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Zero Republican Votes

For Obama's stimulus plan, that is. A little context from the NYT:

The failure to win Republican support in the House seemed to echo the early months of the last Democratic administration, when President Bill Clinton in 1993 had to rely solely on Democrats to win passage of a deficit-reduction bill that was a signature element of his presidency.

That partisan split hardly crippled Clinton's presidency. As it happened, in the long term the Republicans looked pretty dumb for opposing a measure that immediately preceded a huge economic boom. It is true, though, that in the near term the Clinton Democrats were annhiliated in the 1994 midterms. But that had more to do with other troubles--gays in the military, the Somalia fiasco, a pork-stuffed crime bill, and various House scandals--than the budget vote per se. That said, the 2010 midterm campaign is now very much underway.

--Michael Crowley