Friday, March 03, 2006

Democrats should not count on Cantwell returning

When counting up the numbers of Democrats in the Senate post election, Harry Reid should not count on Maria Cantwell returning to her seat. Why? She has voted against the wishes of many of her core constituents in Seattle. Yes, she got the high profile win over ANWAR and she has been relentless in pounding the Republicans on port security, but she has troubling votes on going to way in Iraq, voting to end the filibuster on Alito, and voting to approve the Patriot Act after participating in the filibuster against it. The negatives weigh heavily against the positives. It's still too early to tell, but my guess is that many of Seattles liberals will vote against her in the coming election. If so, that means Cantwell will have to pick up quite a few votes in more conservative parts of the state. If conservatives are given a choice between a Republican and a right leaning Democrat, then who will they vote for?

If I were Harry Reid and Patty Murray, I'd be planning on having a new reality to deal with in regards to the Washington Senate delegation.

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