Democrats who support President Bush terror bill get political cover

(AP) Breaking with their party, a handful of Democrats in competitive congressional races voted to approve President Bush's system to interrogate and prosecute terrorism suspects.

In doing so, they took away one arrow Republicans plan to use in their soft-on-security attack on Democrats.

"It's time for terrorists such as Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who planned the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, to face justice," Rep. Chet Edwards, D-Texas, said, projecting a tough-on-terrorism position and sounding very much like Republicans who are gunning for his House seat Nov. 7.

The Texan is among the Democrats in hard-fought races who sided with Bush and Republicans.

Six weeks before congressional midterm elections, the Republican-controlled Congress overcame differences within the GOP to approve the president's sweeping anti-terrorism legislation that prohibits war crimes while defining such atrocities as rape and torture, and establishes military tribunals to prosecute terrorism suspects.

The Senate approved the measure 65-34 on Thursday, one day after the House voted in favor 253-168. The House was taking a final vote on the bill Friday before sending it to Bush.

Now that lawmakers have gone on the record on the issue, Republicans can return to their districts in the campaign's homestretch with a political weapon in hand. They can claim they are working to keep the country safe. They also can make the oft-repeated Republican argument that Democrats are weak on security and, perhaps, aiding terrorists.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., on Friday offered the Republican claim: "Do they want to be voting with a party that is strong, that does unabashedly say we're going to have victory in this war on terror, or a party that says we've got to surrender?"

Republicans' strategy also was obvious when House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., said Democrats who opposed the legislation voted in favor of more rights for terrorists. "The same terrorists who plan to harm innocent Americans and their freedom worldwide would be coddled if we followed the Democrat plan," Hastert said.

"The speaker is a desperate man," House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi responded, criticizing Hastert for having to "stoop to that level."

Republicans hope that keeping the focus on national security _ traditionally a party strength _ will help them retain control of Congress as the GOP did in 2002 and 2004. Democrats need to gain 15 seats in the House and six in the Senate to take over. Polls show the public favors putting Democrats in charge.

Siding with Senate Republicans on the terrorism bill were 12 Democrats, including a few up for re-election and one in an especially close race.

Of the 34 House Democrats who broke with Pelosi and voted against the terrorism legislation, eight are in highly competitive races and also sided with Republicans two weeks ago by voting in favor of erecting 700 miles of double-layered fencing along a third of the U.S.-Mexico border.

These Democrats now can make the argument that they view national security as a priority and, thus, try to fend off GOP's frequent charge that electing Democrats would be dangerous.

"They're trying to play it safe," said Robert Erikson, a Columbia University political scientist.

In the Senate, Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., voted with Republicans and avoided opening himself up to criticism from Republican challenger Tom Kean Jr. in a state where terrorism is a dominate issue. Only a river separates New Jersey from the New York City site where terrorists struck in 2001. Polls show the race very tight.

Among the eight House Democrats who supported the bill are two congressmen running for Senate seats in states that Bush won in 2000 and 2004.

Democratic Rep. Sherrod Brown, cast as an ultra-liberal by Republicans, is trying to unseat Republican Sen. Mike DeWine in Ohio, and may be trying to project a more moderate position. That also could be the case in GOP-leaning Tennessee, where Democratic Rep. Harold Ford Jr., also being tagged as a liberal, is challenging Republican Bob Corker.

The six House Democrats running for re-election who voted in favor of the legislation are in GOP-leaning districts that Republicans are making a play to win in November. They are: Democratic Reps. Melissa Bean in Illinois, Jim Marshall in Georgia, John Barrow in Georgia, Leonard Boswell in Iowa, John Spratt in South Carolina, and Edwards in Texas.

"They are voting in line with what they perceive to be the views of a majority of their constituencies on this issue," said Alan Abramowitz, an Emory University political scientist.

He suggested that these Democrats cast their votes not because of this election year but because of the next few, saying: "They're just trying to avoid trouble in the future."

The several Senate Democrats considering running for president in 2008 may not be so lucky. All of them voted against the measure _ and those votes could leave them vulnerable to Republican attacks beyond November.