HOUSE REPUBLICANS FEEL HEAT IN WAKE OF SCHIP VETO
For Rep. Joe Knollenberg and other Republicans as they prepare to
block a broad expansion of children's health insurance this
week.
On television and radio, in phone calls and e-mails, proponents
of the five-year, $35 billion increase are pressuring about 20
Republicans to switch sides and help override President Bush's
veto. The full-court press includes preachers, rock stars such
as Paul Simon and sick kids in an effort to sway the result --
or the next election.
Few Republicans have more to fear than Knollenberg, a former
insurance agent whose nearly 15-year grip on Michigan's 9th
Congressional District has never been as weak. . . .
With national Democrats and unions running ads against him but
the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and tobacco giant Philip Morris
supporting him, "people are getting mixed up," he says.
