Saturday, May 25th, 2013

Dem Votes Against Health Care Bill, Might Get Republican Challenge Anyway

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Tuesday, November 10, 2009 at 12:25 pm

GrassrootsPA is reporting that State Sen. David Argall, a Republican from Rep. Tim Holden’s (D-Pa.) base of Schuylkill County, might get into the race against him in 2010.

Holden, who survived a tough re-election challenge in 2002 when he was forced into a new district, has been a frustrating target for Republicans. Until 2008, he represented one of the more Republican districts represented by a Democrat, but northeast Pennsylvania was one of the regions that really swung to the Obama-Biden ticket. The Bush-Cheney margin of 16 points dwindled to a 3-point McCain-Palin margin, thanks in large part to a Democratic surge in Harrisburg. But it’s still considered a Republican-leaning district that has simply failed to produce good Republican candidates recently.

A possible political lesson here? Holden was one of 39 Democrats who voted against the House health care bill, and one of 44 Democrats who voted against cap-and-trade legislation. That hasn’t been enough to scare off opponents.

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6 Comments

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Pingback posted November 10, 2009 @ 12:27 pm

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by daveweigel, WashIndependent. WashIndependent said: Dem Votes Against Health Care Bill, Might Get Republican Challenge Anyway http://bit.ly/1ZbeiT [...]

estuartj
Comment posted November 10, 2009 @ 12:33 pm

Is Holden on of the guys MoveOn.org is targeting with post HCR attack ads? GOP is motivated to vote him out regardless of how he voted, liberals may stay home if he isn't on their side anyway and Independents can we peeled off by a quality GOP candidate, must be fun to be a blue dog, you get all that attention!

solarjetman
Comment posted November 10, 2009 @ 12:37 pm

I'm not sure voting against those legislation was designed to keep Republicans from challenging him; on the contrary, it was designed to prevent the inevitable Republican challenger from using those votes in the campaign.

uberVU - social comments
Trackback posted November 10, 2009 @ 12:54 pm

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This post was mentioned on Twitter by TWI_news: Dem Votes Against Health Care Bill, Might Get Republican Challenge Anyway http://bit.ly/1ZbeiT...

estuartj
Comment posted November 10, 2009 @ 5:33 pm

Is Holden on of the guys MoveOn.org is targeting with post HCR attack ads? GOP is motivated to vote him out regardless of how he voted, liberals may stay home if he isn't on their side anyway and Independents can we peeled off by a quality GOP candidate, must be fun to be a blue dog, you get all that attention!

solarjetman
Comment posted November 10, 2009 @ 5:37 pm

I'm not sure voting against those legislation was designed to keep Republicans from challenging him; on the contrary, it was designed to prevent the inevitable Republican challenger from using those votes in the campaign.

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