Voinovich (R) On The Hot Seat

Sen. George Voinovich (R) is the target of an email campaign and a TV ad, all orchestrated by MoveOn.org, ProgressOhio.com, and other groups, intended to put pressure on him to vote for the Warner/Levin nonbinding resolution against Bush's surge strategy in Iraq.

Today the Cleveland Plain Dealer blog "Openers" reports that Voinovich agrees that the vote should take place. “The American people have to know their elected representatives have debated this and taken a position on it and voted on it," Voinovich is quoted as saying over breakfast in the Senate dining room. “People need to show the courage to take a position."

Voinovich voted against cloture on Monday, a procedural move that prevented the measure from being debated and brought to a vote. However, yesterday Voinovich joined six other Republican Senators in signing a letter to Senate leaders from both parties, demanding that a vote on the resolution take place. The letter contains this key sentence:

We strongly believe the Senate should be allowed to work its will on our resolution as well as the concepts brought forward by other Senators.

Those "concepts" include a resolution introduced by Sen. Judd Gregg (R-NH), stating opposition to cutting off funding for U.S. troops in the field. Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has so far refused to bring that resolution up for consideration, thus triggering the GOP opposition to debating the Warner/Levin resolution against the surge.

The political stakes in all this are clear. The White House hopes to neutralize the threat of a funding cut-off, leaving only a nonbinding resolution in play. Democrats don't want to be put in the position of voting "no" on a resolution against cutting off funding for troops, a vote that could be portrayed simplistically at election time as "not supporting the troops." Hence the stalemate.

However, Voinovich isn't happy with the deadlock. He is afraid that the Senate will be seen as ducking a vote on the issue, with good cause. The public is solidly against the war and opposed to the surge. The procedural niceties of the Senate are lost on the average voters, most of whom want Congress to rein in Bush on the war.