More polls will come out this week. If, as I suspect, they confirm this one, watch the congresscritters backtrack furiously. It'll be a big game of "cover-yer-ass".
Ever forget to repay a loanshark?
The religious right had BETTER deliver the votes after this, or the rest of the GOP is going to be looking for some bones to break.
I dunno.
I just hope Karl Rove is laying down the law to a bunch of these folks soon. The problem is, the general public doesn't have a long memory on this - and these folks DO have a long memory when it comes to slights - both real and perceived.
People have to win primaries to get to the general election. The GOP is getting caught in a similar dynamic that the Dems are already facing. A Democrat like Joe Lieberman or Dick Gephardt, folks who are still hawkish on the war on terror, can't get past the primary. Why? The base voters there wanted a Howard Dean or John Kerry, because they oppose the war on terror.
The thing is, reasonably competent people like Condi Rice or Rudy Giuliani will face similar problems from pro-life folks in a primary - even though they could probably win the general election in a landslide.
I really think this issue is a wash - the Democrats have their own extremists, and they could easily overplay that hand. More or less, it does present a TON of pressure to deliver on bigger issues.
Oh, and the pro-lifers had better deliver, OR ELSE there will be some SERIOUS repercussions for the GOP.