Wednesday, September 28, 2005

What are his coattails worth?

In the face of the upcoming 2006 elections where the make up of both the House and Senate could be radically changed, I'm wondering what those who have been riding on Bush's coattails are going to be doing.

Bush's approval ratings are in the tank and still dropping and those Republicans who rode on the back of the all Republican ticket in 2000 and 2004 (which would be every Senator and Congressman up for re-election in 2006). Now some of them are certainly not running again and some of them are strong enough that they don't need any connections with Bush, but some who probably clung as close as they could to him in 2000 and/or 2004 might not find that to be such an appealing prospect anymore.

Is that a good thing? Is it more honorable to stick with your alliance with Bush at this point, even though his unpopularity could cost you this election? Or is it fine for a politician to use Bush's wave when it helps them but flee from it when it might take him down?

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