Payback Time

House members who last week voted against efforts to curb the most extreme parts of the Patriot Act are getting slammed in their home districts. As you may recall, the bipartisan amendment in question would have forced John Ashcroft to get a warrant before obtaining library and bookstore records of people who were not even a target of an investigation (the Patriot Act gave him the power to basically have unlimited access to those records through a secret court). The vote on the amendment lost on a tie vote, after the Republican leadership forced a handful of its members to change their votes. 
 
Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA) got hammered by his hometown paper for being one of only four Democrats to vote against the bill. Smith has since admitted he made a mistake in voting the way he did.
 
Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) got slammed by her hometown paper for refusing to take a stand on the bill and voting "Present," even though she was a co-sponsor of the underlying legislation.
 
Rep. Marilyn Musgrave (R-CO) was exposed for switching her vote, and hit hard by her Democratic opponent in a highly-contested swing district.
 
Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-CO) also got lambasted in his hometown press by his opponent.
 
And there are others out there...