Republicans go out on a political limb on budget

By Chris Cillizza
WashPost

Did Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan’s budget put his Republican colleagues in a tough spot for reelection in 2012? Photographer: Joshua Roberts/Bloomberg The House approved Rep. Paul Ryan’s (R-Wisc.) 2012 budget blueprint — a blueprint that includes a fundamental re-imagining of the Medicare system — today on a nearly straight party-line vote, a result that could well come back to haunt some targeted Republicans in the 2012 elections.

The final vote — 235 yeas, 193 nays — included only four Republicans casting “no” votes and not a single Democrat voting for the plan.

While the vote was quickly hailed as a victory by Republican leaders, there is reason to believe that for some of the 61 GOP Members who sit in districts President Obama carried in 2008 it may well be a defining moment — and not in a good way -- of their first two years in Congress.

The problem for targeted Republicans who are now on the record as in support of this bill is three-fold.

(More here.)