By The River

The letter-to-the-editor in the Patriot-News today ought to be a warning bell for moderate and liberal Democrats in the midstate wondering whether Democratic Congressman Tim Holden still deserves their support. The writer was David Black, president of the Harrisburg Regional Chamber.

"We appreciate the efforts of members of Congress like Tim Holden who are standing up to their [Democratic] leadership and insisting we can do better along with others representing our region, [Republicans] Todd Platts, Bill Shuster, and Joe Pitts," he wrote.

Black is just being his usual pro-corporate, anti-worker self. It's what he's paid to do. If a bill came along allowing corporations to dump health insurance for their workers but keep it for the CEO and top management only, he'd be jumping up and down cheering on its passage. But I digress.

It's Holden I'm concerned about. He was one of the few Democrats to vote against the national healthcare bill that would finally extend health insurance to nearly all Americans and eliminate insurance industry abuses. The bill passed the House with a five-vote margin and the Senate by 60-40, as everyone knows, but the two versions of the bill must still be reconciled and voted on again. We need Holden's vote this time around.

Why this is particularly dicey is today's election in Massachusetts, where Democrat Martha Coakley is running against Republican Scott Brown, a diehard conservative state senator who once posed semi-nude for Cosmopolitan Magazine, for the Senate seat once held by Ted Kennedy. Brown is leading and has vowed to destroy national healthcare if he wins, providing the 41st and crucial vote needed to sustain a filibuster in our undemocratic Senate. Majority doesn't rule.

If he wins (late polls have shown Coakley with a tiny edge), President Obama and the Democratic leadership will do what they have to do to get the bill passed. That may include asking House Democrats to vote for the Senate version of the bill as it stands, eliminating the need to bring it back to the Senate for another vote. Because there may be defections, Holden's vote FOR the bill is vital. And obviously, David Black and the business lobby are hoping he will abandon the people who put him in office and vote their way.

If Holden again votes against national healthcare, that's it for me. I won't vote for a Republican but I won't vote for him, either. My hope is that if Holden continues down this path, that Sheila Dow Ford of Harrisburg will carry through on her threat to jump into the Democratic primary to oppose him and give moderates and liberals a real choice.