I am incensed to learn that the White House is planning to actively campaign for an incumbent Senator, even though that Senator threatened to filibuster what the White House views as an important piece of legislation.
No, I am not talking about Blanche Lincoln.
From the Associated Press:
Vice President Joe Biden is scheduled to appear at a fund-raiser later this month for U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold.
The $500 lunch at Milwaukee's Pfister Hotel is set for June 25.
Feingold is running for his fourth term in the Senate. Two newcomers to politics are vying for the Republican Party nomination. Oshkosh businessman Ron Johnson won the party endorsement at its convention last month. Also running is Watertown businessman Dave Westlake.
Biden was last in Wisconsin in April when he spoke in Milwaukee about the need for Wall Street reform.
An oft-touted theory here is that Obama supports Blanche Lincoln not because she was an incumbent, but because what she was trying to do on health care is exactly what Obama wanted -- a watered down bill with no public option. And that's why Halter got the high hat. Because he is a true progressive, and the White House would rather back the conservative Democrat, because that conservative Democrat aligns more closely with the White House.
If that is true, what does it say about the Obama White House's determination to support incumbent Senator Russ Feingold, even though Feingold is threatening to filibuster the financial reform bill? Where is Rahm Emanuel in all this?
A reality-based community must come to grips with Occam's Razor. Obama is not supporting Blanche Lincoln because she did the work roughing up the public option and watering down the health care bill.
The White House is supporting the re-election of an incumbent Democratic Senator because that's what Democratic White Houses do: they support the incumbent Democratic Senator.
Whether that incumbent is a conservative Democrat from Arkansas, or a liberal Democratic Senator from Wisconsin.
Just saying.