Blue Dogs

[classical liberal]

Has anyone heard about the Blue Dog movement.  I think it could produce upsets in areas trending to the GOP.

[opebo]

Has anyone heard about the Blue Dog movement.  I think it could produce upsets in areas trending to the GOP.

Never heard of it.. what's it about?  I've only heard of the old Blue Dog Democrats who've pretty much all switched to the GOP.

[classical liberal]

I guess it's still under the table.  The Blue Dog Coalition is a group of Conservative Democrats.  There are 38 members now.  I think 2 joined this past week.  I have a feaing that they might add a bit of weight in the south and west, and could pick up a few seats that Republicans may have written off.

Here's their website:
http://baronhill.house.gov/bluedogs/

[7,052,770]

Good for them.

[Ben.]

See the website… pretty simple but then again that’s not what’s important…around thirty members of congress including the likes of Harold Ford and Ben Chandler….seem like a great bunch of moderate DLC types fiscal discipline, recognition of the role of the federal government in people’s lives and an opposition to moral authoritarianism…its all good… if we make any congressional gains out west or down south we’re likely going to increase the size and power of this group…but then its only at the state level where you can really hope to go to the left on issues such as health care and education…put simply at the federal level you need to be a moderate and a responsible politician, two things Bush IMHO is not…    

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Watch the Blue Dogs. They might bite!
Wait... they already have in Kentucky...

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Blue Dogs

Rodney Alexander
Joe Baca
Marion Berry  
Sanford Bishop
Leonard Boswell  
Allen Boyd
Dennis Cardoza
Brad Carson
Ed Case
Ben Chandler  
Jim Cooper
Bud Cramer
Lincoln Davis
Harold Ford Jr.
Jane Harman  
Baron Hill
Tim Holden
Steve Israel
Chris John
William O. "Bill" Lipinski
Ken Lucas
Jim Matheson
Mike McIntyre
Mike Michaud
Dennis Moore
Collin Peterson
Earl Pomeroy  
Mike Ross  
Loretta Sanchez
Max Sandlin
Adam Schiff
David Scott
Charlie Stenholm
John Tanner  
Ellen Tauscher
Gene Taylor
Mike Thompson
Jim Turner

[CTguy]

Loretta Sanchez is a blue dog?  She sounds like a liberal whenever I see her on tv.

[JNB]

   Blue Dogs were actually started by former Democratic Rep. Billy Tauzin, and its original 3 charter mebers were Rep. Tauzin, Rep. Nathan Deal(also a Republican) and former Rep. Gary Condit. The original blue dogs formed in eraly 95 were almost all Conservative Democrats, being they were pro life, anti gun control, and fiscally conservative. This group after the 98 elections though in many ways lost its focus, and really is not different than other self described "New Democrats".

  The Blue Dogs are now basically a combination of Democratic incumbents who hold rural, conservative leaning districts and incumbents who hold moderate and trending liberal suburban districts that have been historically Republican.

[WalterMitty]

if im not mistaken, loretta sanchez is a former republican

[DarthKosh]

if im not mistaken, loretta sanchez is a former republican

I believe you are mistaken.

[A-Max]

Most of the Blue Dogs call themselves that because if they ran as left of center Dems they would be unemployed.  Lincoln Davis and John Tanner represent traditionally Democratic areas that trend conservative and often vote GOP in Senate and Presidential elections.  Harold Ford is in a very liberal district but he hopes to represent TN in the Senate, something that not self proclaimed liberal will be able to do.

[© tweed]

Steve Israel a blue dog?  I always thought he was more liberal.

[Frodo]

I guess it's still under the table.  The Blue Dog Coalition is a group of Conservative Democrats.  There are 38 members now.  I think 2 joined this past week.  I have a feaing that they might add a bit of weight in the south and west, and could pick up a few seats that Republicans may have written off.

Here's their website:
http://baronhill.house.gov/bluedogs/

There's forty-four of us now. 

[nclib]

I guess it's still under the table.  The Blue Dog Coalition is a group of Conservative Democrats.  There are 38 members now.  I think 2 joined this past week.  I have a feaing that they might add a bit of weight in the south and west, and could pick up a few seats that Republicans may have written off.

Here's their website:
http://baronhill.house.gov/bluedogs/

There's forty-four of us now. 

That link no longer works - do you have a list of all 44 Blue Dogs?

[Frodo]

I guess it's still under the table.  The Blue Dog Coalition is a group of Conservative Democrats.  There are 38 members now.  I think 2 joined this past week.  I have a feaing that they might add a bit of weight in the south and west, and could pick up a few seats that Republicans may have written off.

Here's their website:
http://baronhill.house.gov/bluedogs/

There's forty-four of us now. 

That link no longer works - do you have a list of all 44 Blue Dogs?

Certainly.
------------------

I'd especially like to try to get Rick Boucher, Nick Joe Rayhall, Bob Casey, Jim Webb, and other Democrats to join up. 

[Rob]

Supposedly the Blue Dogs refused to let Henry Cuellar join, because they thought he was a right-wing DINO. I applaud them for that, if nothing else.

[Smash255]

Steve Israel a blue dog?  I always thought he was more liberal.

He is a member of the blue dog coallition, though if you compare his votng record to the others in the blue dog coallition, he clearly sticks out.  He is a moderate-liberal, and his voting record who tend to fit smack dab in the middle of the Democratic Party.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Supposedly the Blue Dogs refused to let Henry Cuellar join, because they thought he was a right-wing DINO. I applaud them for that, if nothing else.

Wow. That just shows JUST how bad he is.

[nclib]

I guess it's still under the table.  The Blue Dog Coalition is a group of Conservative Democrats.  There are 38 members now.  I think 2 joined this past week.  I have a feaing that they might add a bit of weight in the south and west, and could pick up a few seats that Republicans may have written off.

Here's their website:
http://baronhill.house.gov/bluedogs/

There's forty-four of us now. 

That link no longer works - do you have a list of all 44 Blue Dogs?

Certainly.

Interesting list. Looks like all but ten of them represent districts that Bush won in 2004.

[RBH]

Chet Edwards and Ike Skelton aren't a part of that group, and Bush won by around 30 points in MO-4 and 40 points in Chet's district.

[NewFederalist]

Blue Dog Coalition

Frodo- can you tell me the difference between a Blue Dog and a Boll Weevil or a Blue Dog and a Yellow Dog or (segregation aside) a Blue Dog and a Dixiecrat? Just curious.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

Frodo- can you tell me the difference between a Blue Dog and a Boll Weevil or a Blue Dog and a Yellow Dog or (segregation aside) a Blue Dog and a Dixiecrat? Just curious.

See button E.



Here's more.
They're basically the opposite of a Blue Dog. It's also an older term.



Blue Dog = Gene Taylor
Yellow Dog = Nancy Pelosi

[NewFederalist]

Thanx! (I think!)

[Frodo]

Blue Dog Coalition

Frodo- can you tell me the difference between a Blue Dog and a Boll Weevil or a Blue Dog and a Yellow Dog or (segregation aside) a Blue Dog and a Dixiecrat? Just curious.

In chronological order:

Dixiecrat primarily refers to those conservative southern Democrats who strived to preserve Jim Crow laws legalizing racial segregation against outside interference throughout the first half of the twentieth century.  You cannot think of a Dixiecrat without also thinking of segregation -the two are inseparable.  They were generally populist (supporting FDR's New Dea and Harry Truman's Fair Deal legislation) though they were hostile to labor unions, and joined with Republicans in passing the Taft-Hartley Act. 

Boll Weevils is essentially a term that described those conservative southern Democrats who, in the 1970s and '80s, supported tax cuts, increased defense spending, and deregulation, and were crucial in passing much of President Reagan's agenda. 

Blue Dogs describes the coalition of those southern Democrats who remained after the Republican Revolution of 1994 decimated most of their colleagues.  It eventually incorporated Democrats from other regions of the country who shared the coalition's values of fiscal responsibility.  It is generally socially moderate-to-conservative though there are some who would be better described as New Democrats given the fact they are more socially liberal than the majority of the coalition.  They are crucial in brokering compromises between Democrats and Republicans in this era of hyperpartisanship. 
--------------------------------

And as for 'Yellow Dogs', that was once a label pinned on those southerners who consistently voted Democrat simply because of the longstanding legacy of Republicans from the period spanning the Civil War and Reconstruction.  It arose from a saying that a southerner would rather vote for a yellow dog than a Republican.