Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Did Democrats’ Backroom Deals Help Cost Them a Senate Seat?

In the wake of Scott Brown’s historic election victory last night, even some Democrats are admitting as much.  Former special counsel to President Clinton Lanny Davis, writing in this morning’s Wall Street Journal, notes that “We Democrats had to explain to Massachusetts voters and other Americans why non-Nebraskans and nonunion members have to pay more taxes, while Nebraskans and union members get to pay less.  Those two deals seem to have alienated most people across the political spectrum.  That’s not easy.”

The voters of Massachusetts agreed.  Interviewed by the New York Times in North Andover, 73-year-old Marlene Connolly said she voted Republican for the first time in her life, because “’I’m just devastated by what Obama’s doing.  I don’t think he cares enough about anything other than his own personal agenda or this foolish health care bill.’”  The Times correspondent noted that “most upsetting to her was the proposed deal made for unions recently on the excise [aka “Cadillac”] tax.  ‘My daughter and her husband work for companies that are not unionized and they would get slammed’” so that union members could get special favors.

In a leaked memo yesterday, one of Martha Coakley’s advisors noted that her polling lead “dropped significantly after the Senate passed health care reform,” because “polling showed significant concerns with the actions of Senator [Ben] Nelson to hold out for a better deal.  Senator Nelson’s actions specifically hurt Coakley…”  And the polling surge that brought Scott Brown to the lead – and eventual victory – in the Senate race occurred over the weekend, just a few days after the backroom deal was announced with union bosses to modify the “Cadillac tax” solely for their members.

Massachusetts has the highest health insurance premiums in the country – just under $14,000 for a family, and nearly $1,500 more than the national average – meaning a disproportionate share of Massachusetts residents would likely be hit by the tax, except for the select few in a politically favored union constituency.  The evidence therefore suggests that Massachusetts voters thought this latest backroom deal with labor bosses was, like the rest of Democrats’ government takeover of health care, a raw deal for them.