I know very little about Congressman Matheson so far, so I can't say much about his performance. Especially since I'm relatively new here in Utah. But I have heard of the Blue Dogs, and that brings me to my question.

If Congressman Matheson sees himself as a Blue Dog fiscal conservative, and is worried about wasteful spending as the Blue Dogs purport, why is there no apparent word about the seeming
extravagance of military spending? When Pentagon cost overruns are approaching $300
billion a year, why don't we hear much about that from those who regard themselves as
our fiscally conservative representatives?

Yes, I do live in JM's district.

I think he wants to do the right thing but is hobbled by fear of alienating his Republican constituents. I think he knows the right thing to do, but has unfortunately become an animal of a bad political machine.

If he does not support Health Care Reform, I will work as hard as possible to remove him from office even if it means replacing him with a Jason Chavez flavor of republican.

I am so angry with this man parading as a Democrat and the Utah Democratic party allowing this to happen. If he doesn't vote for the Health Care bill (with the public option) I will work day and night to defeat him in the next election.... this is too important. He should have to give up his Public Health plans and go with his Co-op idea if he thinks it is such a great idea.

Mr. Matheson as a Utah Democrat I will tell you that if this bill is killed because of your vote, there are many of us that will no longer support you and you will lose your job. As a Healthcare worker I beg you.

Two Questions for Mr. Matheson,

1. It is being reported that JM has rev'd almost $1 million dollars in campaign contributions from the health Insurance companies. Is it true? And if so, will he lose their financial support if he supports a public option?

2. Does JM know who Wendell Potter is (former VP Communications for CIGNA). Has he seen the Bill Moyers interview with Mr. Potter? http://www...watch.html and if so, how does he respond?

Thanks Doug and Elaine for a superb show!

"Not all the Blue Dogs partook at such high levels. Space, for instance, has raised only slightly more than $200,000 from those two sectors, according to Public Campaign Action Fund. But on the whole, these self-proclaimed fiscal conservatives have found their coffers filled by the industries over which they now have massive legislative sway. Gordon has received more than $1.4 million in donations; Matheson got slightly more than $1 million. Ross, who is leading the Blue Dog negotiations, took in more than $980,000."

http://www...7.html

http://www.campaignmoney.org/threevotes

Ross is only 1 of 2 ppl Matheson follows on Twitter... Just sayin'

The bottom line is health care reform, including comparative effectiveness w/ teeth and a public option. Mr Matheson, you oppose those two things at your peril.

Rep. Matheson puts alot of faith in the CBO reports. In A Dec. 2008 CBO did a limited study and found that a medicare public buy in woud spread risk, therefor helping Medicare and lead to Lower costs and more Americans insured, Does he have a response to the Idea of Medicare for All ? Coops are a very bad idea as they are more often than not rife with corruption. Look at the history of electricity coops where they exist.

Health care costs are increasing faster than incomes, largely because of uninsured persons accessing emergency rooms for care. Those costs are passed on to persons with health insurance.

How is this significantly different in effect than taxing wealthy persons under a public option? Or is it more important to protect those with incomes over $350,000, who contribute more to political campaigns?

Everyone in congress and their families should go without health care coverage until they fix this mess. How nice of all of them to scream SLOW DOWN and then take a month vacation while MILLIONS of American's are not covered, and more than that aren't sufficiently covered.

I am a constituent of Rep Matheson and have been calling his SLC and DC offices lately in support of single payer health care. I have repeatedly received misinformation from his staff, one even denying that Jim Matheson was one of the conservative Democrats (!!!), another staff member hung up on me for saying I was not going to vote for him anymore. Either his staff is very misinformed, doesn't read or listen to the media about Matheson's very own statements, or they are instructed to spin the lies to his Democratic constituents. If you look closely, the man is very two-faced. I voted for him in the past, but will not vote for him again. In fact, I will work together with other Utah citizens' groups to remove him from office. Utah Democrats deserve a representative who represents OUR values, not that of our Republican neighbors. Who wants to run against Jim Matheson in the Democratic primaries? You'll have an avalanche of grassroots support.

I hope liberals who are saying they won't support Matheson if he doesn't support the version of health care they favor are just trying to scare him. Matheson is way better, from a liberal point of view, than any Republican who would take his seat. No more liberal Democrat would have a prayer of winning the general election.

Of course he's going to play to his conservative supporters. How else would he stay in office? Welcome to democracy.

I believe what Doug said about voting for a Republican or a third party candidate was very misleadings. Theres this thing called a caucus, and a primary. We need to get someone to run against Matheson at the primary level so he can be eliminated before a general election. Rocky Anderson would be a pick, but his stand on illegal immigration is a problem. Maybe Rocky or someone else will run against Matheson, and we can eliminate Matheson from the next general election.

What it will take is every citizen who gives a damn volunteering for his opponent.

Again, no more liberal Democrat would have a prayer. You're engaged in sheer wishful thinking.

The reality is Salt Lake goes to Democrats. There are many straight party voters. Barack Obama won in Salt Lake. What you're saying is a scare tactic, or misinformation.

This page contains links to spreadsheets of the Utah State election results. I would suggest people study this information.

http://ele...sults.html

A third party doesn't have a snowballs chance in hell. I hate to say that, but you can look at the spreadsheets and see how few votes they get. It's pretty easy to determine the Democrat who gets elected for District 2 will win.

We're not really talking liberal vs. conservative. We are talking corporate vs. non-corporate. There is a difference. The media is not going to cover this because what are they going to do, tick off Aetna? Tick off Kaiser, Humana, BlueCross, or any of their other advertisers?

Did you ever hear about how Fox bulled a story on bovine growth hormone in milk because Monsanto threatened to sue and pull advertising? That's what these reporters who used to work for Fox say. When they refused to let the story die, they were fired.
http://www...ZkDikRLQrw

The second district is a lot bigger than part of Salt Lake County. Obama just barely won county-wide, and must have lost in District 2 by a substantial margin. It was carved out to make it harder for a liberal to get elected, but Matheson has been conservative enough to get by on the strength of his name. He knows what he's doing. (I can't follow why you bring up third parties and the media.)

It could be our best option to wait until after the 2010 census and the reapportionment of Utah to accommodate a fourth congressional district. Then there would be no rational -- although I realize the legislature sometimes acts irrationally, particularly where politics is involved -- justification for not having a district comprised exclusively of Salt Lake County. Then it will be put-up-or-shut-up time for Rep. Matheson, depending on which district he chooses to run in.

Kaiser is a non-factor in Utah.

I live in his district and have worked for the Democrats as a precinct captain and foot solder. (Usually at the same time). There isn't that many of us and he needs us. I keep voting for him and passing out his leaflets come election season because I believed there will be a time when an issue would be so vital to the country he would behave with integrity. A strong public option is the average person's only hope. Make no mistake, this is the time. This is the issue.

Thank You, I could not have said it any better!

We need a public option and not someone who stands with the insurance companies.