 might come back to bite him anyway.

Thanks to our good friends at ColoradoPols for this item.

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Only One Represents CO 4th District

Fox 31 News has pulled a Cory Gardner ad which falsely accuses Betsy Markey of having voted for the 2010 federal budget when in fact she voted against it twice. The full story can be found here.

Rep Ed Markey [D-MA] pictured on the right, pointed out that the two Markeys do not even look alike.

Photo Credit: ColoradoPols

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Where does he stand on student loans?

Gardner-backer-Armey-would-end-federal-student-loan-programs-in-Colorado

So, where does Cory Gardner stand on this issue? Thanks to our friends at Politics Daily for a heads-up on this. The story is from The Colorado Independent.

Photo Credit: The Colorado Independent

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This ad is the new TV spot from Women Vote!, a project of EMILY’s List–a very strong and emotionally compelling attack on GOP candidate Cory Gardner’s vote against autism coverage for children in the state legislature. The source is ColoradoPols.com

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House Armed Services Committee Chairman Ike Skelton (D-Mo.), a longtime advocate of a strong military with a robust budget, is considering a few ways to help Defense Secretary Robert Gates save some cash.

Beginning with a speech a stone’s throw from President Eisenhower’s boyhood home, Gates recommended the Pentagon begin finding ways to cut its own budget in order to save key programs and forces from the crippling cuts seen in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

With rising deficits, plans to draw down forces in Iraq and Afghanistan and a changing mood on Capitol Hill, even defense spending stalwarts such as Skelton are looking for places to trim.

Read the rest of this story at Politico byline Jen DiMascio.

Interesting story but DiMascio points out that Skelton remains supportive of a second engine for the F35 Joint Strike fighter.

My translation: We’re open to defense cuts. We’re going to do it next time. Recall that Congresswoman Betsy Markey voted to strip funds for this second engine that Defense Secretary Gates says is not needed.

Photo Credit: Politico

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F35 Joint Strike Fighter

The US House of Representatives voted 193 to 231 on a motion to strip funding from the Defense Authorization Bill of 2010 for a second F35 Joint Strike Fighter engine that the Defense Department does not want. Since the motion failed funds for a second engine stay in the defense bill. The rollcall vote on the motion may be found here

Congresswoman Helen Elizabeth “Betsy” Markey [D-CO4th] voted to strip the funds. 135 other Democrats voted to strip the funds along with 57 Republicans. House members voting to retain funds for a second engine included 115 Democrats and 116 Republicans.

After the vote Markey was critical of her colleagues for being hypocritical on budget deficits. See the story in the Fort Collins Coloradoan This story also ran on the ColoradoPols Blog

Photo Credit:KCBY TV Coos Bay / North Bend, OR

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Betsy Markey, CO 4th District Rep.

Most Democrats voted with the House leadership Thursday evening as the House passed the Patrick Kennedy amendment to the Defense Authorization Bill of 2010.

I got the news live on The Rachel Madow Show But how did my congressperson, Betsy Markey, vote? A rollcall of the vote can be found here

Turns out that Markey voted with that other Congressman Markey, the one from Mass., she voted yes. By voting yes she proved once again that she is no Marilyn Musgrave. In case you do not remember, Marilyn, when she was our congressperson campaigned for a federal constitutional amendment prohibiting same-sex marriage. Imagine how she would have voted on the question to repeal DADT.

In researching this story I went to a favorite source, ColoradoPols They didn’t have any details of interest until the next day when they had a story headlined Colorado Delegation Casts Party Line Vote. I will let you find the specific reference on that site. About the same time, i.e. the next day after the vote, Politico had a credible story House Votes to Repeal ‘don’t ask’

Speaking of Politico, they had an interesting story in mid May about five Democrats, Markey among them, whose flip from no to yes provided the margin of victory for House passage of Health Care Reform. The other four Democrats are Alan Boyd, John Boccieri, Scott Murphy, and Suzanne Kosmas. All five have been targeted by the GOP.

Now that I have the actual rollcall on DADT I decided to see if any of these ‘targeted’ reperesentatives voted no on the Partick Murphy amendment. The answer is that all five voted with the House majority. The one no vote that leaps out at you is Rep. Ike Skelton [D-MO] who is House Armed Services Committee chairman. Republicans voting yes include Ron Paul of TX, no surprise, the newest House member Djou of HI, and Cao of LA along with two others.

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I for one am glad to see Marilyn Musgrave resurface this way. Some people express disappointment that Betsy Markey seems to be more of a conserv-a-dem than they would like.

Well, having Musgrave resurface this way just reinforces Gypsy Chief’s take that conserv-a-dem or not Markey is vastly superior to the congressperson she replaced.

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