THE FULL NELSON - AT 3:01 P.M. ET:  Reader Annie Heisenbuttal alerts us to the travails of Democratic Senator Ben Nelson of Nebraska, who's trying to negotiate his way through a health-care bill that is overwhelmingly unpopular back home.  Nelson is up for relection next year:

Nebraska Senator Ben Nelson is getting heat from all sides these days.

But who really has the most influence on The Benator?

President Obama and his tanking personal ratings?
Harry Reid and his tanking Health Care reform bill?
Or is it Nebraska voters (and their pro-life tendencies)?

A Nebraska poll pretty much tells the story:

"In general, do you favor or oppose President Obama’s plan to expand health care coverage to most Americans even if this plan increases the role of the federal government in health care and increases the cost of the deficit?"

Favor: 26%
Oppose: 67%

A bit of a loaded question, maybe, but look at this follow-up:

"If Senator Ben Nelson votes in favor of this plan, would that make you more likely or less likely to support Senator Nelson when he runs for re-election?"

More likely: 26%
Less Likely: 61%

Ouch.  Now we understand Nelson's problems.  Those problems are shared by other moderate Democrats, like Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas and Jim Webb of Virginia.  Lincoln is up next year, Webb is not. 

The sad part of this is that the Democrats likely to be defeated next year are the most responsible members of the party, the moderates.  The leftists are usually from safe districts and states, especially minority districts.  But the moderates are from swing districts and states.  Without them, the Democratic Party will lurch even further to the left, as leftists crave ideological purity.  (I'm sorry to say that there are some on the right with the same suicidal instinct.)  That lurch may damage the Democratic Party, but it hurts the nation.  We need a thriving two-party system, and fringe politics never helps toward that end.

Ronald Reagan framed the "11th Commandment" for his party:  "Thou shalt not speak ill of any other Republican."  The purpose was to prevent the kind of ideological frenzy that can destroy the effectiveness of any political organization. 

December 17, 2009