Senator Blanche Lincoln did the right thing today by supporting the cloture vote to begin debate on the healthcare reform bill. I know she is worried about her reelection and is trying to look "conservative" for the voters in Arkansas in 2010. Trying to look conservative by blocking the key Democratic initiative for the next year or so is not going to do Lincoln or any other Democrat a lick of good. Republicans are going to vote against her anyway and do so in droves. Its the Democratic base in the state that Lincoln needs to turn out to have even a sliver of a shot at reelection.
Right now, Blanche Lincoln is very likely to lose reelection. She is a two term incumbent who can barely manage a lead against unknown Republican candidates and even trails them in some polls. A horrible sign for any longtime incumbent. Knowing that she is likely to lose, Lincoln should decide that if she is going to go down in 2010, she should go down giving her party and President a victory on this key issue.
I saw what happened all around the country to Democrats who tried to block the Clinton healthcare reform bill in 1994. One was Congressman Jim Cooper, who decided that he needed to block the Clinton bill in order to look "conservative" when he was running for the Senate in Tennessee. He got his wish by blocking reform, but killed himself and many other Democrats in the process. He lost to Republican actor Fred Thompson by a crushing 60%-39% margin in a very low Democratic turnout.
Had Jim Cooper worked to pass the Clinton healthcare plan, would he have won that election? Probably not, but at least he would have done the right thing and given his party, President and country a victory on this key issue.
Blanche Lincoln has a choice to make. She can lose next year while blocking healthcare reform and ensuring that Democrats do not work to get the vote out for her or she can support reform and possibly still lose but do so with the honor of helping her party, President and country on this key issue.
I believe that in the end, Blanche Lincoln will make the right choice and even if she does lose reelection, at least she will be able to go to bed every night saying that "I may not be Senator anymore, but at least millions of American people are better off because of my vote".
Do the right thing Senator.