Well, NARAL didn't feel like waiting to better leverage their Rhode Island Senate endorsement (and advocate for their issue, which presumably is what their dues-paying members care about). Now they are reaping what they sowed, which seems like more confusion and less results.
The Hill and The ProJo are both reporting that Lincoln Chafee will vote to confirm John Roberts to the Supreme Court.
Quoth Jackie Kucinich at The Hill:
Although Chafee voted against the nomination of U.S. Circuit Court Judge Priscilla Owen, NARAL President Nancy Keenan blasted him June 8 for voting to confirm Janice Rogers Brown’s nomination to the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.
“Given our recent conversations with Senator Chafee, this vote is surprising and extremely disappointing,” Keegan said in the release. “We’d like to know what pressure the Republican leadership put on him. We will be watching closely his future votes on judicial nominees, including William Pryor and those for the Supreme Court.”
This is smart politics for Chafee. He got his boat-load of good "hey look, I'm a liberal Republican" press last spring when NARAL endorsed him. But now, he's facing a Republican primary challenge from right-wing conservative Steve Laffey and he'll need support from establishment Republicans on the state and national level to keep things copacetic. Also, NARAL's had a tough summer and Chafee probably wouldn't mind putting a little distance in between himself and the goup. But wait, you might say, Rhode Island is a pretty Democratic place and both Democratic candiates--Sheldon Whitehouse and Matt Brown are strongly pro-choice. So why did NARAL give out its endorsement so cheaply, without trying to use it as advocacy tool for current issues? NARAL President Nancy Keenan had a pretty weak answer:
Asked by The Providence Journal in May why NARAL opted not to back Brown, Keenan noted that Chafee has a record of tough votes, while Brown has no congressional voting record.
Now, loyalty is important in politics. But in this case, past performance shouldn't out-weigh potentially ceding the future. Also, it's not like Matt Brown doesn't have a public record. He's the Rhode Island Secretary of State. Automatically deferring to the incumbent because he is incumbent isn't the best strategy.
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