This is for our host John K, who can’t make it a day without misrepresenting what the Blue Dog coalition is and who its members are. Below the fold I’ve included a list of all current members. Note that there are ZERO Democratic Senators in the coalition (READ: Tester and Webb are not Blue Dogs), and for the purposes of softening the blow to the collective Republican ego, it’s intellectually dishonest to mischaracterize what took place in this last election as often as is done here on the Control Congress website. There are 37 coalition members from states all over the country, and while the GOP has steadily purged itself of moderates since 1994, the Democratic tent grows larger.

Blue-Dog Democrats are conservative to moderate Democratic Party (United States) members of the United States House of Representatives. Blue Dogs are an actual coalition of like-minded Democrats organized as the Blue-Dog Coalition, rather than just an expression such as “Yellow dog Democrat.” … The Blue-Dog Coalition was formed in 1994 during the 104th Congress as a way for more conservative members from the Democratic party to have a unified voice…It considers itself a continuation of the socially conservative wing of the Democratic party made prominent during the presidencies of Lyndon Johnson and Harry S. Truman, whom many in the Blue-Dog movement consider to be the first two Blue-Dog presidents…Often, the group will be instrumental in striking a balance between liberal and conservative ideas. Despite Blue Dogs’ differing degrees of economic and social conservatism, they share a strong orientation toward fiscal responsibility, and as a rule work to promote positions within the House of Representatives which bridge the gap between the two extremes. (SOURCE)

List of Blue Dog Coalition members:

* Joe Baca (California)

* John Barrow (Georgia)

* Melissa Bean (Illinois)

* Marion Berry (Arkansas)

* Sanford Bishop (Georgia)

* Dan Boren (Oklahoma)

* Leonard Boswell (Iowa)

* Allen Boyd (Florida)

* Dennis Cardoza (California), Blue Dog Co-Chair for Communications

* Ed Case (Hawaii)

* Ben Chandler (Kentucky)

* Jim Cooper (Tennessee), Blue Dog Co-Chair for Policy

* Jim Costa (California)

* Bud Cramer (Alabama)

* Lincoln Davis (Tennessee)

* Harold Ford, Jr. (Tennessee)

* Jane Harman (California)

* Stephanie Herseth (South Dakota)

* Tim Holden (Pennsylvania)

* Steve Israel (New York)

* Jim Marshall (Georgia)

* Jim Matheson (Utah), Blue Dog Co-Chair for Administration

* Mike McIntyre (North Carolina)

* Charlie Melancon (Louisiana)

* Mike Michaud (Maine)

* Dennis Moore (Kansas)

* Collin Peterson (Minnesota)

* Earl Pomeroy (North Dakota)

* Mike Ross (Arkansas), Blue Dog Whip

* John Salazar (Colorado)

* Loretta Sanchez (California)

* Adam Schiff (California)

* David Scott (Georgia)

* John Tanner (Tennessee)

* Ellen Tauscher (California)

* Gene Taylor (Mississippi)

* Mike Thompson (California)[3]

Elected In 2006:

* Baron Hill (Indiana)

* Heath Shuler (North Carolina)

* Tim Mahoney (Florida)

* Brad Ellsworth (Indiana)

* Kirsten Gillibrand (New York)

* Joe Donnelly (Indiana)

* Patrick Murphy (Pennsylvania)

* Mike Arcuri (New York)

* Charles Wilson (Ohio)

Posted by Al Swearengen on Wednesday, December 13th, 2006 at 12:24 pm | under Uncategorized | |RSS 2.0 feed | Comments and pings closed. |