Republican Moderates Could Make Gains In Congress

From the Los Angeles Times, "GOP Moderates Poised to Gain Ground in Congress":

With healthcare legislation mired in partisanship, "tea party" activists on the march and GOP leadership dominated by conservatives, Capitol Hill looks like a parched landscape for the withered moderate wing of the Republican Party.

But green shoots are sprouting in Washington and on the campaign trail. A small band of Republican moderates in the Senate broke a logjam on jobs legislation. They added to their ranks with the arrival of another New England Republican, Scott Brown. And several moderate Republicans are in a good position to win Senate seats in November.

Rep. Michael N. Castle, one of the most liberal Republicans in the House, is heavily favored to win an open Senate seat in Delaware.

Rep. Mark Steven Kirk, the GOP nominee for the U.S. Senate seat in Illinois, handily won the party's primary despite opposition from conservatives.

Other centrist Senate candidates -- such as former Reps. Tom Campbell in California and Rob Simmons in Connecticut, and Gov. Charlie Crist in Florida -- still face conservative opposition in primary contests that are seen as battles for the ideological soul of the party.

But more is at stake. Additional moderates in the Senate could provide a more durable foundation for breaking logjams than any White House summit or lecture on bipartisanship.

"Casting votes that are opposed by the party leadership is very difficult," said Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, one of five Republicans who voted with Democrats to end a filibuster on the jobs bill. "I'm very optimistic the elections this year are going to bring back a resurgence of the center."

That seems paradoxical as Democrats prepare to enact President Obama's healthcare bill without any Republican support. Senate Democratic leaders are moving to use a fast-track procedure known as reconciliation to protect the effort from filibuster. The idea is for the House to pass the Senate's healthcare bill, then for both chambers to pass a companion bill by a majority vote.

In a CNN interview Sunday, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said he expected no Republicans to vote for the bill.

In a separate interview, Rep. Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) said on "Fox News Sunday" that House Democrats were short of votes to pass the Senate healthcare bill, but that Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) probably would find a way to pass it.

"I wouldn't count her out because she is very good at muscling votes," Ryan said.

Although conservatives have dominated legislative strategy and intraparty debate over the future of the Republican Party, centrists have a stronger hand in swing states.

More at the link.

Obviously, the Dems need more RINOs to hammer through their legislation. Scott Brown's victory prevented a Democratic victory in the race for Ted Kennedy's seat. That was good. But in other circumstances, conservatives will reject Democratic-enabling candidates. RINOs are out.

P.S. There's some talk about Tom Campbell, who's running for Senate in California, at the article. If he's a model for today's "moderate" Republican, then no thank you. And see, the Weekly Standard, "Tom Campbell's Israel Problem."

IMAGE CREDIT: An American Weasel.