There were a few surprises in the Financial Rescue roll call. This can best be seen by analyzing the 25 senators that voted against the bill. They can be categorized. (And I’ll bold all the ‘no’s’ that are up for reelection). First we have the wingnut/budget hawks.
Allard (R-CO)
Bunning (R-KY)
DeMint (R-SC)
Inhofe (R-OK)
Then you had the ‘folks in my state don’t much care for New York Jewish Financial types’ contingent:
Barrasso (R-WY)
Brownback (R-KS)
Cochran (R-MS)
Crapo (R-ID)
Dorgan (D-ND)
Enzi (R-WY)
Johnson (D-SD)
Landrieu (D-LA)
Roberts (R-KS)
Sessions (R-AL)
Shelby (R-AL)
Vitter (R-LA)
Wicker (R-MS)
Then you had the progressive objectors:
Feingold (D-WI)
Sanders (I-VT)
Tester (D-MT)
Wyden (D-OR)
Finally, you had the people who were scared because their state has been particularly hard-hit by job loss and foreclosure:
Cantwell (D-WA)
Dole (R-NC)
Nelson (D-FL)
Stabenow (D-MI)
Region was an important indicator, but it wasn’t everything. There were a lot of splits within states. Coburn voted for the bill, while Inhofe voted against it. Levin voted for it while Stabenow voted against. Murray voted for it while Cantwell did not. Dorgan voted against, while Conrad went along. Burr said ‘aye’ and Dole said ‘no’.
Even progressives were split, with Brown and Boxer and Leahy voting for the bill and Sanders and Feingold voting against.
The lesson is that this vote was not, as some would have it, some test of any particular politician’s fealty to the progressive movement. Nor was it a test for the conservative movement. It was a vote that splintered the Senate and both parties into a kaleidoscope pattern. Conservatives in Texas, Georgia and Tennessee voted for the bill, while conservatives in Mississippi and Alabama did not. The only thing that was consistent was that senators from the heart of the financial sector (the belt from DC to Boston) voted in favor of the bill. Almost all senators from the prairie region voted against (Coburn, Hagel, and Conrad being the exceptions).
This was not a popular bill or a particularly good bill. I supported it, but without enthusiasm. Most of the Senate felt the same way. Now we will see what the House does.
