Bennet: For or Against Iran Agreement?

Assuming the Iran agreement is now secure with 34 Democrats necessary to bloc support a veto and possibly 41, which with the filibuster rule bloc even passing a rejection, the pressure is off Bennet to save the Democrats. Now, if he was so inclined, he could vote on the basis of pure dispassionate analysis or pure political calculation (or some of each). Vote against it and protect his right flank and support his Jewish hawk friends. Vote for it, no surprise to anyone and join the Democratic Party and President.

My commentary for Valerie Richardson last week in the Colorado Statesman was inclined to see a confirming vote:

Even so, “I would be a surprised if Michael Bennet comes out against the deal,” said political analyst Floyd Ciruli. “If you look down the list of people who are undecided, many of them are what I would call foreign-policy liberals, people who believe in the president’s position, that is, negotiations to avoid war,” said Ciruli. “I’m just going to be surprised if he breaks out of that,” Ciruli added. “Now obviously, he’s getting a lot of pressure.”

“I’m going to be very, very surprised if he’s going to support overturning a veto,” Ciruli said. “And one reason why — it won’t pass. In other words, this would be a completely futile vote. The Republicans won’t get enough Democrats to overturn a veto. They won’t get it in the House at all, and, as best I can tell, the votes are getting very slim in the Senate.”

Ciruli agreed. “It’s going to be a significant issue, primarily because Republicans are going to be talking about it,” he said, suggesting that Bennet could well lose support among Jewish Democrats if he backs the deal.

“But keep in mind, who are they going to give that money to?” Ciruli said. “There are a host of issues on which they deal with the President, the Democratic Party, and Michael Bennet, and this is one of them. But people can put that aside as they go down the road here, particularly if Bennet looks strong. They also would like to be on the side of the next U.S. senator.”

“I’ll be interested in how much longer Michael Bennet is going to wait,” Ciruli said. “It’s getting toward the end here. There’s nobody much left.”