Minnesota's 7th District Rep. Collin Peterson was appointed ranking Democrat of the House Agricultural Committee yesterday, and while he certainly has the appropriate constituency and seniority, Peterson also has the notorious distinction of being a member of Josh Marshall's "Fainthearted Faction".
Marshall hasn't posted any response from Peterson's office regarding his motivations for possibly supporting the President's sinister plot to privitize social security, so we can't do much more than speculate on that. But we can at least look at Peterson's appointment.
On the one hand, Peterson may just be making a symbolic gesture of individuality to the national party leadership by not lining up on social security. Breaking step is not something he's afraid of doing: he did, remember, vote for the President's corporate-subsidy-disguised-as-reform Medicare bill (one of nine Dems who did). But Peterson's reason for his vote made some sense: within the bill was $26 billion for rural hospitals and clinics, which northwest Minnesota desperately needs. He ultimately got some much needed good out of a bad situation. Privatizing Social Security, however, doesn't present this sort of dilema.
On the other hand, there's Peterson's role as a founding member of the Blue Dogs, a group of fiscally conservative Democrats. Again, remembering back, he voted for Bush's Tax Cuts in 2001, so he's also not afraid to show his conservative fiscal inclinations. Peterson just may view Social Security in those sneaky, misleading terms employed by the Right: wasteful government spending in need of drastic overhaul, asap.
Democratic leadership may have already written off Peterson's support in the hopes that he will be of proper temprament to succeed with his GOP committee colleagues. But the behind-the-scenes battle wasn't a total loss for the money-minded Democratic leadership. Although Peterson did get the top spot on the ag committee, again because he's certainly qualified, he also had to pay to play. It took a $70,000 contribution to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee to convince the party that he could be a national player (i.e. fundraiser).
It will be interesting, at any rate, to see what comes out of the Representative's office on the Social Security debate. Peterson's district has its fair share of older Minnesotans who could get very touchy if they knew their rep was trying to take away their checks.
Maybe someone should tell them.