Of bullets, barrels, ballots and bullying

Guns and Political Suicide

By THOMAS B. EDSALL, NYT

Does Bill Daley, a former White House chief of staff, have the right to complain that Heidi Heitkamp, the first-year Democratic Senator from North Dakota, refused to commit political suicide after taking his $2,500 contribution?

Heitkamp was one of four Senate Democrats who voted against a proposal to require gun buyers to pass a background check for sales made over the Internet or at gun shows. In doing so, Heitkamp joined a successful 46-vote minority that killed a key legislative goal of the Obama administration. The amendment received 54 votes, but failed to reach the 60 vote threshold to overcome a filibuster. The three other Democrats voting “no” were Mark Begich of Alaska, Max Baucus of Montana, and Mark Pryor of Arkansas.

A shift of those four votes would have dramatically changed the politics of the debate over gun legislation. Together with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who voted “no” to preserve parliamentary maneuverability, the four dissenting Democrats would have brought the total number of votes in support of the background check amendment to 59. If gun control advocates had been within one vote of winning, they would have been able to put tremendous pressure on Senator Kelly Ayotte, Republican of New Hampshire, to vote “yes.” As it is, she is facing an onslaught of criticism in her home state for her “no” vote.

For Daley, whose family ran Chicago for decades, what Heitkamp, Begich, Pryor and Baucus did was unforgivable. Writing a few days after the vote in the Washington Post, Daley laid down the gauntlet:

(More here.)