In the wake of President Obama’s failed attempts to win Republican support for his stimulus package, Glenn Thrush at Politico talked to numerous staffers on Capitol Hill about the lessons the new administration may have learned. One unnamed Republican staffer made fun of the full court press that Obama put on to woo Michigan’s Fred Upton to support the package:
 

After Friday’s stimulus shutout, House Republicans were snickering at Obama’s courtship of moderate Michigan GOPer Fred Upton, who got an invite to the president’s Super Bowl party and a ride on Air Force One – and still voted no.

“The president learned a lesson,” one GOP aide quipped. “Fred’s going to ride on your plane, eat your M&Ms, but he ain’t going to vote for your bill.”

Upton is in a difficult position politically. He really is a moderate Republican and he’s decidedly less partisan than most of his colleagues. But he’s not immune to arm twisting, of course. He represents a very conservative district, one that hasn’t elected a Democrat since 1932, but he’s also vulnerable to a primary run from a more conservative opponent. It’s become clear over the last few days that the Republican powers were threatening to run primary opponents against those who voted for the bill, which helps to explain why not a single Representative and only three Republican Senators voted for it. And it’s not a coincidence that the three GOP Senators who voted for the bill come from relatively liberal states where they aren’t terribly vulnerable to a primary challenge from the right.