Rep. Anne M. Northup (R-Ky.) is a five-term incumbent lawmaker in a state Bush won by 20 points last year. In 2002, in a tough re-election fight, Northup invited the president to visit the district, confident that an appearance by Bush would give her a boost in the polls. Sure enough, Bush went to Louisville, sung her praises, and Northup eked out a narrow victory.
To appreciate just how different the political climate is, consider for a moment what Northup is saying now.
In an interview on National Public Radio this week, Rep. Anne M. Northup (R-Ky.), who represents a swing district in Louisville, not only expressed doubt about the Iraq war but hesitated when asked whether she would want Bush to campaign for her.
“That is one of those things where you have to wait and see whether that would be a good idea,” she said.
It’s not just Northup. We know Bush isn’t popular with the public, but more so than at any time in his presidency, he isn’t even popular with Republicans in Congress.
Rep. Katherine Harris (Fla.), who was instrumental in helping Bush “win” Florida’s electoral votes in 2000, has been boasting to conservative voters that she’s defied the Bush White House by running for the Senate. In Bush’s first term, the idea that a Republican Senate candidate would brag about disobeying the wishes of the president is absurd. Now, not so much.
In Virginia, Republican gubernatorial candidate Jerry Kilgore is in a very close race. This week, Bush will be in the state to deliver another “major speech” on terrorism. Bush won Virginia by eight points and surely Kilgore would want to be seen alongside the president, right? Wrong, Kilgore announced yesterday he had a scheduling conflict.
It’s reached a point in which Bush can’t even count on Rick “Man on Dog” Santorum.
For much of 2004 and 2005, Santorum was one of the president’s biggest boosters in the Keystone State, campaigning for him last year and spearheading his Social Security drive this year even as GOP aides were warning him to not to get involved.
No longer.
The senator publicly disagreed with the president’s handling of Social Security reform. Then he took a wait-and-see approach to Harriet Miers, Bush’s Supreme Court nominee.
Republicans are avoiding the president in their districts, they’re defying him on the Hill, and they’re ignoring him on candidate recruitment. And this is before we learn about any criminal indictments as a result of the Plame scandal.
All in all, it couldn’t have happened to a more appropriate person.