I think we too often treat Republicans as a monolithic group on this list, with the result that we ignore potential allies in both individual legislative battles as well as the general election. So I'd like to start posting diary entries noting moments where the Republicans are really a lot more divided than we generally acknowledge.
This WaPo article, for example, details the spat that Bill Thomas and Charles Grassley are having over both the Energy and the Medicare bills.
The Energy spat seems to revolve around the role of tax subsidies in the Energy bill; as a Senator from Iowa, Grassley must defend ethanol subsidies, whereas Thomas represents a bunch of petroleum interests who want preferential treatment for oil and gas.
The Medicare spat revolves around payments to rural health care providers.
This spat is interesting, I think, because it:
- Pits one of the reasonable Republicans (Grassley) against one of the unreasonable ones (Thomas was the clown who called the called the police on the Democratic members of his committee earlier this year)
- Pits the Administration's favored oil and gas industries against policies that benefit the red states
Recall that congress members from the red states recently got miffed with the administration for its calls to tighten restrictions against Cuba. The congressmen from rural states wanted to see trade with Cuba open up so they could sell agricultural products there.
I think this goes to show that the Administration cannot always satisfy some of its most powerful sponsors (Cuban community, oil and gas) and also cater to the interests of the red states it depends on for re-election. In richer budgetary times, this may not have mattered so much, but I think as more Republicans grow worried about the defecit it will be true more and more frequently.
The question is, with only indirect control over the legislative branch, will Rove be able to deliver for all the constituencies he needs to get his man elected?