GOP Senator Expected To Break Ranks, Support Dems' Anti-Escalation Resolution
So it looks as if at least one Republican Senator will break ranks with the GOP leadership tomorrow and vote in favor of Senator Majority Leader Harry Reid's new move to bring an anti-escalation resolution up for a vote. Jen Burita, a spokesperson for GOP Senator Susan Collins of Maine — who is facing a tough reelection in 2008 — tells Election Central that Collins is "very likely" to vote with the Dems on cloture.
Collins was one of only two GOP Senators who sided with Dems and called for the Warner resolution to come up for a vote — which GOP leaders succeeded in blocking. Collins also signed the recent letter demanding that the Senate not go on recess without voting on the resolution. Now that Dem Senate leader Harry Reid called their bluff and announced that the Senate would vote tomorrow on whether to bring the simpler House resolution to the Senate floor, Collins looks like she'll be backing it.
"She did say she's disappointed that Reid isn't allowing more open discussion," Burita told Election Central, referring to the GOP demand that Reid also call a vote on whether a competing GOP proposal being blocked by Dems can go to the floor. "But she's inclined to vote in favor of the motion to proceed, just like she did with the Warner-Nelson-Collins Resolution vote."
So that's one GOP Senator breaking ranks. We'll keep you posted on the others.
I hope they can break the back of the insurgency. The one in the Senate, I mean. Good grief, they had all those years of letting the Senate throw our troops into that black hole in Iraq, and we the voters are just flat tired of it.
So the Dems come in, and suddenly there's a guerrilla war to keep the war going and NOT embarrass the president and NOT make the administration accountable for the blood and treasure we've poured into Iraq.
I think Americans are watching. The Republicans hope they aren't.
February 16, 2007 11:56 AM | Reply | Permalink
Welcome, Sen. Collins. Bring your colleagues. The GOP looks like the party of massive impotence lately. They can't figure out if they are coming or going. It's nice to see the Dems actually applying some measure of pressure for a change; I hope they crank up the dosage. I love the idea of Reid dragging their asses to the floor to vote on the measure on Saturday instead of letting them go home. The longer they drag their feet, the longer they stay in Washington. Ha.
February 16, 2007 12:16 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yes, good luck trying to atone with the voters of Maine for your past failure and weakness.
We shall see how that goes in 2008, but I think that short of party-switching, she's gone.
February 16, 2007 12:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
That is quite funny, since that is what I told her staffer when I called in a few days ago. I asked if the Senator enjoyed being in the minority, and if she was going to enjoy going down in defeat in '08 unless she switched parties now and ran as a Dem. Now, I don't want her to do that as I would rather have a real Dem in that seat, but anything to sow dissension in the Rethug ranks is good right now.
February 16, 2007 12:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hasn't Ms. Collins already reneged on her promise to serve just two terms? Maybe if she switches parties and promises to serve just two MORE terms, then the voters will go for it. And then in 12 more years ... what? Libertarian? Back to the GOP? What fun!
February 16, 2007 12:49 PM | Reply | Permalink