Contrary to published reports in Roll Call, a Capitol Hill newspaper, Senator Elect Bob Corker's transition team is denying that he has joined a moderate Republican caucus known as Main Street Project. They say the first Corker ever even heard of this group is when the Roll Call story came out. The Executive Director now says that the PAC gave Corker money, but that he has not joined the group. Senator Elect Corker is scheduled to join us this morning at 8:20 Central Time to set the record straight. CLICK HERE.
Why is this a big deal? Many conservatives in Tennessee were doubtful about Corker's campaign rhetoric. Here is a link that details the membership in the Main Street Partnership, which Roll Call claims Corker has joined. When you join a group that includes Susan Collins, Olympia Snow, Arlen Specter and Lincoln Chafee that should be a pretty good clue that the organization is NOT one that is of a "conservative" bent. If Corker heads in this direction, conservative voters in Tennessee will be justified in getting riled up at him. CLICK HERE.
The article from Roll Call is not available online without a subscription, so here it is for your edification. The Corker team says that Roll Call will print a retraction.
ROLL CALL, December 6, 2006
CLUB FOR GROWTH, SCHWARZ STILL AT IT
While it continues to do battle with the conservative Club for Growth, the Republican Main Street Partnership's membership took a severe bruising in the midterm elections.
Combined with retirements, the centrist group will find itself short a significant number of members in the 110th Congress.
First formed in 1994 as a place for moderate Republicans to converge to talk policy, it has grown to boast 49 House Members, eight Senators and five governors.
The group, which is organized as a 501(c)(4) nonprofit, also has a political action committee that boosts the re-election of its members and helps like-minded candidates.
Much of the Republican blood-letting in the Nov. 7 elections occurred in the Northeast and Midwest, two regions that provide the majority of the group's membership.
Come January, the group will have 11 fewer Congressmen, two fewer governors and one less Senator.
One of its founding members, Rep. Nancy Johnson (Conn.), lost her bid for a 13th term. Another key member, Rep. Sherwood Boehlert (N.Y.), is retiring at the end of the year, while Rep. Charles Bass (N.H.), another top moderate in the House, also was not re-elected.
Rep. Amo Houghton (N.Y.), another founder of the group, retired at the end of 2004.
"We're sad for ourselves and the whole Republican Party," said Sarah Chamberlain Resnick, the group's executive director. "We've never been in the minority before." Resnick is hopeful, however, that her party's minority status will elevate the stature of GOP moderates.
"Moderate Republicans are the ones that Democrats are going to be reaching out to," she said. "Only time will tell, but the handwriting on the wall says moderates are going to be quite influential."
Since the elections, two newly elected Members have declared their intention to join Main Street. Sen.-elect Bob Corker (Tenn.) and Rep.-elect Dean Heller (Nev.) will come on board once they are sworn in, Resnick said. Corker will be one of the Senate's few Main Street members, replacing Sen. Lincoln Chafee (R.I.), who lost his seat in November after a brutal September primary fight.
Copyright 2006 © Roll Call Inc. All rights reserved.
