GOP senators freed to side with Democrats

WASHINGTON, July 22 (UPI) -- Republican leaders in the U.S. Senate have freed GOP members to go against the traditional party platform if it will help them get re-elected, aides say.

The Politico reported Tuesday that the GOP leadership set their members free amid fears they could lose five or more seats to Democrats in November.

Republican leaders have told senators in tough re-election bids to side with Democrats on anything but energy and national security issues, a leadership aide told Politico.

Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., told Politico that Vice President Dick Cheney had personally asked him about his Medicare vote that bucked the party line. Chambliss said he told the vice president that he needed to look out for doctors and senior citizens in his state.

"I said, 'Dick, I'm beyond that,'" Chambliss said. Cheney's "my good friend and my hunting buddy, but my mind was made up."

The proposal rescinded an 11 percent reduction in federal payments to doctors to treat elderly Medicare patients.

An aide to a Republican senator who voted this month to override the president's veto said, "Republican leadership wrote us off from the get-go. We were never whipped on this. Leadership just left us alone."