One Democrat Finds Stakes Surrounding Stimulus Package Higher in His Semi-Rural Maryland Swing District

SALISBURY, Md. -- Rep. Frank M. Kratovil Jr., a first-term Democrat representing Republican-leaning eastern Maryland, is eager for word to spread about millions in stimulus money that is going to roads, sewer upgrades, health clinics, schools, police and rural development in his district.

"Whether or not that awareness of it is getting out, I don't know. More needs to be done," he said while milling around at a Chamber of Commerce dinner here last week.

But when Kratovil took the mike, he made no mention of the stimulus package, just as he avoided it before the Delmarva Poultry Industry two nights earlier. He instead told Chamber members about a small-business tax break he is pushing and his vote against President Obama's budget. "Everyone should agree that we need to get back to fiscal responsibility," he said.

The fine line that one Democratic congressman in a key district is walking on the stimulus measure reflects the uncertainty and high political stakes surrounding the signature initiative of Obama's first months in office. House Republicans voted unanimously against the $787 billion package, betting that voters would come to see it as a big waste. Now that the money is filtering across the country, Obama and the many Democrats who backed it are doing all they can to highlight its benefits.

But swing districts such as Kratovil's, where Republicans have the best chance to retake seats in Congress in 2010, show how complex the equation is to determine the stimulus package's political fate. How voters perceive the measure is determined partly by how well word spreads -- in semi-rural districts such as Kratovil's, the projects are smaller and more dispersed, but it also is easier to create buzz around minor projects that might go unnoticed elsewhere.

And perceptions of the stimulus measure are being refracted through politics far removed from Washington. Take Lori Underwood, who may seem inclined to back the package because her daughter has special needs, and the legislation provides $12 billion for special education.

But Underwood sees no benefit in that, because she says the local school superintendent favors spending for the general population over special-needs students. "Based on previous experience, it will be spent according to what they want it to go to," she said.

Making his way through this landscape is Kratovil, an energetic and square-jawed former county attorney who beat Andy Harris, a conservative state senator, by 2,852 votes. Harris plans to run again in 2010 in a district that, even in a Democratic year, favored John McCain for president by 18 points.

Kratovil was one of 11 House Democrats to vote against the stimulus bill when it first came up, echoing the Republican critique that it had too much longer-term spending. But he voted for the final package, which was $32 billion smaller, saying: "We can't afford to let the perfect be the enemy of the necessary."

To some observers, Kratovil's split-the-middle strategy is plain. "He's playing both sides of the coin here," said Adam Hoffman, a political scientist at Salisbury University. "He can claim the role of acting as a spending watchdog, and on the other hand can claim some credit for projects that start rolling in."

Former congressman Wayne T. Gilchrest, a moderate Republican who lost his party's primary to Harris and endorsed Kratovil, was confident that the stimulus package would work to the incumbent's benefit by 2010. "When people go to work because of the stimulus, that's going to throw party affiliation right out the window," he said.

But Republicans see Kratovil's votes as a prime target. "It's one of the districts we're focusing on the most, and the stimulus just gave us more reason to look at it," said Republican National Committee spokesman Trevor Francis.