Green's march to the middle

The September 15th edition of the Isthmus has an article by Doug Hissom that is worth the read. It examines Congressman Mark Green's move to the middle of the political spectrum after years of voting as a hardcore conservative in Congress. The article does a really good job of examining whether or not Congressman Green's moderate talk on the campaign trail matches his voting record in Congress.

Turns out the Congressman Green on the campaign trail doesn't even resemble Congressman Green in Congress.

Almost every politician moves to the middle as election day moves closer, but not all do it well. A politician moderating her/his stance must perform a delicate balancing act that attracts new voters without pushing away the base of voters they have relied on in the past. The moderation has to be on the right issues that will bring more voters than lost by changing positions.

One of the issues that Congressman Green chose to moderate his stance on, embryonic stem-cell research, could prove to be a gamble he will lose. At this late stage, it's going to be hard for Congressman Green to convince the average voter that he will be better for our state on the stem-cell issue. Governor Doyle has spent months talking about his support for stem-cell research and contrasting it with Congressman Green's refusal to fund the research without the Catholic Church getting to hover over the scientists in the lab.

The only way for Congressman Green to try to sway the average voter that he will be good for the state on the stem-cell issue would be running a large TV ad campaign on the issue. The couple of press releases that he has put out saying he is for embryonic stem-cell research that doesn't destroy embryos, even though that research doesn't exist, have not gotten him enough exposure to sway the average voter.

But a TV ad campaign on the stem-cell issue would only serve to remind the "pro-life" voters that Congressman Green is not on their side and might make a lot of them stay home on election day. In the end, Congressman Green will probably sacrifice more voters than he will gain by trying to find a middle ground on embryonic stem-cells because what the releases have done is signal to the "pro-life" voters that really follow politics that Congressman Green might sell them out if he is elected governor.

Single-issue "pro-life" voters haven't proven to be a very forgiving bunch. They have punished politicians in the past by not showing up on election day if a candidate doesn't support their agenda all the way.

The abortion issue that Congressman Green and his supporters have tied to embryonic stem-cells is not one to be played with in politics close to an election. The few people that do vote solely on the abortion issue do not have any wiggle room for candidates and far too many candidates have tried to appease both sides of the abortion issue only to be rejected by both.

When you try to make everyone happy, everyone ends up mad on the abortion issue. And they often end up staying home on election day.