Jim Matheson, Utah's lone democrat congressman, is facing a tough challenge this election. This challenge isn't being mounted by Republicans, although they could benefit from the current political climate against incumbents. The real challenge comes from within his own Democratic Party.
Claudia Wright has billed herself as the "real" Democrat in this years primary. Her position on a variety of issues has been that of a more liberal, somewhat progressive, stance. So this begs the question, what makes a Democrat a Democrat?
Jim Matheson is a co-chair of the Blue Dog Coalition. This coalition bills itself as "independent voices for fiscal responsibility and accountability". They worked last year with house majority leader Steny Hoyer (D) MD on bringing the pay as you go rules from the 1990's back into effect. These rules led to the surpluses that the country experienced late in that decade.
Rep. Matheson recently broke party ranks and voted against both versions of the health bill that eventually got signed into law. This bill was seen as the biggest democratic victory for the nation in a generation, and was pushed heavily by the Obama administration as it's top priority. Rep. Matheson mentioned that the bill did not go far enough to rein in costs for the average consumer. Many have argued that since Rep. Matheson also voted against the first incarnation of the bill, which included a public option to drive down costs, that his position here was merely a sidestep of the real issue.
In spite of his occasional break with party lines he does vote along with his fellow Democrats 92.4% of the time. And he does stand for fiscal responsibility which is something that both Democrats and Republicans have been advocating more heavily recently. He also stands up for environmental issues as well as public safety as evidenced by his work towards creating more protected lands in Utah and his stance against nuclear testing.
Overall, when looking at the facts, Jim Matheson has proven himself to be a valuable asset to the state of Utah. He will never be considered liberal, but he is a Democrat and does represent his constituency well. However, if you want a more progressive or liberal individual to represent Utah then Claudia Wright is certainly an outstanding option.
Comments
I think it's a good thing that Matheson won, but those who supported Claudia Wright also achieved something positive. Maybe the fact that someone challenged him in the Democratic primary will make Matheson pay more attention to his Democratic constituents. But I think Matheson has a much better chance to win in the general election.
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