With Republican seat pickups in the House of Representatives after the Nov. 2 midterm elections, the Democratic Blue Dog Coalition is clearly the biggest loser on election night.
Created in 1995 as a response to the 1994 midterm elections — when Republicans obtained control of Congress — the Blue Dog Coalition was dedicated to representing the conservative wing of the Democratic Party. Another conservative Democratic group, the Boll Weevils, were instrumental in passing President Ronald Reagan’s tax cuts.
In both the 2006 and 2008 congressional elections, the Democratic Party used Blue Dog Democrats to win seats in Republican-leaning districts and to solidify their majority in the House of Representatives. There are currently 54 members of the Blue Dog Coalition in the 111th Congress.
Yet, as their numbers and political significance increased, conservatives began to question the authenticity of the Blue Dog Democrats. Senator John McCain attacked the group as all bark and no bite in an interview on CNN in 2009. Rush Limbaugh repeatedly calls the Blue Dogs pretending conservatives.
These attacks may somewhat be justified. There are 255 Democrats in the 111th Congress, and 217 is the number of votes needed to pass a bill. That means at least 16 Blue Dogs are required for the Democratic majority to pass any bill.
So far, the so-called moderate Blue Dogs have caved in on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Twenty-two Blue Dogs also voted for the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009, passing by a narrow margin of 219-212. (In all fairness, eight Republicans also supported the bill.)
In the end, voters were almost completely unified against the moderate coalition. Twenty Blue Dog Democrats were defeated in the 2010 Election, and six districts vacated by retiring members also flipped.
With the Blue Dog Coalition’s membership split in half, the new Democratic caucus will be far more liberal. Similarly, freshman Tea Party supporters hope to create a more conservative Republican caucus.
Political deadlock will become more common in the 112th Congress, and bipartisanship a scarcity. Yet politicians continue to publicly advocate compromise. In reality, no one is safe in the middle of the aisle.
For more political opinions, read the Oct. 11 column, Contentious candidates: Debate experience.
