Kratovil continues to flaunt his outsider credentials, with self-deprecating claims that "maybe I'm na?ve" and frequent reminders of his work as a prosecutor. But he's already benefiting from incumbency, raising money from special interests, including the health care industry, which has donated $105,706 during his brief career as a federal candidate, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a watchdog group.
The novice legislator is also learning the art of the straddle, a skill that could help him as he prepares for a tough re-election fight. He voted against Obama's $787 billion stimulus the first time it went through the House, then turned around and supported it. He said the final version had been improved enough to satisfy him.
"If I had to vote tomorrow, I'd vote the same way," he said, adding that he receives complaints daily about the stimulus program, which most Americans see as ineffective, polls show. "I never thought that we could do nothing. To me, that was not an option. I did think we could make it better."
Republicans contend that Kratovil's positions on health care don't add up.
"He can't seem to utter a word about the issue without contradicting himself," said Andy Ser?, a spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee, which says it will air a new round of attack ads against Kratovil before Labor Day.
Republicans claim that Kratovil has let himself be "steamrolled" by Obama and House Democratic leaders, an accusation that Kratovil dismisses by rattling off a number of Democratic spending measures that he voted against because they were too expensive.
"If it's a Democratic proposal and I vote for it, I'm no longer independent," he said, then nodded in agreement when an aide chimed in that the way Republicans would define the term, an independent Democrat is a conservative Republican.
"In politics," said Kratovil, who generally avoids partisan rhetoric, "saying 'no' is always easier than coming up with solutions. And that's what we face in a lot of these debates. Ultimately, the Republicans do have to recognize that simply saying 'no' isn't an answer."
The same pattern that led him to support the stimulus package - and produced charges of a flip-flop - could play out again over health care. He says that his vote on an overhaul plan will be a "very significant" factor in the 2010 election, but he refuses to rule out supporting a compromise in the end.
