Is "the Wave" over for Mike Arcuri?
Rep. Mike Arcuri was one of those New York Democrats swept into office as part of the huge wave of support beginning in 2006.
But he’s looking increasingly vulnerable, facing a strong Republican opponent, Richard Hanna, who has out-fundraised the incumbent this spring.
But the real dilemma for Arcuri, according to an article in today’s Washington Post, could be the loss of support among core Democrats.
Arcuri — whose district includes part of the North Country around Old Forge — voted against the Democratic health care bill.
“We have a congressman we fought long and hard for, and you know, he didn’t come through for us,” said Sean Mack, a real estate agent, who sipped a Coke at the bar.
This year, he said, he will vote for Arcuri, but “my plan is not to, like, pound the pavement and go overboard and be a real zealot about it.”
The question, of course, is whether Arcuri’s No vote will attract support from independents in the 24th district, many of whom disliked the health reform package.
of course arcuri's "no" vote on the final bill won't attract support from independents — because it's accompanied by a "yes" vote on the first version of the house health care bill.any voter whose vote is based on opposition to the health care bill will vote for the republican, who can credibly claim to be fundamentally opposed to the whole health care shebang.i think arcuri is almost certainly toast.
This is a good example of the right-left issue we discussed in the Tea Party post. It used to be a representative could be flexible, to an extent. Now you have to vote the party line or else. It's obvious that works for the left as well as the right.
dear bret,i'm not actually sure how good of an example this is. in terms of the raw politics i think it's all key that arcuri split his votes. that has the effect of making everyone unhappy.
A vote against the Health Care bill was seen as a vote against the working poor and middle classes. Regardless of what many of us wanted to see in the Health Care bill, to argue that people would be better off with no change was not reasonable. Mr. Arcuri is a good example of a politician who parsed the numbers and seems to have come to the cynical conclusion that his political survival lay in voting against Health Care reform. More than any other piece of legislation, this bill, rightly or wrongly, was a class-driven litmus test for each member of congress.
You got it, jdan4. Sad to have to give our district back to the Naysayers.