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Last Sunday Al Cross summarized the impact that presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain will have on the 3rd District congressional race very poorly, stating only that “In an exception to the McCain effect, Northup will not be helped by the war hero’s talk of a 100-year mission in Iraq.” This came among a rundown of the number of ways that McCain’s candidacy will help most Republican candidates.

If someone wants to talk about the war in the race between Anne Northup and Rep. John Yarmuth (D - KY / San Francisco), they will have to talk about Yarmuth’s vote to side with Nancy Pelosi and slow-bleed American troops out of Iraq, then to accelerate that strategy into nearly immediate withdrawal just as there were signs of tremendous success in Iraq thanks to the surge and General David Petraeus, as well as Yarmuth’s decision to split with his Democrat neighbors Rep. Ben Chandler (KY-6) and Rep. Baron Hill (IN-9) and not condemn the Moveon.org General “Betray Us” ad run in the New York Times last fall.

That’s if anyone wants to talk about Iraq, though. If I were Yarmuth, I wouldn’t want to because his thoughts on the war were that withdrawal was necessary, the surge should not be carried out, and Iraqis would just have to live with al Qaeda. The surge has clearly proved to be a good thing, and could not have been carried out if our forces there had been withdrawing or preparing to withdraw.

What may prove to be more important in this year’s showdown is the impact that the pro-life movement will have on the race. John McCain has a strong pro-life record, as does Anne Northup. McCain even voted recently to defund abortion provider Planned Parenthood - i.e. strip it of its federal grants and tax exempt status. PP received over $1 billion dollars of federal grant money this decade, and provided about 1.5 million abortions during that time. While none of the federal money was specifically used for abortions, the grants enabled them to pursue routine business with the federal money and provide charity abortions with donated money.

While McCain and Northup have a good record on this issue which will invigorate the pro-life portion of the Republican base, Yarmuth not only recently donated a portion of his congressional salary to Planned Parenthood, he also serves as a Director of the abortion provider, as his House financial disclosure statement shows:

The endorsement John McCain received today from the well-known Kentucky social conservative Gary Bauer will help McCain here, and Northup will benefit from the invigorated base.

Check back later to find out more ways that John Yarmuth is in for one hell of a time this year.

• Yarmuth Has Abysmal Fundraising First Quarter
• What I Told You Would Happen Is Happening
• In Letter, Jerry Abramson Weighs In On Yarmuth’s Performance
• I Told You Last Week: Northup Fundraising Official Numbers
• Thursday Americano