Shaheen Says No To Senate Bailout

Jeanne Shaheen says she sees the need for a rescue bill. But not the one rejected by the house on Monday, and certainly not the one that passed the Senate two days later.

“Well you know I was hopeful that we were going to see congress act in a bipartisan way to address additional oversight for the Treasury secretary and for financial institutions and more taxpayer protection. But what we saw is that they added on things like help for Puerto Rican rum makers and for kid’s arrows --millions of dollars. And I think that’s what people are upset about Washington.”

Moments after Shaheen made those comments, the campaign arm of the state Democratic Party issued a press release attacking John Sununu for supporting the bill, and what it termed its enormous giveaways.

“He goes around talking by day about fiscal restraint, and then by night he votes for huge spending, and this is just one of many examples.”

Alex Reese is the party’s campaign spokesperson. But what Reese wasn’t as quick to note is that is that plenty of Democrats, including some you’ve probably heard of, backed that same proposal; the one that the Democratic party press release said proved that Congress is broken.

-Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Harry Reid, Dick Durbin, Hillary Clinton, I could go on and on, all voted for this bill.

“Sure.”

-So, it’s bad if Sununu votes for it because he casts himself as a tightwad when it comes to spending, but it's fine for them to vote for it?

“Let me hook you up with someone who can talk to you on that point, can I ask around and get back to you?”

A few hours later, the party called to clarify that, press release notwithstanding, they were in no way criticizing the Senate’s bailout bill. If that caveat seems a stretch, it is. But rest assured, similar gyrations may be going on elsewhere.

“Yeah, there are a lot of Democratic Senate challengers who say they’d voted against the package. She’s not alone; the Udalls who are running for the Senate in Colorado and New Mexico, most of the big name Democrats who are running for the Senate say they are against the package.”

Stuart Rothenberg is editor of the non-partisan Rothenberg Political report. He says fears of voter backlash have convinced candidates -- even those who don’t tend to buck the Democratic Party establishment -- to resist the bailout, at least for the time being.

“If she was in the Senate, we would have heard a completely different line of reasoning from Jeanne Shaheen, just as we are hearing from other people.”

Republicans hope people will pick up on that and see Shaheen’s stance on the bill as hypocritical. David Carney is a GOP consultant from Hancock, who served as White House political director for George H W Bush.

“For her to sit there and say she’d vote against the alternative minimum tax fix, which 93 senators voted for just the other day, this is retarded. She’s is running for United State Senator, she’s a former Governor. She cannot get away with this dodge and weave which a challenger probably has the luxury of doing. “

And for now the candidate is if not taking that luxury, certainly taking her time and choosing her words with. Beyond general calls candidate herself is for now, taking that luxury. Beyond general calls for more oversight and taxpayer protections, Jeanne Shaheen isn’t saying much about the bailout, save for deriding it as a product of excessive political calculation.

“What I see is that they put items on there to try to get votes so they could come home. I think Congress should stay until they get it right..“