July 28, 2022 02:40 PM UTC

How You Like Joe Manchin Now, Joe O'Dea?

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• by: Colorado Pols

UPDATE (3:30 pm): It appears that Joe O’Dea’s campaign is a bit nervous about the fact that their guy got caught with his pants down:

O’Dea compares his style to Manchin’s, but he opposes the Manchin-Schumer deal on climate & tax.

He’s specifically calling out the tax provisions, which include a 15% global corporate minimum tax, and hasn’t commented on the rest. https://t.co/kLzxCbBdYf

— Andrew Kenney (@AndyKnny) July 28, 2022

And here’s O’Day campaign manager Zack Roday spinning, spinning, spinning…

And a final smack across the grille:

Cool cool, so Joe O’Dea is actually not for working Coloradans because he’s against making big corporations pay their fair share.

Thank you for confirming. #cosen #copolitics https://t.co/3gj7w2mGbT

— Nico Delgado (@_NicoDelgado) July 28, 2022

—–

CNN reports on the big news out of Washington, D.C. late yesterday, an agreement between Democratic-ish Sen. Joe Manchin and Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to pass a scaled-down version of President Joe Biden’s long-sought Build Back Better plan–a surprising and welcome development for Democrats needing a win ahead of the fast-approaching midterm elections:

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Sen. Joe Manchin on Wednesday announced a deal on an energy and health care bill, representing a breakthrough after more than a year of negotiations that have collapsed time and again.

But it will face furious GOP opposition.

The deal is a major reversal for Manchin, and the health and climate bill stands a serious chance of becoming law as soon as August — assuming Democrats can pass the bill in the House and that it passes muster with the Senate parliamentarian to allow it to be approved along straight party lines in the budget process.

While Manchin scuttled President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better bill, the final deal includes a number of provisions the moderate from West Virginia had privately scoffed at, representing a significant reversal from earlier this month. That includes provisions addressing the climate crisis.

The New York Times is crediting continuing negotiations with Sen. Manchin by Colorado Sen. John Hickenlooper as an important part of closing a deal whose prospects in public were dimming:

Two weeks ago, when even Mr. Biden seemed to be writing an obituary for climate legislation, a small group of lawmakers continued to work with Mr. Manchin. Several Democrats and climate activists credited Senator John Hickenlooper of Colorado with keeping the lines of communication to Mr. Manchin open. [Pols emphasis]

“When a lot of people said ‘That’s the end’ and everyone’s writing it off, I went to everybody I knew and said, ‘Wait a minute, we can’t quit,” said Mr. Hickenlooper, a onetime geologist for an oil and gas company. “We don’t have a satisfactory alternative.”

Many were wary about continuing negotiations because “they didn’t want to have their heart broken again,” Mr. Hickenlooper said. But, he said, Mr. Manchin insisted that he was still open to a deal.

Sen. Michael Bennet is likewise excited about the new legislation, which contains a number of provisions he had sought:

The Inflation Reduction Act is a VERY big deal.

First, it includes my proposal to establish a 15% corporate minimum tax to make sure the biggest corporations pay their fair share.

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— Michael Bennet (@SenatorBennet) July 28, 2022

Left hanging after yesterday’s big announcement is Colorado’s Republican U.S. Senate candidate Joe O’Dea, who just two days ago said Bennet should “learn from” Manchin:

O’Dea promised to lead in the mold of Manchin, bucking his party for the good of the country.

Obviously, this attack on Bennet was based on the prior assumption that Manchin would continue singlehanded obstructing the Democratic agenda all the way through November. But now that Manchin has come back to the table, O’Dea can no longer use Manchin as a political human shield. And of course, as Mitch McConnell’s man in Colorado, there’s no way O’Dea can support a Democratic reconciliation bill:

No burnishing of O’Dea’s “post-partisan” credentials will be had today! If this legislation makes it to President Joe Biden’s desk, and having been burned so many times we’re obliged to factor in the uncertainty, it’s a major turnabout in political fortunes for beleaguered Democrats ahead of the midterm elections. And it’s the worst-case scenario for Joe O’Dea–a reminder that however O’Dea pivots to compete in the general election, he will inevitably dance with the side that brought him. For Colorado voters still smarting from the burn inflicted by six years of Cory Gardner’s double dealing, it’s a warning they’ll understand clearly.

This could be a defining moment in the U.S. Senate race.