I said it in '08; l repeat it now. If my friend Marshall loses, it will be because he voted for TARP (& then went so public about it on NPR, etc.)

Republican challenger Austin Scott, left, and Rep. Jim Marshall, D-Macon, trade barbs after a debate at the Georgia National Fair night in Perry, Ga., earlier this month.

In Rep. Jim Marshall's district, history shows that each and every vote cast by a voter matters. Marshall's vote for TARP cost him valuable votes in the conservative 8th Congressional District, just as the vote for TARP by Sen. Saxby Chambliss forced the senator into a runoff with Jim Martin.

But for this vote, I believe this moderate Blue Dog Democrat would have survived to fight for another day. He has been a good congressman, and deserves to remain in Washington. I am pulling for him.