Written by :
Published on :
We at Gambling911.com wouldn’t quite sound the alarms yet, but some media outlets are. Barney Frank, the long time Democratic Congressman and Chairperson of the House Financial Services Committee, is seeing his poll numbers lead lower than in any previous election cycle since 1990. This is a man who has received no less than 64 percent of the vote post-1990. He probably won’t lose….but he could.
Steve Kornack of Salon.com writes:
It's not hard to see what's going on here. As I wrote back in January, when Scott Brown knocked off Martha Coakley, Massachusetts is a perfect example of how the 2008 election changed voters' perceptions of the two parties almost overnight. For the previous decade and a half, the Bay State's electorate (and the electorates of similar blue states) had shunned the GOP. This was a result of the 1994 Republican revolution, which certified the national GOP -- once a big-tent party full of moderates who could win in culturally liberal states -- as a Southern-based party rooted in cultural conservatism and religious fundamentalism. With that GOP running Congress after '94 (and the White House after 2000), Massachusetts' swing voters revolted against the GOP label. It's not at all a coincidence that the party, which won two House races in the state in '94, hasn't won a single one since then.
The Massachusetts Congressman is the biggest advocate for the online gambling sector. His bill to legalize Internet poker rooms in the States passed through a House sub-committee this past summer, but the momentum has since stalled.
Even if he does remain in Congress – and the odds are certainly in favor of this happening – a GOP majority will lessen Frank’s ability to assist in getting crucial legislation passed for the industry beyond this session.
Frank told The Hill last month he was “not optimistic”, noting that the cramped House floor schedule does not allow for such a measure to be voted on at this time.
- Alistair Prescott, Gambling911.com
