http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0310/34773.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;The most immediate blowback from the votes will be felt by Democrats in marginal and conservative-minded districts. They are now assured of being attacked as accomplices to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who is not especially popular in many of those districts.
Of these members, many are in their first or second terms, and their path to Washington was greased by strong Democratic years in 2006 and 2008. Now, however, their support for the health care bill will put them in an unfamiliar defensive posture in an already tough year, without a popular Democratic presidential nominee leading the ticket or a GOP majority to campaign against.
Other's will have to explain flip-flops, going from a no vote last year to a yes vote Sunday...like Democrat Michael Arcuri...
Arcuri, for one, lost the support of New York's influential Working Families Party, which vowed not to allow him to run on its ballot line and said it would recruit an opponent to run against him in November.
Freshman Rep. Mike McMahon, another "no" vote who holds a Staten Island, N.Y.-based district that McCain won, is also facing the threat of losing the Working Families Party line. The Service Employees International Union, meanwhile, has signaled that it is open to finding a primary challenger to McMahon; and it's running a tough ad in the Staten Island Advance targeting the congressman's vote.
Michigan Rep. Bart Stupak emerged as a "yes" vote after reaching a deal with the White House on Sunday afternoon. But Stupak's opposition to the bill's treatment of abortion funding has already earned him a Democratic primary challenge from Charlevoix County Commissioner Connie Saltonstall, who last week won the backing of the National Organization for Women.
oh... you always cheer me up..