All three top contenders for America's highest office are senators. But that won't stop the Senate from trying to derail their colleagues' chances.According to an article in the paid-restricted Roll Call Monday, top senators in both parties plan to make efforts to derail the candidacy of either party by introducing "divisive" bills in an election year.
Democrats, still smarting from President Bush's gambit to use Sen. John Kerry (D-MA)'s vote on Iraq troop funding, plan countermeasures of their own in an effort to torpedo the candidacy of presumptive GOP nominee Sen. John McCain (R-AZ).
"Senate Democrats are looking at holding votes related to the environment, health care or even the war that could force McCain to take politically toxic positions, miss key votes or reconcile previously held stands," Roll Call's Erin Billings writes Monday. "Republican Senators also are hoping to do the same to the Democratic contenders, particularly on issues related to national security, taxes and spending, where they believe McCain has the upper hand against either Democratic rival.""And that’s probably just the beginning," she adds. "Democrats think they can put McCain at odds with his own party on issues such as stem-cell research, global warming and perhaps even immigration in the months ahead. They hope that on certain issues, they can force McCain to choose between aligning with conservatives or flexing his independent streak, both of which Democrats argue could be problematic for the GOP White House hopeful."
Democrats have already tried to embarrass McCain by putting up a vote on waterboarding. By putting a measure on the docket that would have banned the practice for intelligence collection, they successfully got McCain to vote against prohibiting a practice he had previously decried.
Some of the strategy already is in play. Last month, for instance, Democrats accused McCain of flip-flopping his position on torture after the Arizona Republican voted against an intelligence authorizing measure they argued would have outlawed a practice known as waterboarding. Democrats tried to make the charge that McCain had changed his stand on the issue since he previously had voiced his opposition to waterboarding.
“For someone who was a maverick, and wore that as a badge of honor, there’s a lot of fertile ground there,” a senior Senate Democratic aide told the paper. “He’s going to have to reconcile his new self with his old self.”
Republicans, meanwhile, hope to paint Obama as a "tax and spender" by introducing controversial amendments. While in the minority, Senate procedure allows the party more leeway for introducing measures than in the House.
According to one senior GOP aide, the Republican leadership hopes to drive a wedge between the Democratic nominee and members of his own party in the chamber.
“There are lots of things that Obama has proposed out on the trail ... there’s going to be opportunities for us to take those and introduce them as amendments," a senior GOP staffer told Billings. "And Obama’s colleagues in the Senate are going to be put in a very tough position of having to vote against their nominee.”
