By KENT HOOVER
Washington Bureau Chief

The 30-second TV commercial for Rep. Jim Marshall is typical of the types of ads the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is running on behalf of "pro-business" candidates this election:

It praises the Georgia congressman for voting against health-care reform and asks viewers to "tell him to keep fighting for seniors and against Washington's government health-care takeover."

What's unusual is that Marshall is a Democrat. The chamber is spending most of its millions on behalf of Republicans this election. Marshall, however, has voted with the chamber on key issues and therefore got its support in his tough battle for re-election. The chamber also is running ads on behalf of nine other House Democrats who face strong challenges from Republicans.

It's the chamber's way of "rewarding those who have been good to us," said Giovanni Coratolo, vice president of small-business policy. "It gives us our credibility."

Marshall was one of only 26 House Democrats who received the Guardian of Small Business award from the National Federation of Independent Business. Republicans have a good chance of taking 20 of these 26 seats away from Democrats Nov. 2, according to the Cook Political Report.

Nearly 180 House Republicans received NFIB's Guardian award. It's clear NFIB, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other conservative business groups would cheer if Republicans win control of the House by picking up at least 39 seats on Election Day. Republicans are more likely to vote their way when it comes to opposing tax increases and additional regulation.

The price of this victory, however, would be fewer pro-small business Democrats in the House, at least by the criteria these groups use to rate members.

That's unfortunate, Coratolo said, because the business community would "lose allies."

"The business community hates to lose a pro-business congressman, regardless of which side of the aisle they sit on," he said.

"It helps to have friends on both sides of the aisle," Coratolo said, especially during negotiations between the House and Senate on reconciling the differences in each chamber's bills.

Small biz gets Congress' attention

Support for small business is in the eye of the beholder, however. Almost all Republicans, for example, opposed the Small Business Jobs Act, which aims to make it easier for small firms to get credit by expanding Small Business Administration loan programs and creating a $30 billion fund for community banks to use in making small-business loans. The legislation, which was signed into law Sept. 27, also includes targeted tax breaks for small businesses.

Jere Glover is a Washington attorney who headed the SBA's Office of Advocacy during President Bill Clinton's administration. He calls the bill "the biggest single piece of legislation in, let's say, 25 years" for small businesses.

Republican leaders, however, opposed it because they didn't want Democrats to win a legislative victory, he said.

"They weren't willing to make an exception to ‘just say no' for small businesses," Glover said.

His views are shared by John Arensmeyer, who heads Small Business Majority, an advocacy group that supported the Small Business Jobs Act, health-care reform and financial regulatory reform.

"We definitely felt that Democrats in general had small businesses' interest more at heart in this last Congress than Republicans," Arensmeyer said.

Democrats, as well as Republicans, understand that Americans view small businesses more favorably than any other institution in the country, Glover said.

"I suspect that small businesses' status will go up no matter what happens in the elections," he said.

Partisan divide could widen

If there is a huge Republican wave, however, Congress may become even more ideologically divided between conservative Republicans and liberal Democrats.

Any time voters make major changes in the makeup of Congress, "moderates always lose out," said Molly Brogan, vice president of the National Small Business Association.

That makes compromise on any issue - not just bills affecting small businesses - more difficult, she said, adding, "It doesn't benefit any of us, frankly."

A massive turnover of House seats also will make it more challenging to educate members on small-business issues, Coratolo said.