Dan Boren is a Democrat who knows how to win in a conservative district. In three tries for Congress, he has never had a close race – exceeding 70 percent in each of his last two elections. He’s taken advantage of a famous name to make his GOP-leaning seat relatively safe from challengers.
It’s interesting to see how far Boren will go to try to preserve his image as someone acceptable to conservatives:
Ten feet from the desk, in the main hallway of Boren’s new Durant headquarters, the congressman beams from a portrait, his arm draped around President George W. Bush. A photo with the current president is nowhere to be found.
“Barack Obama is very unpopular,” said Boren, who represents Oklahoma’s 2nd Congressional District. “He got 34 percent of the vote statewide, and less in our district. If he were to run for re-election today, I bet it would be even worse.”
Boren points out that he does support some of Obama’s initiatives, like the economic stimulus package. He has voted for Obama-supported bills 81 percent of the time, according to a recent Congressional Quarterly study. But despite this, he said the president is too liberal.
“It would be a lot nicer if we had someone who was in the middle,” he said. “Bill Clinton won our district. A lot of people don’t remember that, but he, in 1996, carried this district. I think if you have someone who governs from the middle, who’s pragmatic, who works with both parties. President Obama talks a lot about bipartisanship. If you look at some of the legislation, he may have one or two Republicans.”
If Boren feels the need to be so strident in his criticisms of Obama, it is a testament to just how unpopular he must be in eastern Oklahoma. While Obama’s approval ratings float somewhere above 50 percent nationally, Boren is comparing him unfavorably to Bill Clinton, and portraying him as partisan and out of the mainstream.
This is what you’d expect from the Republican candidate, not a Democrat who votes with his party’s leadership 90 percent of the time.
Interestingly, Democrats currently hold at least 22 House seats that have a similar or greater GOP voting advantage.
Dan McLaughlin
Moe Lane
Neil Stevens
Steve Maley
Boren Is a Fraud and a Liar
IJB Wednesday, July 15th at 12:11PM EST (link)The question is – will he get a GOP opponent who will be able to get the message of the truth about Boren successfully across?
If he does, Boren is finished.
Unfortunately, he carries the Boren name...
larueladue (Diary) Wednesday, July 15th at 12:28PM EST (link)And for a lot of Oklahoma voters, that is enough to keep him in office… I think we would really have to screw up bad to not stay in office.
I meant "he" not "we"... really need to proof read before hitting the button. (nt)
larueladue (Diary) Wednesday, July 15th at 12:29PM EST (link)I'm Not Sure The Name Is Enough To Carry Him Through an Election Cycle Like 2010...
IJB Wednesday, July 15th at 1:26PM EST (link)…*If* Boren gets a fairly prominent local GOP candidate who dogs him all through the summer and fall next year.
The question really boils down to – will such a candidate emerge?
If one does, I’m not sure the Boren name will help him against a concerted barrage on his record.
But if he doesn’t get a fairly high tier opponent, he’ll probably sail through again. (Ditto someone like Heath Shuler.)
Boren is a hypocrit like all the Blue Dogs
bk (Diary) Wednesday, July 15th at 12:16PM EST (link)He says Obama is too liberal, but he voted for Nancy Pelosi to be 3rd in line behind the Gaffe Machine. How popular does he think Nan is in his district?
And in the meantime, Boren does us a favor by blasting Obama. :) nt
Xasteius (Diary) Wednesday, July 15th at 12:49PM EST (link)Don’t leave the party, hijack it back!
The only poll that counts is the one at the ballot box.
I don’t want to be Reagan. I want to be a Chance/Soros hybrid.
Doesn't do us much good.
Thrhheggeegwc Jjtkylkfofud (Diary) Wednesday, July 15th at 12:57PM EST (link)He will be dismissed by the Dems as a DINO and a Blue-Dog and thus unworthy of their attention, and they will then proceed to ignore him.
No dem primary...
naraht Wednesday, July 15th at 12:28PM EST (link)There are probably about a dozen Democrats in congress representing Republican areas of the country that DK gives a more or less free pass to. I think the phrase is “As long as he votes for Pelosi, everything else is gravy, because no other Democrat is probably electable there and the Republican would be worse” (to them).
These are mostly non-minority majority districts in the South and a few in the Intermontant west.
In the intermontane West, Minnick (ID-1) and Matheson (UT-2) and maybe Teague (NM-2)
In the South, it includes, Boren (OK-2), Bobby Bright (AL-2), Parker Griffith (AL-5), Frank Kratovil (MD-1), Travis Childers (MS-1) and Chet Edwards (TX-17) and a few more.
Remember, the big problem that Daily Kos has with Lieberman is *not* his positions on Iraq, its the fact that he has those positions *and* represents a State that a Democrat who aligns more with DK’s positions could get elected. If Lieberman represented Tennessee, Georgia or Idaho, they’d be *much* quieter…
Boren=Pro-Big-Govt-Boondoggle Pelosi Poodle
Freedoms Truth (Diary) Wednesday, July 15th at 12:40PM EST (link)Sure he’ll do some Obama-bashing if it helps curry some votes, but at the end of the day, he’s a Pelosi poodle.
There are no ‘blue dogs’ anymore, just Pelosi Poodles. They are let out to vote against the bills but they voted to make Nancy Queen of the House, and she rules it to create horrible tax-hiking liberal legislation.
“In the South, it includes, Boren (OK-2), Bobby Bright (AL-2), Parker Griffith (AL-5), Frank Kratovil (MD-1), Travis Childers (MS-1) and Chet Edwards (TX-17) and a few more.”
Chet Edwards is a pro-abort, anti-gun, big-spending, corruptocratic pork-barrelling liberal. I dont know about the rest, but it DOESNT MATTER. The liberal Democrats rely on these Democrats to get their vote margin out of the House. Dan Boren is enabling the Obama agenda and no amount of Obama-bashing can change that.
To save American freedom in 2010, the Pelosi Poodles must be defeated.
Pelosi Poodle Delenda Est.
Freedoms Truth,
Travis Monitor – http://travismonitor.blogspot.com
Austin, TX
Outraised 22-1.
naraht Wednesday, July 15th at 2:00PM EST (link)Chet Edwards outraised his Republican opponent, Rob Curnock, by 22-1 (about 2.2 Million to a little over $100,000) and still only won by 53%-45.5% (1.5% for a Libertarian).
Chet Edward’s last two opponents (Curnock in 2008 and Van Taylor in 2006) never held political office before running against him, but both were able to take at least 40% of the vote.
"Pelosi Poodles" - I love it!! Another RS lexicon to add to my collection nt
eburke (Diary) Wednesday, July 15th at 2:47PM EST (link)“All that need be done for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.”
Unified Patriots
Beautiful.
Lammo (Diary) Wednesday, July 15th at 2:59PM EST (link)Right up there with “hopium addicts”
Don’t be so open minded that your brains fall out. (John Corapi, The Black Sheep Dog)
Coburn's former house seat
Darin_H (Diary) Wednesday, July 15th at 8:34PM EST (link)This district can be won by a Republican, Coburn took it in the 1994 elections, and even with the Boren name, 2010 could be a year to take it again.
“Congressman Boren, if he’s too liberal, why do you vote with Barack Obama 80% of the time?” The campaign ads write themselves here.
A visionary coward says that anger can be power, as long as there’s a victim on TV – Flat Top, Goo Goo Dolls