Blue Dog Democrats
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Blue Dog Democrats are social and economic conservatives and moderates in the United States Democratic Party. In the United States House of Representatives, Blue Dogs are an actual coalition of likeminded Democrats organized as the Blue Dog Coalition, rather than just an expression such as "Yellow Dog" Democrats. The term is a reference to the "Blue Dog" paintings of Cajun artist George Rodrigue of Lafayette, Louisiana; the original members of the coalition would regularly meet in the offices of Lousiana representatives who had Rodrigue's paintings on their walls.
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The Blue Dog Coalition
The Blue Dog Coalition is a group of moderate to conservative Democrats in the United States House of Representatives. The group is currently made up of 35 Democrats, mostly from the U.S. Southern states.
The coalition was formed in the 1994 104th Congress as a way for more conservative congressmen of the primarily liberal Democratic party to have a unified voice in Congress. The group's name came from the older description of many in the South who "would vote for a yellow dog if he ran as a Democrat" combined with the feeling that moderate-to-conservative views had been "choked blue" by the Democratic party in years prior to the election.
They were notably successful in a special election of February 2004 in Kentucky, to fill a vacant Representative's seat. They were also successful in the November 2004 elections, with three of the five races where a Democrat won a formerly Republican seat in the House won by Blue Dog Democrats. Freshman Blue Dogs in the House are sometimes known as "Blue Pups."
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. Blue Dogs are an important swing vote on spending bills and, as a result, have gained an influence in Congress out of proportion to their small numbers. They are frequently sought after to broker compromises between the Democratic and Republican leadership.
List of Blue Dog Coalition members
- Joe Baca (California)
- John Barrow (Georgia)
- Marion Berry (Arkansas)
- Sanford Bishop (Georgia)
- Dan Boren (Oklahoma)
- Leonard Boswell (Iowa)
- Allen Boyd (Florida)
- Dennis Cardoza (California)
- Ed Case (Hawaii)
- Ben Chandler (Kentucky)
- Jim Cooper (Tennessee)
- 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 Matheson (Utah)
- Mike McIntyre (North Carolina)
- Charlie Melancon (Louisiana)
- Mike Michaud (Maine)
- Dennis Moore (Kansas)
- Collin Peterson (Minnesota)
- Earl Pomeroy (North Dakota)
- Mike Ross (Arkansas)
- John Salazar (Colorado)
- Loretta Sanchez (California)
- Adam Schiff (California)
- David Scott (Georgia)
- John Tanner (Tennessee)
- Ellen Tauscher (California)
- Gene Taylor (Mississippi)
- Mike Thompson (California)
Former members of Congress who were prominent Blue Dog Coalition members include Charles Stenholm of Texas and Brad Carson of Oklahoma.
Another prominent Blue Dog Democrat was Gary Condit, a Congressman from California and subject of a high-profile sex scandal in 2001-2002.
Differences between the Blue Dogs and the DLC
Blue Dog Democrats tend to differ ideologically from another coalition of moderate Democrats, the Democratic Leadership Council (DLC). The DLC describes itself as new Democrat and positions itself as centrist while taking liberal positions on social issues and conservative positions on economic issues and trade. Democrats who identify with the Blue Dogs, on the other hand, tend to be social conservatives, but have differing positions on economic issues ranging from fiscal conservatism to economic populism. For example, most Blue Dogs are strong supporters of gun rights and get high ratings from the National Rifle Association, many have pro-life voting records, and some get high ratings from immigration reduction groups, which cannot be said for most members of the DLC. On economic issues, Blue Dogs span the spectrum from fiscal conservatives to supporters of labor unions, protectionism, and other populist measures, while the DLC tends to favor free trade.
A small number of newer Blue Dogs, however, hold positions closer to those of the DLC, and some Blue Dog Coalition members are also DLC members. Blue Dogs share with the DLC a desire to keep the Democratic Party grounded in their view of the political center, and to ensure that the party does not drift too far to the left of their own positions and no longer appeal to what they believe to be the majority of U.S. voters.
If the DLC are the "new Democrats", the Blue Dogs are almost surely "old Democrats", hearkening back to the party's past during the eras of Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman, and to the party's former electoral stronghold in the southern United States (see also: Boll weevil and Dixiecrats). Most members of the Blue Dog Coalition in the House represent rural districts, and a large proportion of them represent Southern states.
Differences between the Blue Dogs and the party's left wing
The Blue Dogs' moderate agenda in Congress has angered many in the Democratic party, as it often leads to them voting with the more conservative Republicans. In 2005, the members of the Blue Dog Coalition voted 32 to 3 in favor of the bill to limit access to bankruptcy protection (S 256). Congressman Collin Peterson was subjected to a heated round of questioning from colleagues in the Democratic Party over several votes where he strayed from the party line before being nominated as the Ranking Member on the U.S. House Committee on Agriculture, in what would otherwise have been a routine nomination.
On the other hand, some prominent Blue Dogs have also gotten strong support from progressive activists within the party, most notably Brad Carson of Oklahoma in his unsuccessful 2004 run for the U.S. Senate, John Tanner of Tennessee (whose Republican opponent in 2004, James L. Hart, was a radical eugenics advocate denounced by his own party), Jim Matheson of Utah, and Loretta Sanchez of California in her successful bid to unseat former Congressman Bob Dornan. Online fundraising efforts by liberal weblogs in 2004 named Brad Carson's campaign a top national priority. In some cases this support for Blue Dogs came about because the Republican opponent was seen as holding radical right wing views; in other cases the support is because in some states like Tennessee, Oklahoma, and Utah, a conservative Democrat is seen as the only kind of Democrat who can be viable at the polls. Some progressive activists also view the Blue Dogs as an important part of a Democratic Party big tent coalition, which will give the party important credibility with rural voters and social conservatives, while viewing the Blue Dogs as perhaps easier to swing to the left on fiscal and trade issues than the DLC.
Others in the party's left wing disagree, and have promoted the idea of running future primary challenges against both Blue Dog Coalition and DLC members in an effort to unseat Democratic Party members they view as unreliable or too conservative.
External links
- Blue Dog Coalition list on U.S. Congressman John Tanner's website (http://www.house.gov/tanner/blue.htm)
- Blue Dog Democrats (http://www.bluedogdemocrats.com/) (unofficial site)
- Yahoo Blue Dog Democrats group (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bluedogmoderatedemocrats/)