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George Voinovich To Retire

By Karen Tumulty | January 12, 2009 | +

Marc Ambinder thinks that Ohio Senator George Voinovich’s not-unexpected decision not to seek a third term in the Senate could be liberating:

Voinovich’s retirement clears the way for him to vote his conscience over the next two years without much regard for the exigencies of party discipline. Democrats believe that he might be willing to part company with GOP orthodoxy on the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), although the ideological tincture of “Voinovich Unfettered” is unknown.

Voinovich has always been pretty independent-minded–frequently parting ways with his party over tax cuts, for instance. (In April, 2000, he was also one of only two Republicans to vote against the GOP budget; a few months later, he was one of only four who voted against repealing the estate tax, and the only one to oppose marriage penalty relief.)

But Ohio Republican sources are skeptical that he would ever support the Employee Free Choice Act. “Not in a million years,” one of them told me. More likely, they say, this decision could make it easier for Voinovich to support Barack Obama’s economic stimulus plan.

UPDATE: From commenter Kathy: aaagh: “Voinovich’s retirement clears the way for him to vote his conscience ” What a lot is said in that statement.

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  • http://smoothlikeremy.blogspot.com/ sgwhiteinfla

    Welcome back K Teezie

  • kathy

    aaagh: “Voinovich’s retirement clears the way for him to vote his conscience ” What a lot is said in that statement. Well if it makes him more likely to vote with Obama then I’m all for it.
    .
    Hope you had a nice vac, Karen. Hope you were someplace warm so you could prep for the high of 38 degrees next Tuesday. That‘ll keep the crowds down.
    .
    Also, slightly OT because it’s not your responsibility, but the High Sheriffs don’t seem to pay a lot of attention, and you do (but maybe this is just a sign of confidence in you all by the HS’s.) They’ve finally removed Jay Carney’s profile, but down the right hand column, under “More Time blogs” it calls Swampland “a blog about politics by Time’s Karen Tumulty, Joe Klein, Ana Marie Cox, and Jay Carney.” On the one hand I’m kind of curious to see how long it would stay that way without someone official noticing, (so feel free to ignore this) and on the other hand perhaps you’d like to help Time.com look like it’s right on top of breaking news….
    .
    Am I right in thinking that when you log on you don’t see all that other stuff?

  • Dee in Columbia MD

    Well this is one way to create new job in Ohio.

  • bitterpill8

    Glad you’re back KT. Odd, eh, that not being up for re-election is such a liberating thing. It puts into perspetive all the contortions our pols have to go through when it comes to tough (principled) voting.

  • Karen Tumulty

    Kathy: thanks – and how weird. will ck on it.

  • ivb3016

    Welcome back KT. I was going to ask if you would consider asking the High Sheriffs for a new header for an inaugural gift? That pic is getting a little old.
    .
    Glad you had some time in a warm climate! A memory for the coming deep freeze.

  • Karen Tumulty

    ivb: I totally agree. Obama looks like he has been caught in a power blackout. Will do some lobbying.

  • bitterpill8

    Kt: Are you a registered lobbyist for Commenters? Just checking? Don’t want you to run afoul of Time’s Ethics Board.

  • kathy

    Kt – I’m with you and ivb on the banner. It’s odd. It also looks like Obama’s trying to decide whether to join the black athletes on the ’68 Olympic podium in a Power to the People salute. It’s a very uncharacteristic pose for him.

  • dunedweller

    ivb, kt and kathy: Whenever I see that banner I think of crickets chirping. May I suggest portraits of Obama and the administration picks he’s made to date? Then as confirmations go forward their portrait either stays or goes similar to how it was handled in the primaries… (but hopefully none will go)

  • kathy

    Good for Voinovich for saying he really needs to be a senator full time right now, and that it’s not possible to be that if you have to run for office too. (Or is this a convenient excuse for him?) Course the Obama model makes it possible to step down from the fundraising treadmill a little, but running for office still demands a lot.
    .
    (Sen George Aiken once spent $37.50 – on postage – for one re-election campaign, in the 60′s, if I remember rightly. He said the voters could decide whether they thought he was doing a good job without his spending a lot of money telling them he was [or something pithy to that effect])

  • kathy

    Cally Schell took some truly outstanding photos of Obama last year. It would be great to look at one every day, maybe with blue sky (although in Ukraine – think Easter eggs – black is the color of hope, because the dawn is coming)

  • http://nicewhitelady.blogspot.com/ joyomama

    Welcome back, KT.
    .
    I “escaped” DC weather by heading north (North Bay, Ontario, where the low tomorrow will be in the mid -20s). Imagine how balmy 38 degrees will feel when I return next week!
    .
    Why is everyone surprised that politicians are less likely to act with their true feelings when they are no longer accountable to voters or their party? It seems close to being a natural law, and not necessarily a good thing. If my Senator started to ignore me because s/he didn’t need me support, I’d be peeved.

  • Karen Tumulty
  • donovong

    Thank G-d, KT is back. Joe was having a heck of a time holding down the fort by himself – picking fights with Glenn G. every day has to be tiring!

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