Congressman Rodney Alexander endorses Bush, but decides to stay a Democrat

[NewJerseyDem]

http://www.rollcall.com/issues/1_1/breakingnews/4626-1.html

After publicly contemplating a party switch, Rep. Rodney Alexander (La.) has decided to remain a Democrat, according to a statement released by his office this morning.

“Although I am flattered by the offers of the Republicans to join their ranks, I am deciding to stay where I am,” Alexander said, even though he is supporting President Bush’ re-election effort.

Led by Louisiana Republican Reps. Billy Tauzin and David Vitter, GOPers made a behind-the-scenes push for Alexander that by all accounts was a near miss.

As late as Thursday evening, Democratic operatives were pessimistic about their chances of keeping Alexander in the fold and some expressed concern that he would announce his party switch as Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry (D), the party’s presumptive presidential nominee, toured the Bayou State today.

[lancdem]

1. This endorsement will help Bush as much as Zell Miller's did

Zilch. BTW, I wonder if this dude stayed a Dem because he thought he'd lose his seat if he switched. Before today, I never even heard of the guy.

[NewJerseyDem]

5. The seat is heavily republican

I think he wanted to show how conservative he was and that he isn't like the national democratic party, but planned on staying a democrat all along. He won the seat in surprise election in 2002 by less then 1,000 votes, I believe. The main reason he won was because pro-life groups supported him because he opposed abortion in all cases, while his republican opponent said that abortion should be legal in cases like rape and incest. So, we knew all along that Rodney Alexander was very conservative but we weren't going to get anything better from that district, so I'll take it.

[jfxgillis]

12. You gots it man. I lived in the adjoining district for 10 years

And I see you're a New Jerseyite, which is the perfect counterpoint:

MOST the Republicans in New Jersey are MORE LIBERAL than MOST of the Democrats in the Deep South except for the majority-Black districts (and even some of those members are very conservative compared to their Northern colleagues).

If we can get another Bush-endorsing Dem to take Billy Tauzin's open House seat in the third CD, I'd be ecstatic.

Local culture and such is at least as important as national-party positions.

BTW, I lived in Chris John's district, John Breaux's likely replacement. John isn't as conservative as Alexander, but he's way to the right of, say, Mitt Romney or Christie Whitman. But I'll take it.

It beats some David Duke clone like Vitter winning that Senate seat.

[NewJerseyDem]

16. My one concern with Alexander is will he vote for Pelosi for Speaker

Alexander did in 2003, but Nancy Pelosi is probably more liberal than John Kerry and actually has the lowest lifetime rating from the ACU of any member of the House of Representatives. If, he won't vote for her than I'm going to have a real problem because then there isn't any advantage of having a "D" after his name.

Also, the big thing about Rodney Alexander's endorsement of Bush is that it won't get much media attention. A senator like Zell Miller is a big deal, but nobody really cares what some freshman congressman thinks. However, Louisiana could be competitive, especially if Landrieu or Breaux is on the ticket and it could hurt us there.

[jfxgillis]

17. Well, if he does that

then he SHOULD be, if not kicked out of the Caucus, at least denied a Democratic committee assignment, which I think is what Gephardt ended up doing with Traficant.

No member of Congress should be bound by Caucus rule to endorse the party's the Executive Branch standard-bearer, but they should by rule be bound to endorse their party's legislative leader. That's what they're there for.

The funny thing is, I think there's a 50/50 chance that Alexander's district will be far less pro-Bush this time than last time, so it might be silly on Alexander's part anyway.

Louisiana, with a genuine Populist streak, contains an Isolationist-Populism that is sometimes reflected as apparent Pacificism. When the Condferates swept through conscripting, they Cajuns all hid in the swamps because they weren't gonna die so some sonuvabitch could keep his slaves. Then when the Union swept through conscripting, they hid in the swamps again because they weren't gonna die so some other sonuvabitch could take away the first sonuvabitch's slaves.

[NewJerseyDem]

18. They didn't do it to Hall, Stenholm, Taylor and Lucas

Ralph Hall (TX), who is now a republican, voted present in 2003, instead of voting for Pelosi and actually said he would vote for Hastert if he were the deciding vote. However, he kept his senior position on the Energy and Commerce Committee and actually got a waiver from the rules so that he could remain the ranking democrat on the Science Committee even though the democratic caucus rules only allow for members serving on the Commcerce committee to serve on that committee only (the rule isn't enforced for many others though) but members who are ranking members aren't even allowed to serve on any other committees, I believe, but Hall was allowed to.

Also, Charlie Stenholm (TX) and Ken Lucas (KY) both voted present but Stenholm remained the ranking democrat on the Agriculture Committee and Lucas kept his assignments. And, Gene Taylor (MS) refused to vote for Pelosi but instead voted for Jack Murtha, democrat of Pennsylvania, so even though Pelosi was the democrats leader, he at least voted for a democrat.

Traficant lost his committee assignments because he went and voted for Hastert but voting present isn't much better, in my opinion.

EDIT: Also, Chris John actually got a 52 rating from the ACU, while Rodney Alexander got a 48, so their voting records seem quite similar in Congress. It should be noted though that they should have even more conservative ratings because they both voted for the prescription drugs bill, but the ACU opposed that so it counted as a liberal vote. So, their rating should be more like a 60.

[ButterflyBlood]

19. Taylor has voted for Murtha in the past

I think he would vote for Pelosi if it was neccesary to retain control, but until then he'll make a statement about the type of Democrat he wants in control.

also I think Stenholm has said he'll vote for Pelosi next year if he wins reelection (which might be tough due to redistricting) and Lucas is retiring. So we probably won't have that deal next year.

[NewJerseyDem]

20. True

I think Stenholm has become a lot more partisan after the GOP redistricting effort in Texas. However, it is certainly possible that Alexander may vote present next year because Pelosi is certainly just as liberal as Kerry, if not more so.

[mndemocrat_29]

26. Do you really think he'd risk voting present this early in his career

I have a feeling he'll be in the House for a while and angering the leadership by not voting for Pelosi this early could be detrimental to his career in the House. I know that Lucas was only a third term representative when he didn't vote for Pelosi, but he announced he'd be retiring soon after, so that could explain that. However, Alexander's endorsing Bush certainly will upset the party leadership, so who knows.

[mndemocrat_29]

24. I've also heard that Stenholm will be voting for Pelosi next time

Hopefully he'll have the opportunity to (redistricting will indeed be tough). I'm hoping that Taylor will vote for Pelosi when it counts (I put him in a different category than Lucas, Hall, and Stenholm, since indeed, like you said, he voted for a Democrat). With Lucas retiring and Hall switching parties, every Democrat should be voting Pelosi when we (knock on wood) when back the House in 2004.

Does anyone know how Murtha voted in 2002 for Speaker? I thought I heard that he voted present as well. Also, does anyone know if Alexander and Miller, both superdelegates, will be allowed to vote at the convention?

[NewJerseyDem]

29. Murtha voted for Pelosi

He has been a solid ally of hers and was actually Pelosi's campaign manager in her election to become minority whip over Steny Hoyer. Murtha is a very loyal democrat even though he has some conservative social views.

[ButterflyBlood]

30. yep, Murtha may be fairly conservative but he is very partisan

so he could get Taylor to vote for Pelosi if it was neccesary.

[Wabbajack]

32. Here

http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2003/roll002.xml

There's the vote. Murtha voted for Pelosi.

[jfxgillis]

21. Hmmmmm

Hadn't realized Chris John was so Righty. I lived there during Impeachment and he went with Clinton, supported Endowment for the Humanities and couple of other things that caught my eye.

He's probably blowing with the wind, as Southern Dems are congentially wont to do.

The other votes you mention were/are largely ceremonial because they'd not have changed the outcome.

Hall's party switch is actually funny because it took one of Delay's seats out play, and Hall was already effectively a Republican anyway. LAUGH.

[Rebellious Republican]

2. I have a serious question about Dem's that openly support...

the Republican party. I admit that I am a political novice, I know very little about party affiliation when it comes to Politicians. Why does the Democratic party allow Dem's like this bone head and Zell Miller and others that have overt Republican Ideologies to stay in the party. Can the party dump these freeping assholes?

:shrug:

[Mairead]

23. and it's a *good* question, too!

All the rules Congress has set up for itself reward incumbents and enable people to be DINOs because it costs something to tell them to get lost. It's an ugly system based in historical anti-democratic elitism, and it's not going to improve until we Constitutionally strip Congress of the right to set its own rules.

[PROGRESSIVE1]

3. Why?????? Why is he doing this?????

He should be asked to leave the caucus NOW!

[onehandle]

4. Rove is all over this one.

Another Dem endorsing smirk to enhance the uniter lie.

The GOP promises not to run a serious candidate, and Alexander gets to keep his job this Fall. What an ass.

[cosmicdot]

6. OK, fine, if that's how one wishes to go down in history

* Bush**

**enabled by Senator Zell Miller and Rep. Rodney Alexander

lots more of these * asterisks available

[bj_liberal22]

7. old south dixiecrats suck

Living in Tennessee, I'm very familiar with old south dixiecrats; luckily most have become Republican. I don't see why Zell Miller even calls himself a Democrat, but whatever. They suck really bad...

[zbdent]

8. Wait, could it be?

We are confusing the freepers - anything that a Dem supports, in their minds, must be evil and WRONG! Ergo, a Dem supporting Bush, in a freeper's mind, means that Bush must go!

Nahhhhh . . .

[CTLawGuy]

9. kick his ass out of the caucus

honestly, would the Republicans tolerate it if Lincoln Chaffee endorsed Kerry?

Letting people like this stay in the caucus shows that the Democratic Party is incredibly weak. If you are an elected Democrat, it shouldnt be unreasonable to expect that you support Democratic candidates. You are always free to join the other party or be an independent.


People like this are a stain on our party. Have a spine!

[NewJerseyDem]

10. Yeah, republicans would tolerate Chafee endorsing Kerry

Chafee has refused to say if he will vote for Bush in 2004 and the republicans wouldn't do anything to Chafee because they need his vote to keep republicans in control of the Senate. I seriously doubt if the republicans would do anything, except maybe some behind the scenes punishment, Chafee.

[jfxgillis]

11. Chaffe probably will endorse Kerry; or, at least ....

... he won't publicly endorse Bush.

[Doomsayer13]

13. it sucks, but what can you do

for all intents and purposes, we were never meant to have this seat to begin with. Nobody thought Alexander was going to win, and he was able to inch in on an issue where he was MORE conservative than the Republican. Now, he had some from a more Democratic district, I'd be calling for his party switch, but Bush is going to win his district by 70% + so I suppose it may be his way of immunizing himself from a Republican challenger. You know, our representatives are still supposed to represent their constituents, I think that is often times forgoten here.

That being said, I'm not happy, but I'm not as angry as I would be if it were some other congressman. But I wonder who he would've been satisfied with for the Presidential nominee... Lieberman?

[ButterflyBlood]

14. I believe he originally endorsed Gephardt

n/t

[Doomsayer13]

15. probably becuase Gep helped him win

that's rather strange because other than on very few issues, Gephardt and Kerry's politics are very similar.

[Wabbajack]

22. !

He endorses bu$h? What a dick. Kerry could take LA.

I say let rove have him. We won't take the house back with DINOs.

[boobooday]

25. Totally disgusting

Worst . . . Democrat . . . Ever.

http://www.wgoeshome.com

[mndemocrat_29]

27. I have a question

Did Connie Morella ever endorse a Democrat? I was just wondering, since she was obviously the most liberal Republican in the House, if she endorsed Gore or Clinton?

[NewJerseyDem]

28. I don't think so

I couldn't find any indication that she supported Clinton or Gore. However, I do believe she indicated that she would vote for Gore if the Presidential race ended up in the House but I think that was just because her liberal district voted for Gore.

[lams712]

31. MAY RODNEY ALEXANDER BURN IN HELL!!!! or...

....become a Republican, which is pretty much the same thing.