by Robert Naiman

Thursday the House voted on a slightly revised version of the McGovern bill. It would have mandated the beginning of withdrawal ("redeployment") of U.S. forces from Iraq within 90 days and completion of the withdrawal ("redeployment") of most U.S. forces from Iraq within 180 days after thatThe bill was defeated 171-255. 59 Democrats joined almost all Republicans in voting no.

The roll call is here:http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2007/roll330.xml

Who are these 59 Democrats?

One striking fact is that 13 of them represent districts that were carried by John Kerry in 2004. Here they are:

State
District
Rep.
04Bush
04Kerry

California
28
Howard Berman
28%
71%

Colorado
2
Mark Udall
30%
67%

Georgia
13
David Scott
37%
62%

Illinois
3
Daniel Lipinski
41%
59%

Nevada
1
Shelley Berkley
42%
57%

Maryland
5
Steny Hoyer
42%
57%

Pennsylvania
13
Allyson Schwartz
43%
56%

Texas
29
Gene Green
44%
55%

Maryland
2
Dutch Ruppersberger
45%
54%

Georgia
12
John Barrow
46%
53%

Tennessee
5
Jim Cooper
47%
52%

California
20
Jim Costa
48%
51%

Wisconsin
3
Ron Kind
48%
51%

A reasonable guess is that support for a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq in these districts is even greater than in the country as a whole.

If there is any reason why these thirteen Democrats (at least) shouldn't have a primary challenge in 2008, I'd like to know what it is. If these were thirteen Republicans who defied the President, there would be talk among Republicans of primary challenges, regardless of the prospect of defeating these candidates in a primary. I make this last assertion with confidence because this is exactly what happened after 17 House Republicans voted for the resolution against the surge: they were threatened with primary challenges. Result: since then, only 2-3 House Republicans have voted against the President on the war. At least in some of these cases, they backed down not because they feared defeat, but simply because they wanted to avoid a primary challenge that they knew they could easily crush, but which would still have been an annoying drain of time and resources.

A serious peace movement would ensure that these 13 renegade Democrats pay a price for their vote.

Are you represented by one of these Democrats? Are you a U.S. citizen over the age of 25? Then perhaps it's time to start circulating some petitions.

Robert Naiman is Senior Policy Analyst and National Coordinator at Just Foreign Policy.