Politico...
Peter Welch rises as liberal voice of reason
By Marin Cogan & Jake Sherman
7/24/11 

Democratic Rep. Peter Welch doesn’t scream on the House floor to get attention. He doesn’t gesticulate wildly on the split screen. And he seems to naturally get along with the conservative lawmakers who should be his sworn enemies in the debt-limit debate. 

In a medium that favors heat and light, the nebbishy, soft-spoken liberal from Vermont has quickly become an unlikely spokesman for the left on the debt limit. He is just as comfortable making the progressive case for a clean debt ceiling hike on MSNBC as he is on Fox News, where he recently complimented an anchor for the quality of her questions. In some ways, he’s the anti-Anthony Weiner — a firm but kinder spokesman for activist liberals in search of someone who speaks for them on a national level. 

Welch says he’s trying to find the balance between the “substantive and political” approach for a party that doesn’t want to see the president give too much ground on its top priorities but doesn’t want to see the country default on its debt. As time runs out for a deficit-reduction deal, he is likely to be a voice for progressives. 

The question is, in an environment as polarized as the 112th Congress, can he make a difference? 

“My effort has been to lay out a responsible, substantive approach to the deficit and a substantive approach to paying our debts and to demonstrate that we’re willing to work, we’re willing to cooperate and we’re willing to negotiate — but not sell out at any price,” Welch said in an interview. 

In April, he began urging his colleagues for a clean vote on the debt ceiling. His staff aggressively positioned him as the prescient voice on debt ceiling issues, reminding reporters of predictions he made that came to fruition, issuing statements reacting to the latest comments from Republican House leaders and even circulating a report by JPMorgan Chase on the effects of a debt ceiling default on the economy as suggested recess reading for staffers. 

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