Insistent that the war was going better than the press was reporting, he blasted the media for failing to cover news like school constructions and for sharing responsibility for U.S. casualties. "The falsely bleak picture weakens our national resolve, discourages Iraqi cooperation and emboldens our enemy," he said.

A member of the House Armed Services Committee, Marshall has championed funding for programs like missile defense, which he has argued is an "extremely important" tool that should be developed "aggressively."In 2009, he also locked horns with the Obama administration over his support for continued construction of the F-22 aircraft.

On civil liberties, Marshall supported reauthorizing the USA Patriot Act and amending the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to legalize warantless wiretaps.

Health-Care Reform

Marshall has repeatedly bucked his party on votes relating to health care, so it's perhaps unsurprising that he failed to go from a "no" to "yes" on the Senate health-care bill in early 2010, after opposing the House Democrats' version in November 2009.

In 2003, Marshall supported the expansion of Medicare to include prescription drug coverage, one of George W. Bush's most important domestic victories; the bill passed the House by a narrow margin.

In 2007 and 2009, he opposed Democratic efforts to reauthorize the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP); he was either the only Democrat or one of only two to cast such a vote. To explain his vote, he cited his fear that illegal immigrants benefit from the program, provisions that would allow states to cover children well above the poverty level and his opposition to using a tobacco tax to fund SCHIP.

In 2009, Marshall opposed Democratic attempts to reform the health-care system. He criticized centralized decision-making on health-care matters, whether it be by private companies or through government programs like Medicare and Medicaid. "Any system which has a great deal of central planning is bound to have terrific inefficiencies," he said, drawing an analogy to the Soviet Union.

The Economy

A fiscally-conservative lawmaker, Marshall has sided with Republicans on major economic votes. He was one of only seven House Democrats to support George W. Bush's 2003 tax cuts. In 2006, he voted in favor of a permament repeal of the estate tax. In 2009, he voted against the Waxman-Markey bill, which sought to address climate change by establishing a cap-and-trade system, and against extending the cash-for-clunkers program, a measure 77 Republicans supported.

However, Marshall supported Barack Obama's stimulus package. While he described himself as wavering, he argued that the economy needed a "big jolt" and that "doing nothing is being stupid". Other Democratic bills he supported during Obama's presidency included legislation strengthening financial industry regulations and legislation seeking to address the home foreclosure crisis by allowing judges to change the terms of a mortgage.

Marshall was also an opponent of George W. Bush's proposal to overhaul Social Security by establishing personal savings accounts, which he contended would weaken the system and increase the federal deficit.

In fall 2008, Marshall twice voted for the Wall Street bailout plan. He argued injecting liquidity was necessary to open the credit markets and prevent a financial meltdown. "I am willing to give up my seat over this," he reportedly declared.

Social Issues

Initially described as supportive of abortion rights, Marshall has mainly voted to restrict abortion rights sinc.

He supported the Unborn Victims of Violence Act, which made human fetuses legal victims, and the so-called Stupak Amendment in the 2009 House Democrat health-reform bill, which toughened restrictions on federal funding for abortion coverage. In 2005 and then again in 2007, he was one of 14 and then 16 Democrats to oppose federal funding for stem-cell research; the legislation passed the House on both occasions, but not by a large enough margin to clear President Bush's veto.

Marshall has also opposed gay rights. Besides voting for a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage, he supported barring federal courts from hearing challenges to the Defense of Marriage Act and was one of 25 Democrats to oppose a ban on employment discrimination based on sexual orientation. He did, however, support the Matthew Shepard Act, which expanded the definition of hate crimes to include those motivated by sexual orientation.

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