Was the vote really that close?

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Sunday November 08, 2009 · 11:10 AM PST

2009/11/08 · 11:10

A number of diaries and comments on Kos today seem to be playing up the fact that HCR last night passed by 220 to 215 - a margin of one or two votes.

I think it is a mistake to assume that this close margin was anything but strategic move by the House leadership. Could the vote margin have been higher? Yes, it could have been, and it would have been nice if it were.

But why put some vulnerable Dems at risk unnecessarily? Why not secure the 220 votes, and then release the other, more vulnerable members to vote against the measure?

Chris Cillizza has a great article on the Washington Post blog on this subject. You can read it here.

Cillizza points out that out of the 39 Dems who voted against the measure last night, 31 of them represent districts that McCain won against Obama.

Sure with enough arm twisting and cajolling, a certain number of these probably could have been brought to heal and forced to vote 'Yea'.

But again, if the measure has already passed - why ask vulnerable members to increase the risk that they will be defeated in the next election?

Clearly, this is something that the House leadership understands. And in a tight vote like this, vulnerable members are released from voting the party line once passage has been assured.

The assumption in many of the comments and diaries I have read here today seems to assume that the close margin was an accident. I find that hard to believe.

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