Rep. Anh “Joseph” Cao, R-New Orleans, voted late Saturday night in favor of the House Democratic-led health care reform bill. The move has resonated with Louisianians and inspired an orchestra of responses across the political spectrum.Since that vote, Cao has found taking the middle ground in the national health care debate might be easier said than done.House members were up long after the LSU’s loss in Tuscaloosa on Saturday night, with Democratic leadership trying to wrangle together enough votes to pass a comprehensive overhaul of the nation’s health care system.The vote was close, split largely along party lines, 220 in favor to 215 against — Cao was the only Republican House member in the country to vote for the bill, which includes a controversial government-sponsored insurance program.Cao hinted he was on the fence about supporting the bill weeks before  the vote — expressing concerns government funds might be used to fund abortions. The Democrats added an amendment to address that concern, though, which allayed Cao’s worries and opened him up to supporting the bill.”I have always said that I would put aside partisan wrangling to do the business of the people,” Coa said in a statement released from his office after the late-night vote. “My vote tonight was based on my priority of doing what is best for my constituents.” While the Republican leadership in Congress seems unlikely to discipline Cao for defecting, the picture at home is more complicated.”I was kind of flabbergasted about Joseph Cao,” said Adrian Guillory, a former LSU student finishing his degree at the University of North Texas. Guillory was active in the College Republicans, and he has participated in a number of conservative-organized “tea parties.”In the hours after the House vote, Guillory edited a picture of Cao with President Barack Obama’s campaign symbol superimposed on it.Guillory’s photo has proliferated across the Internet to Louisiana news Web sites, like the popular news aggregator The Dead Pelican.”Bye Bye Joseph Cao,” a Facebook group, was set up in the hours after Cao’s vote — the group has already accumulated more than 1,000 members. “In light of ‘Republican’ Congressman Joseph Cao’s vote for Obama’s health care bill, he should be stripped of his Republican credentials and removed from office,” the group’s description reads. The Second Congressional District — Cao’s district — has historically elected Democrats into office. Cao’s 2008 victory came in the aftermath of former Democratic Rep. Bill Jefferson’s indictment and trial for corruption. “Most analysts believe he is doomed no matter what he does,” said Kirby Goidel, Senior Public Policy Fellow at the Reilly Center and political communications professor. “His one shot — and it is not a very good one — is to convince voters he is an independent-liberal-Republican who is serving his constituents well.”The Daily Reveille reported on the “tea party” movement’s growing political independence from the Republican Party in an Oct. 4 article, and the disparity in reactions to Cao’s vote between conservative grassroots activists and the Republican Party continues this trend.”[Cao’s] behavior makes a lot of sense when you consider he is a Republican who only won because of Jefferson’s legal troubles,” Goidel said. “If Republicans were smart, they would embrace him and let him vote however he needs.”  In addition to criticism from the right, Cao received bumps from a potential Democratic opponent in the 2010 race for the Second Congressional District.”Though he voted for final passage of the bill, after the bill had already received the 218 votes to secure a majority, Congressman Cao first made back-to-back votes against the bill,” State Rep. Cedric Richmond, D-Orleans Parish, said in a news release.But some didn’t completely forego showing Cao appreciation for his support.Americans United for Change — a group that supports Obama’s health care reform — produced a commercial thanking Cao for his support on Saturday. “Thank Congressman Cao for knowing it’s time to stand up to the insurance companies and fight for us,” the advertisement says. —-Contact Nate Monroe at [email protected]