Another freshman Republican explains her Medicare vote at town hall -- hilarity ensues.

[stevedeshazer]

Rep. Jamie Herrera Beutler is a teabagger type representing Washington's Third District, which is in the southwest part of the state.

It didn't go very well for her.

U.S. Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler faced a boisterous, partisan crowd Tuesday evening at her first Vancouver town hall, where she fielded sometimes hostile questions about her vote to restructure Medicare and her reluctance to support raising the federal debt limit.

The Camas Republican had her supporters too, who applauded her vow to continue fighting to cut federal spending. She drew both boos and applause when she said, “If I’m offered the option to raise the debt limit with no strings attached, I would vote no.”

Several hundred people showed up at Skyview High School for the session. They passed a couple dozen protesters near the entrance who hoisted signs saying, “Save Medicare: Tax the Rich” and “People not Profits.” Several supporters of Planned Parenthood wore pink T-shirts to protest Herrera Beutler’s vote to end federal funding of family planning services.

Winning reproductive rights “is why I spent the 50s and 60s burning my bras,” declared Celia Louderback of Vancouver.

More here: http://www.columbian.com/news/2011/may/16/herrera-beutler-town-hall-if-im-offered-the-option/

[stevedeshazer]

1. Just to add, this is a true swing district.

Ms. Herrera Beutler won in 2010 upon the retirement of Democrat Brian Baird.

We just might get this one back.

[gratuitous]

2. Just across the river from me

I couldn't feature why the otherwise canny citizens in the Couv would vote for Ms. Herrera over Denny Heck. Herrera struck me as an obvious opportunist. Brian Baird was not perfect, but he was a pretty good representative and worked pretty hard for his constituents. Maybe the voters will hand Herrera her walking papers in 2012, but Washington state politics is a funky mixture of populism and pragmatism. We'll see if Herrera can outrun her record.

[stevedeshazer]

3. The district is huge.

It goes all the way north to Olympia, so it not only includes the 'Couv and Camas-Washougal, but Longview-Kelso, Centralia-Chehalis, and a buttload of rural logger types all the way out to the coast.

I liked Baird, even met him once, the guy was a psycologist and really bright, but not exactly a progressive.

Jamie Herrera is, on the other hand, a teabagger and extremely right-wing. I don't think she's a good fit. Remember Linda Smith?

[starroute]

4. The district is likely to be affected by redistricting

My sons are in the half of Olympia that's stuck in the third, along with a vast expanse of rural emptiness. But Washington is getting an additional member of Congress, and the odds are good that Olympia as a whole will be part of whatever new district is created.

This would lead to an additional largely-blue district, but it would also turn the third predominantly red -- and though I've been keeping an eye on the situation, it isn't clear to me which way things are likely to end up.

The redistricting commission is supposed to be non-partisan and to create districts which are coherent both geographically and demographically. But following that ideal slavishly could create a corridor from Seattle down to Olympia that is overwhelmingly blue, leaving the immediately surrounding areas, which are currently swing districts, red enough to give the GOP a majority of the state's Congressional delegation.

However it goes, though, Herrera Beutler is likely to wind up with a redder district than at present.

[stevedeshazer]

5. Didn't know that.

Thanks!