The Dems Who Cast the Toughest Votes

While many Democrats in red districts voted against the House healthcare bill, quite a few representatives who hold tough seats did the courageous thing and voted "aye." These are the members of Congress who sit in Republican-leaning districts but still did the right thing:

District	Representative	PVI
ND-AL	Pomeroy, Earl	R+10
WV-01	Mollohan, Alan	R+9
AR-01	Berry, Marion	R+8
IN-08	Ellsworth, Brad	R+8
PA-10	Carney, Chris	R+8
OH-18	Space, Zach	R+7
SC-05	Spratt, John	R+7
AZ-01	Kirkpatrick, Ann	R+6
IN-09	Hill, Baron	R+6
WV-03	Rahall, Nick	R+6
AR-02	Snyder, Vic	R+5
AZ-05	Mitchell, Harry	R+5
CO-03	Salazar, John	R+5
VA-05	Perriello, Tom	R+5
AZ-08	Giffords, Gabby	R+4
TX-23	Rodriguez, Ciro	R+4
KS-03	Moore, Dennis	R+3
MI-01	Stupak, Bart	R+3
NY-19	Hall, John	R+3
PA-03	Dahlkemper, Kathleen	R+3
FL-08	Grayson, Alan	R+2
IN-02	Donnelly, Joe	R+2
MI-07	Schauer, Mark	R+2
NC-02	Etheridge, Bob	R+2
NY-24	Arcuri, Mike	R+2
OH-06	Wilson, Charlie	R+2
TX-27	Ortiz, Solomon	R+2
WI-08	Kagen, Steve	R+2
CA-11	McNerney, Jerry	R+1
IL-08	Bean, Melissa	R+1
IL-11	Halvorson, Debbie	R+1
IL-14	Foster, Bill	R+1
MN-01	Walz, Tim	R+1
NY-23	Owens, Bill	R+1
PA-12	Murtha, John	R+1
NH-01	Shea-Porter, Carol	R+0
NY-01	Bishop, Timothy	R+0
TX-28	Cuellar, Henry	R+0

It's especially worth noting that quite a few of these incumbents will be very vulnerable in 2010 and have already drawn strong challenges, such as Tom Perriello, John Hall, Vic Snyder, Mark Schauer, and John Spratt, to name just a few. Also, special props to the "yes" vote from the newest member of our caucus, Bill Owens, who, as you probably know, now represents a district where some counties haven't sent a Democrat to Congress since before the Civil War.