The Democratic Party - which controls 55 seats in the Senate - needs conservative Democrats such as Begich and Baucus to win re-election next year in order to retain control of the chamber. That effort could backfire, analysts say. Separately, the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, an independent liberal group, plans to run newspaper ads criticizing Montana Democratic Senator Max Baucus for voting against the bill, the first of what the group says could be many targeted pressure campaigns aimed at lawmakers who will face re-election next year. Organizing for America, an advocacy group spawned from Obama’s re-election campaign, plans to mount rallies to pressure lawmakers who voted against the bill. Gun control has a deep-pocketed sponsor in New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who spent $12 million on ads in March targeting key lawmakers. Now, with the push for gun control in a holding pattern on Capitol Hill, gun-control groups are vowing to meet Obama’s challenge to beat the NRA at its own game. The association’s talking points, often repeated word for word by lawmakers and NRA supporters, cast the new background checks plan as an infringement on the constitutional right to bear arms of law-abiding citizens.Īfter the measure fell six votes short of the 60 votes it needed to advance in the 100-member Senate, Obama acknowledged that gun-control supporters have a way to go before they can match the sustained passion that has allowed the gun lobby to steadily loosen firearms laws over the past 18 years. The NRA and its supporters also followed a tightly woven script that accused Obama of not following up on thousands of gun buyers each year who fail background checks under existing laws. The NRA mobilized a disciplined, grassroots army that flooded Republican and conservative Democratic lawmakers’ offices with phone calls and e-mails. It was an impressive show of force by the National Rifle Association, which reaffirmed its reputation as one of Washington’s most powerful interest groups by turning back one of President Barack Obama’s top second-term priorities. Those callers got what they wanted: Begich voted no - one of four Democrats from gun-friendly states to do so - and the most ambitious gun-control push in two decades went down to defeat. Brady Eggleston of Newtown participates in a protest outside the National Shooting Sports Foundation in Newtown, Connecticut March 28, 2013.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |