The Rockefeller Republicans and
Blue Dog Democrats of yesteryear have been largely purged, while Americans who strongly identify with a political party have grown increasingly hostile to the other side.
Most notably, Hulings has leaned on endorsements from the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, the moderate
Blue Dog Democrats and his former law school classmates, Julian and Joaquin Castro.
The Democratic Party of Clinton and Sanders has no room for moderate
Blue Dog Democrats or bipartisanship.
Typically those have been Republican lawmakers and conservative, so-called
Blue Dog Democrats. That was the coalition on which the Defense Department could rely when it was under budget pressure.
By the time the GOP and
Blue Dog Democrats got done with it, it was even smaller than what had been proposed, and so was not as effective as it might have been.
The demise of the so-called
Blue Dog Democrats. The more conservative to moderate Democrats often represent Southern districts or otherwise competitive districts but roughly half of their House caucus was defeated, including many who did not support some of Obama's votes.
The overall gains by the GOP in Congress, however, while positive on the surface, also mean that a number of
Blue Dog Democrats are leaving the nation's capitol.
Twenty-two
Blue Dog Democrats were defeated in last Tuesday's elections, leaving the fiscally conservative bloc and its allies short-handed.
In March, fiscally conservative
Blue Dog Democrats introduced a balanced-budget amendment.
Does anyone believe, with Obama's popularity slipping and the
Blue Dog Democrats running scared, that they're going to push that legislation this year?
Most recently, on Wednesday, the Obamas opened the White House doors to House caucus leaders from the moderate
Blue Dog Democrats and the Congressional Black Caucus.
An assistant majority whip, he was co-founder of the conservative
Blue Dog Democrats in the 1980s.