Bob Kerrey, a holdout on Clinton's '93 agenda, provides example in Trump era

It was 1993, and a former rival from the previous year's campaign held the president's first-term agenda in the balance, serving as the last vote on the ambitious domestic policy agenda barely six months into office.

The senator hemmed and hawed, sometimes hiding out, before finally rising to speak.

"President Clinton, if you are watching now, as I suspect you are, I tell you this: I could not and should not cast a vote that brings down your presidency," Bob Kerrey, the Nebraska Democrat, said in early August as he provided the crucial vote to pass Clinton's economic plan.

President Donald Trump could learn a lot from how Kerrey made the final decision to support his party's president on a major vote early in his term. It could provide guidance on the current battle to find the 50th vote for the floundering health-care legislation or the even tougher legislative efforts to come on taxes and trade.

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