VOTE ALERT: 15 Dems Cast Deciding Vote to Pass CAFTA

CAFTA just passed by one vote, 217-215 (a tie vote would have killed it). Fifteen Democrats voted for the corporate-written trade pact, meaning each of them cast the deciding vote. Meanwhile more than 20 Republicans voted against it. The sheer politics of this shows exactly why the Democratic Party, as it currently exists, cannot hope to be a majority party without a fundamental realignment of the way it works, and a fundamental rejection of the influence of groups like the DLC who pushed this bill. The fact is, parties serious about regaining political power do not lose votes when their opponents give them more than 20 votes. When the list of the 15 Democratic sellouts is posted at the official House of Representatives site, I will do some further analysis to see which of these Democrats have been selling out Democrats on other key economic issues - and which should thus expect to be targeted in primaries for defeat by labor and the progressive community as a whole.

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