PhRMA defends vulnerable Dems

What a difference a Speaker’s gavel makes.

Just a few years ago, before Democrats took control of Congress, the pharmaceutical industry was busy funneling millions to Republican candidates, at times giving the GOP three dollars for every one headed to Democrats.

{mosads}Over the last two cycles, though, drug makers have been much more generous with the other party. In the 2008 cycle, pharmaceutical companies gave the two parties about $14.5 million each, and this year the industry has given $714,000 to Republicans and $721,000 to Democrats.

But the industry’s main lobbying arm in Washington is now going beyond writing a check. The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, better known as PhRMA, spent the congressional recess running advertisements thanking four vulnerable Democratic freshmen for their early work in Congress.

The advertisements are running on behalf of Reps. Parker Griffith (D-Ala.), Bobby Bright (D-Ala.), Tom Perriello (D-Va.) and Frank Kratovil (D-Md.). They cite the four freshmen’s votes for the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) and for extending healthcare benefits to unemployed workers, a measure contained within the stimulus package passed earlier this year.

PhRMA is also running advertisements for a few Republican candidates, though the group declined to provide their names.

Nonetheless, Democrats are encouraged by the group’s ads on behalf of the four members, all of whom won in 2008 by the narrowest of margins.

PhRMA “has really stepped it up and shown a willingness to work with us where our policy interests intersect,” one senior Democratic aide said.

The group isn’t the only one that gives overwhelmingly to Republicans that has had to change its approach lately. In February, the Chamber of Commerce put out press releases praising Democratic votes in favor of the stimulus legislation, and the National Federation of Independent Businesses backed Democrats on the credit card bill last month.

PhRMA itself has grown more bipartisan. In recent years, Democratic strategist Steve McMahon has crafted many of the organization’s advertisements, and former Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee political director Brian Smoot has been helping its efforts as well.

The group said the ads are part of a yearlong campaign run in conjunction with the Healthcare Leadership Council. Both groups say they “share the goal of getting a comprehensive healthcare reform bill on the president’s desk this year,” according to PhRMA Senior Vice President Ken Johnson.

Ken Spain, spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee, said the question going forward is “whether or not Democrats in Congress will choose to do for the healthcare industry what they have done for General Motors. That is a concern many in the healthcare community share with Republicans in Congress.”

— R.W.

No partnership among brothers when it gets down to promotions

Republicans are Republicans and Democrats are Democrats.

Except, that is, when it comes to House members eyeing the Senate.

The start of the 2010 election cycle has been marked by a pretty overt attempt by House campaign committees — specifically the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) — to push members of the opposing party into statewide races.

Problem is, those statewide races are pretty important, too. And when the pressure on people like Reps. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) and Mike Castle (R-Del.) pushes them out of their House seats and into their states’ open Senate races, they could seriously hamper Senate Democrats’ efforts to win those much rarer seats.

The equation is really pretty simple: If you’re a random Democrat somewhere, even if you are guaranteed to win that House seat — one of 435 — do you really want Kirk and Castle to run for Senate, where they have a good chance at winning one out of 100 Senate seats?

That goes double when the upper chamber often requires 60 percent of the votes to prevail. After all, one House seat is pretty expendable when you are close to an 80-seat majority, but one Senate seat is golden when you have an 18- or 20-seat edge in the filibuster-able Senate.

The latest example is Rep. Pete King (R-N.Y.), about whom our colleague Jeremy Jacobs writes in today’s Campaign section.

Sure, Democrats want his ripe Long Island seat in their hands, but polling has also shown him within 11 digits of Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), and he has the right kind of profile to be competitive for her seat.

King was bound and ready to run for Senate when it looked like Caroline Kennedy would win the Senate appointment, but he has since backed off. Now Democrats are working hard to put pressure on him, emphasizing that the State Legislature might make his reelections much harder in the next round of redistricting.

Democrats have also been applying pressure to another frequent target — Rep. Jim Gerlach (R-Pa.). Gerlach is a centrist in the same vein as Kirk, Castle and King, and he could pack some bipartisan appeal in a run for Senate.

Of course, the tactic isn’t solely a Democratic province. Republicans have sought to put pressure on Reps. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.), Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (D-S.D.) and Loretta Sanchez (D-Calif.) to seek their states’ governors’ mansions.

— A.B.