Roll Call ($) reports that House Democrats are scrambling to find votes for the Iraq supplemental. In their favor is the fact that they've gotten the votes of some conservative Democrats (like Bud Cramer and Alan Boyd), and some of the Democratic whips who oppose the measure will nevertheless whip in favor. Going against them, Maxine Waters is opposed and refuses to whip, and Lynn Woolsey predicts they will lose more than 15 Democrats. It will be close:
House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.) said Friday that Democrats’ operation this week must focus largely on a group of approximately two-dozen Democrats who remain undecided or appear likely to vote against the measure.
“The remaining 200 or so are either ‘yes’ or leaning ‘yes,’” Clyburn asserted of the 233-member majority. As Republican lawmakers are vowing to largely oppose the measure — with only a few exceptions — Democrats cannot afford to lose more than 15 of their own to guarantee the bill will pass.
“I’d say this one is a full-court press,” said one Democratic aide, who asked not to be named. “It’s all hands on deck.”
Despite those efforts, however, at least one member of the Democratic team, Rep. Maxine Waters (Calif.), a Chief Deputy Majority Whip, has vowed not to assist in the vote count, citing her own objections to the proposal.
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