Politico Names Coons GOP’s Favorite Democrat

Last week Politico published a story that’s probably been framed and hung in Chris Coons’ study already. It’s approving headline: “Meet the GOP’s Favorite Democrat.”

It recounts in some detail Coons’ solicitous attitude toward his colleagues across the aisle and is studded with fulsome praise from Republican senators. Here, for example, is a quote from Georgia Sen. Johnny Isakson, for whom Coons changed his vote on Mike Pompeo:

“Vice President Biden and Chris Coons have a lot in common,” said Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.), a good friend of Coons, whose arrival at the Pompeo vote was delayed by his best friend’s funeral. “But Chris Coons has the advantage of having an off switch.”

“That was a profile in courage, I think. He may catch a lot of flak for that,” said Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) of Coons’ courtesy toward Isakson. “And that made a big impression on those of us on the Republican side.”

What the story lacks is input from Democrats. I don’t know if Joe Biden still holds a grudge against Coons for trying to clean up the Tom Gordon shit show, but he only released a spokesman with a quote for the story.

Because Delaware lies outside the Washington beltway, the story’s only dissenting voice is from Angel Padilla, policy director at the liberal activist group Indivisible.

“Yes, he has taken progressive votes, but he has also taken some bad votes and led the charge on some compromises that have not fit the moment,” said Padilla, who criticizes Coons’ support for financial deregulation and centrist immigration legislation. “It’s not just reaching across the aisle. It’s that you are compromising in a way that will harm Americans.”

The picture that emerges is one of a guy who is cannily cultivating his reputation for bipartisanship in an effort to increase his leverage in the Senate, and from that perspective there’s method to his madness. Senators from insignificant states don’t get noticed in D.C. without developing a strong brand. Coons will never be Miss America, but he should win Miss Congeniality.

And he’s not worried about being targeted by liberals in a primary. “It could happen to me,” he Coons. “I’m just not worried about it.”