Talent occasionally broke from GOP
2006-11-01
Source: Springfield News Leader
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rss feedSen. Jim Talent is a loyal Republican and a strong ally of President Bush, but an examination of his voting record shows he occasionally has parted with party leaders.
Last year, Talent supported President Bush on key policy votes 91 percent of the time and voted with his party 84 percent of the time, according to the journal Congressional Quarterly. The average Senate Republican supported President Bush 86 percent of the time and voted with the party 88 percent of the time.
Talent, who is running in a hotly contested race against challenger Democratic State Auditor Claire McCaskill, said Missouri voters are concerned about the "two candidates in front of them" and not national politics.
The first-term senator disagrees with an Oct. 24 USA Today-Gallup poll in which 43 percent of likely voters said national issues would make the biggest difference in their vote, compared with 24 percent who cited local issues.
"You run based on what you want to do," said Talent, one of four Republicans who never missed a roll call vote last year. "George Bush isn't going to be here in two years. I'm not running with George Bush or against him."
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