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Congress critters fear their jobs are next
Of all the numbers swirling around this week Capitol Hill this week -- health care whip counts, CBO estimates, winning and losing margins in Virginia, New York and New Jersey -- one stands out from the rest: 10.2 percent.

That's the national unemployment rate. And lawmakers from both parties know that, if it doesn't go down dramatically before next November, they could be adding to it themselves.
With control of the White House and Congress, Democrats have the most to lose if jobless numbers remain high.
"I think anytime unemployment is high and people are concerned about their jobs, the economy, incumbents on both sides of the aisle need to be concerned," Republican Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker said Friday. "What people care most about is food, clothing and shelter. Period. .... When food, clothing and shelter are sort of impacted, their base lives are impacted, it definitely sours the public as it should. Usually the party in power takes the brunt of that, but it affects all incumbents."

With control of the White House and Congress, Democrats have the most to lose if jobless numbers remain high. But like Corker, Democrats insist that incumbents in both parties will feel the pain. "I think it's bad for incumbents in general. You'd have to be a fool not to realize that," said Democratic Rep. Shelley Berkley, whose home state of Nevada has a jobless rate in excess of 14 percent. "The way our fellow citizens register their concern is at the ballot box ... if the unemployment numbers don't go down, if there's no relief, they will express their frustration in November 2010."
Posted by: Fred 2009-11-07
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=282698