There goes another Blue Dog. With Dan Boren leaving the House and now Heath Shuler, the Blue Dog Caucus is getting a lot smaller, and I imagine will get even smaller in January 2013 if 2012 is another Republican year.
The new California map may breed some new Blue Dogs. It has a fair number of marginal seats, in which the standard issue very liberal California Democrat would be vulnerable. But of course that requires voters to be strategic in their primary choices, something that rarely happens in California. Partisan voters on the left coast usually prefer deep blue and red, and eschew pastels.
To me, the words California and Blue Dog don't belong in the same sentence.
