So who were the 34 House Democrats that voted against the health care bill — and what are the politics for them back home? A close look at the list shows a heavy tendency towards Democrats who come from districts carried by John McCain in 2008 — though not completely so.
Of the 34 names, 26 of them came from districts carried by John McCain in 2008, ranging from a slim edge of 50%-49% (Harry Teague, New Mexico) to 67%-32% (Gene Taylor, Mississippi). The other eight came from districts carried by Barack Obama, ranging from 50%-48% (Michael Arcuri, New York, and also Glenn Nye, Virginia) all the way up to 71%-29% — in this case Artur Davis of Alabama, who is currently running for governor in his deep-red state.
So here is our handy data reference — who the Democrats in question, which presidential candidate carried each district in 2008 and by how much, and other key information such as freshman status, or whether they are retiring or running for another office. We have organized them according to the Cook Partisan Voting Index, which is compiled by taking a district’s votes in the last two presidential election, and comparing that average to how many more points they vote Democratic or Republican compared to the nationl average:
|
(All district election data taken from Congressional Quarterly. Special thanks to TPM Reader MFM, for providing us with an initial outline of the Democratic votes.)