Published: March 17, 2010

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- There has been no ride on Air Force One. No invite to movie night at the White House. No promise proffered by the president for Staten Island to entice Rep. Michael McMahon to flip his vote from a nay to a yea on health care.

And no phone call from the Oval Office -- not this time around.

But is the apparent political snub by the Obama administration of McMahon, who has vowed again to vote no on the health care bill, a bad thing?

Maybe not.
  
Especially for a moderate/conservative Democrat, which is how McMahon likes to portray himself.

Especially when having a liberal president for a BFF might cost him votes in his maiden run for re-election.

Especially in a formerly reliably red Republican district with a vibrant Tea Party faction ready to raise the roof.

Still, while some House members have been shmoozed in recent days by President Obama and Democratic leaders looking to tamp down defections and swing votes their way on health care, McMahon isn't one of them.

A White House spokeswoman didn't return calls for comment on McMahon.

"I've made my position clear," McMahon said yesterday. "I don't feel left out. I don't see anything that will cause me to change my mind and I don't want to give the wrong impression."

Sure, on the eve of the first health care vote last fall, Obama placed a late-night phone call to McMahon asking him to reconsider voting no.

Lot of good it did him: McMahon was one of 39 House Democrats to vote against the sweeping health care reform bill that made it through the House last November but fell short of final passage.

While the White House is predicting they'll have enough support this time around to push the historic legislation through Congress later this week or early next, if they do it will be without McMahon's help.

Since the first vote, health care naysayers here and elsewhere have ratcheted up their opposition, with McMahon continuing to contend the bill would be "bad" for the district. Rather, he has advocated incremental changes, including insurance reform, keeping children on their parents' coverage plans longer and eliminating discrimination for pre-existing conditions.

Then doubtless there is the memory for McMahon of one particularly raucous town hall meeting here where opposition ran high.

Not to mention calls, letters and e-mails from constituents running 60/40 against passage. To say nothing of opposition from the Island's two hospitals, big employers in the borough.

While insiders say House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and company are doing their due diligence and trying to get McMahon to toe the party line, they're not holding their breath -- and that's not a bad thing for a guy looking to assert his independence.

Of course, that independence cuts both ways. Labor unions and the Working Families Party, which endorsed McMahon last time around, have let him know he might forfeit their support by his health care stance.

One union in particular, the Service Employees International Union Local 32BJ, has said publicly it will be looking "very, very closely" at how McMahon votes.

Said McMahon: "You want everyone's support. But I make my decisions based on what I believe is right for the district and right for the country. Let the chips fall where they may."

Besides, added McMahon, "There is a long way to go, six months" before the Nov. 2 election.

Left unsaid is that if McMahon suddenly flipped in favor of the bill, after being courted by the White House, it probably would cost him more votes than he'd gain.