It's Bart Stupak's district, and his staff is conspiring with Republican Mitch McConnell to kill healthcare reform:
An aide to Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) coordinated opposition to the Senate health bill’s abortion compromise this morning with the Republican Senate leadership, according to a chain of frantic emails......
Stupak, ...... disavowed his staffer’s collaboration ......
The emails suggest a previously unseen degree of coordination between the offices of Stupak and McConnell......
And if you believe his disavowal, you have the political acumen of Terri Schiavo.
I oppose the Senate bill, and Nelson's anti-abortion amendments which would remove women's reproductive services from insurance nationwide, which makes my opposition stronger, but I'm not going to show up to a Tea Party.
There are lines you do not cross as a Democrat, and Stupak has turned Quisling.
In terms of the question that I asked, the answer, today is very clear: You should not vote Republican, you should not vote Green, and you should not leave the ballot space blank in the general.
(more after break)
But let's be clear here, this is a very time dependent answer.
Currently, he has no primary challenger, and the Michigan primary is August 3, with a filing deadline of May 11 (PDF). (Cursory examination, but I think that this is the deadline.
In a perfect world, the solution is that you get a well funded primary challenger, and you beat him in the primary.
I will say, at least according to people who know the district, this would be a very tough thing to do: For whatever his flaws, Stupak is a Yooper through and through, and so he has a lot of support that comes from his being authentically a member of the "Upper Peninsular Michigan" group.
If someone runs against him in the primary, great. I'll donate, but I don't live there and cannot vote for him/her.
But what if Stupak wins the primary, what if, as is likely, we learn on May 11, less thn 6 months away, that he has no primary challenger.
What is the obligation of Democrats under those circumstances?
Obviously, in the privacy of the voting booth, one could vote some 3rd party, or not vote at all, but that would actually only be ½ a vote against Stupak, while a vote for the Republican (I think that I just threw up in my mouth) is a full vote against him.
While we are at it, anyone know someone who could be recruited to run in the primary?