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Democrats mad at N.C. congressman
Rep. Larry Kissell, D-8th, a freshman, voted 'no' on heath-overhaul plan
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Published: December 19, 2009
KANNAPOLIS
To voters in this hard-luck town where stable factory jobs and the health care that came with them have long since disappeared, change looked good a year ago. Change came not only from President Obama, who narrowly won this swing state, but also from a mill worker-turned-high school civics teacher who had no political experience but ran on a promise to bring a progressive everyman's sensibility to Congress.
Fueled by the liberal grass roots, Rep. Larry Kissell, D-N.C., stitched together a winning message about jobs and kitchen-table concerns, including rising health-insurance costs, and he rode the Obama wave to unseat a five-term GOP congressman by 11 percentage points. Democrats here rejoiced. Finally, they were sending to Washington a representative to fight for their interests -- and to help enact the new president's agenda.
Now, one year later, the euphoria has given way to second thoughts at best and outright rebellion at worst. Kissell is siding with Republicans on Obama's top domestic priority, fixing the nation's health-insurance system, and his no vote has enraged fellow Democrats.
As they plunge into next year's midterm contests, Republicans and Democrats are making dicey calculations with their health-care votes, weighing the demands of their party's base against the political climates of their districts. With Republicans opposing the bill in lockstep, the White House needs a fragile coalition of Democrats to pass reform, but it is vulnerable Democrats like Kissell who form the greatest obstacle.
And that is why Democrats here are steaming.
"People want change, and when someone puts their foot in the door to kill the whole thing, that's what has them riled up," said Michael Lawson, a black leader of the state Democratic Party and one of Kissell's constituents. "It's almost like "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,' but Mr. Smith turned out to be somebody that wasn't Mr. Smith."
When the House passed the Affordable Health Care for America Act on Nov. 7, Kissell was among 39 Democrats who voted no. Like Kissell, many of them are endangered freshmen from traditionally conservative districts, trying to appeal to conservatives and independents.
Still, Kissell's vote is perplexing considering the need for health-care reform here in the largely rural 8th Congressional District.
At the heart of the state's weakened textile industry, the district stretches from Charlotte to Kannapolis to Fayetteville and was shedding manufacturing jobs even before the recession. Now, about 20 percent of residents younger than 65 have no health insurance -- among the highest rates in the nation -- and the bill would provide coverage to about 85,000 who are uninsured, according to a congressional analysis of census data.
Kissell said he sides with his party on the vast majority of votes, and supports expanding coverage, but voted against the bill because it would have cut about $399 million from Medicare to find savings. He said he was not willing to renege on his campaign promise never to cut Medicare funding.
"My line in the sand is Medicare," Kissell said in an interview. "One of the things that's missing in people's trust factor is people keeping their word. Whether I win or lose, I've got to look at myself in the mirror the next day, and a word that's important to me is integrity."
What Kissell considers a principled stand over Medicare, some of his constituents view as a classic Washington betrayal. And his vote threatens to fray the coalition that propelled him to victory. Many Democrats here gave him money and knocked on doors for him because they saw in him a break with the partisanship of former Rep. Robin Hayes, R-N.C., his predecessor.
"They feel betrayed," said June Mabry, the state Democratic Party's 8th District chairman. "They're not expecting him to be an absolute puppet, but this is a watershed vote for the United States."
Five Republicans are campaigning for Kissell's seat in a district the National Republican Congressional Committee sees as a top pick-up opportunity. This doesn't seem to faze Kissell. "I have sworn that I'm not going to talk about the next election until a little bit later down the road," he said.
Further complicating his path, some of the liberal bloggers who buzzed about him in his first campaign in 2006, when he lost to Hayes by 329 votes, and in his 2008 rematch said they are so upset over his health-care vote that they are trying to turn away the congressman's potential donors. Local Democratic leaders said they have been meeting in recent weeks in coffee shops and each other's homes to discuss recruiting a more liberal Democrat to take on Kissell in the May 4 primary.
"Why would he jump the Democratic ship and vote against his party's signature, number-one issue when there's a very compelling case for health-care reform in this district?" asked Nancy Shakir, the head of the Cumberland County Progressives.
Kissell is struggling to find that political sweet spot that meets his base's expectations while bowing to his district's realities.
In a district that Obama carried by 5 percentage points, about one in four residents is black, and there are pockets of liberal Democrats in the Charlotte area. But many rural white voters here are deeply skeptical of big government programs, according to political analysts, and the electorate in off-year elections tends to skew heavily toward seniors -- the very age group that provides the strongest opposition to health-care reform.
"It's sort of like which devil do you fear the most?" asked Gary Pearce, a longtime North Carolina Democratic operative. "Are you more afraid of the party base or are you more afraid of the health-care reform opponents?"
Kissell picked the latter, and it may have been the wrong bet. Conservative opponents to health-care reform are unlikely to vote for a Democrat regardless of how he votes, Pearce said, yet Kissell cannot win reelection without the support of his base.
"That's why they call them freshmen -- because they make freshmen mistakes," Pearce said. "That's why a lot of them don't become sophomores."
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