Healthcare Reform
SATURDAY, NOV 7, 2009
WAR ROOM at Salon

One Republican votes for House Dems’ health bill.
Both sides lobbied hard to win over Louisiana Rep. Joseph Cao, but he ultimately crossed the aisle.
BY ALEX KOPPELMAN

House Republicans have been remarkably unified this year, sticking together on all of the big votes and ensuring that Democrats don’t have any bipartisan cover whatsoever. But when the House votes on the Democrats’ healthcare reform bill Saturday night, things could be different.

Multiple outlets are reporting that both sides of the aisle are lobbying aggresively to win over Rep. Joseph Cao, R-La. Cao has reportedly told colleagues he’s undecided, and the White House is getting involved in the fight for his vote as a result. According to ABC News, even White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel has spoken with Cao.

Cao was born in Vietnam, in Ho Chi Minh City. Cao,  and came to America at age 8. Before being elected to Congress, he had never before held public office.

After earning a degree in physics and attending seminary with the intention of a life in the priesthood, Cao became a lawyer focusing on immigration issues. But when both his home and his law office were destroyed during 2005’s Hurricane Katrina and he dealt with the storm’s aftermath, and the government’s response to it, Cao turned to politics.

Cao’s district voted 75%-23% for Barack Obama in 2008, but Cao was able to beat Jefferson in a December election (held at that time because of the rescheduling of some Louisiana Congressional elections, due to a hurricane). Cao had held out on voting for this bill — he is strongly pro-life and wanted full assurances that abortion would not be funded — but his vote for final passage, the 220th vote aye, after the passage of the Stupak Amendment, could give him a positive card to play with his Democratic constituents.

Ironically, right after Cao was elected in December 2008, the House GOP boasted of his upset win as a sign of the GOP’s comeback, and that he presented a path to future victories. House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) declared: “The Future Is Cao.” Little he knew how right he was.

Cao is in a unique position, because he’s a first-term congressman who represents a heavily Democratic district. As a result, he’ll have a hard time getting reelected as it is, and though the GOP base would undoubtedly rise up against him, Cao can use a little bipartisan credibility with the Democrats in his district. The only reason he was able to win election in the first place is because he was running against Rep. William Jefferson, who was under indictment on federal corruption charges at the time of the vote; Jefferson has since been convicted on a majority of the counts against him.

Update: Whether due to Emanuel’s infamous gift for arm-twisting, his district’s blueness or something else, the Democrats won over Cao. He crossed the aisle to provide the bill with its 220th “aye.”