Ranks of moderate Republicans declining
WASHINGTON — Not many U.S. lawmakers from New York win higher praise from conservatives than Rep. John R. Kuhl.
The Hammondsport Republican has a nearly 90 percent ranking from the American Conservative Union, and he embraced President Bush in 2006 when polls suggested the president was poisonous in all but the most loyally Republican districts. Mr. Kuhl almost lost his bid for a second term.
So it might seem a little strange that Republicans who want to pull the party back toward the center — away from popular conservative rallying cries such as curbing abortion, passing English-only laws and debunking global warming — are pulling for Mr. Kuhl this fall. But with the ranks of so-called moderate Republicans in Congress thinning, Mr. Kuhl, who supports organized labor and lower taxes, is looking a lot more middle-of-the-road.
He's more conservative, by some measures, than Rep. John M. McHugh, R-Pierrepont Manor, who rarely seems to make lists of moderate lawmakers and receives no support from centrist Republican political action committees.
KUHL A TORCHBEARER
Mr. Kuhl's status as a torchbearer for moderate groups such as the Republican Main Street Partnership is one reflection of how the pool of candidates and lawmakers such groups support financially has shrunk, particularly in upstate New York. While the groups still raise tens of thousands of dollars through their political action committees, the decline of the GOP's moderate wing has given them fewer strong candidates or incumbents to finance.
Between losses and retirements, in some places the centrist groups have no one to endorse but candidates who might have looked too right-of-center a few years ago.
It's "incomprehensible," for instance, why the Republican Main Street Partnership endorsed, for the general election, a candidate who recently ousted moderate Rep. Wayne T. Gilchrest, R-Md., in a primary, said David Wasserman, who analyzes House races for the nonpartisan Cook Political Report.
Mr. Kuhl has stuck with the president on his Iraq policy. He supports the administration's program for warrantless wiretaps. He favored congressional intervention in the case of Terri Schiavo, the brain-injured woman whose husband was given court permission to take her off life support. He has opposed embryonic stem cell research and abortion. On those and other positions, he agreed with the Bush administration 90 percent of the time, Congressional Quarterly reported.
In centrist terms, he is a far cry from his predecessor, Rep. Amory Houghton, R-Corning, who retired in 2004. Mr. Houghton was one of the most moderate Republicans and voted against giving Mr. Bush the go-ahead on the Iraq war.
LESS MONEY RAISED
Fewer candidates means less political money. The Republican Majority for Choice political action committee, which supports GOP candidates favoring abortion rights, has collected $74,550 so far this election cycle, the Federal Election Commission reports, and may be hard-pressed to reach the $176,703 it raised in the last presidential election year.
In turn, the group's contributions to candidates have declined. In 2000, it gave $97,999 to various candidates, and the total has fallen each cycle since. The group is endorsing fewer candidates than in past years, said its president, Kellie Ferguson, although she was upbeat about the PAC's own fundraising.
Ms. Ferguson said the PAC is "definitely on track" to raise about the same amount as in recent years. "Fundraising for the PAC is going well," she said.
The Log Cabin Republicans PAC, which supports candidates supportive of gay and lesbian issues, has contributed just $1,000 to candidates so far this cycle, after giving $31,144 to 11 House candidates and one Senate candidate in 2006.
The good news for moderate groups is that they can focus money on remaining candidates who have a chance of winning, Mr. Wasserman said. "If you were these groups, you'd finally have the funds to fully invest in these races."
REVERSING A TREND
Gains for moderates would reverse a long trend. Even when Republicans held the majority in the House, until last year, moderates often were squelched. Leaders such as Rep. Tom DeLay, R-Texas, and House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., resisted moderate priorities like hiking the minimum wage, while pushing issues like abortion restrictions that help in core conservative areas but hurt Republicans in less conservative districts. Moderates' big victories were limited to saving programs like home heating assistance from budget cuts.
When voters ousted the Republicans in 2006, however, moderates took the hit. Eleven in the House were defeated, including, in New York, Reps. Sue Kelly, R-Katonah, and John E. Sweeney, R-Clifton Park. Others, such as Rep. Sherwood L. Boehlert, R-New Hartford, retired and were replaced by Democrats.
Several more in other states are retiring this year, meaning the seats could fall to the Democrats or, less likely, analysts say, go to more conservative Republicans.
OPPORTUNITY TO REFOCUS
The Republican Main Street Partnership clings to the idea that the losses in 2006 presented an opportunity to refocus the party on its ideological middle.
"We have a lot of people to give money to," said Sarah Chamberlain Resnick, who runs the Main Street Partnership's political action committee and keeps an eye on congressional seats that could either stay with moderate Republicans or turn that way if the conditions are right.
The district represented by Rep. Christopher Shays, R-Conn., is one example. Mr. Shays, known for campaign finance reform, for instance, barely survived a Democratic challenge in 2006. Others the Main Street Partnership championed, however, such as Rep. Rob Simmons, R-Conn., were not so lucky.
The Main Street Partnership gave $33,000 in 2006 to GOP incumbents who lost, and it has contributed $10,000 this cycle to two Republicans who, it has turned out, won't be in Congress next year, one from retirement and the other Mr. Gilchrest, who was ousted in a primary.
But a handful of allies remain, and the Main Street Partnership has boosted its campaign coffers each cycle since 2000.
"You have incumbents who are middle of the road that could go either way, and we want to make sure they go our way," Ms. Resnick said, although she said her group is turning much of its attention to challengers and open seats.
SOCIAL ISSUES VS. FISCAL ISSUES
The Main Street Partnership's concern with so-called social issues, such as abortion, is that they take attention away from economic policies, for instance.
"Moderate is not social issues. It's fiscal issues, in our world," Ms. Resnick said.
That may be one reason why Mr. Kuhl is on the Main Street roster, even though he resists labels.
"I don't represent political interest groups but the residents of the 29th District," he said through a spokeswoman, Meghan Tisinger. "National Journal and several other publications have called me 'a centrist Republican.' I vote in the best interest of my district regardless of how the administration views the legislation."
Aside from Mr. Kuhl's seat, the Main Street Partnership is watching the 20th Congressional District in New York, where Rep. Kirsten E. Gillibrand, D-Hudson, beat Rep. John E. Sweeney, R-Clifton Park, in 2006. There, the group is backing Sandy Treadwell, the former state GOP chairman from Lake Placid. So is the Republican Majority for Choice. Both have contributed to his campaign, figuring he strikes the right balance of fiscal restraint and social tolerance — or at least a willingness to put some social issues on the back burner.
'PERFECT' CANDIDATE
"In my opinion he is the perfect Republican candidate in that district," Ms. Resnick said.
Added Ms. Ferguson, "He's very open to the big tent."
Mrs. Gillibrand has raised more than $2 million toward re-election. She has staked out some conservative ground, bucking farm interests by opposing a route to citizenship for undocumented immigrant workers, and opposing a ban on handguns in the nation's capital. But she also has sided with the Democratic leadership on withdrawing troops from Iraq, and political analysts say she is very likely to hold on to the seat despite a big enrollment advantage for the GOP.
If moderates took a beating in 2006, some Republicans may ask, why move the party in that direction?
Ms. Ferguson said she believes voters rejected the party and the president, not moderate GOP stances. "Our hope is that the leadership recognizes that in areas with social moderates, we should run moderate candidates," she said.
