Posted on 11/10/2006 1:08:07 AM PST by paudio
The conservative Democrats, or new Democrats as they are sometimes called, were disproportionately represented in the most highly contested races against Republicans, and are likely to form a substantial bloc within the new members.
Heath Shuler, a former American football celebrity who now holds a House of Representatives' seat for North Carolina, is representative of the group. He has an evangelical Christian background and is on the right of the argument on many social issues such as abortion.
Democratic party leaders deny that they had an official strategy to plant right-wing candidates in vulnerable Republican seats as a way of winning over voters. But Rahm Emanuel, the chairman of the campaign to win back the House of Representatives, has said that when they searched for candidates with the best hopes of winning, they ended up with several with a moderate approach. "As a group, they are moderate in temperament and reformers in spirit," he said.
That is not the experience of Mr Shuler, who told local newspapers that he had been reluctant to stand for election but was strong-armed into it by Mr Emanuel. "Rahm was tougher than any of the college coaches who were calling me when I was in high school. None of [the coaches] could hold a candle to Rahm Emanuel as a recruiter," he said.
The number of conservative Democrats among the 28 who wrestled house seats from Republican incumbents has yet to emerge, but with 27 of the 40 candidates in the most contested seats falling into this category, the figure could be substantial. They will join an already sizeable caucus within the Democrats in Congress who are on the right of the party and will be encouraged to line up formally with the two existing sub-groups: the New Democrats and the Blue Dog Coalition.
(Excerpt) Read more at guardian.co.uk ...
Hell I would vote for a conservative democrat If I thought he wouldn't toe the party line and vote with the dems for Speaker--chair heads etc
They won't and they will vote the pelosi line.
Exactly. We need a smart and aggressive counterpuncher like Gingrich in control of the House Republicans. Now.
Everyone is forgetting something here.
Values votes mean nothing whenan activist court overturns it. And now with Dems in charge, we can kiss that 5th Conservative justice goodbye for the next 20 years.
Blue dogs mean squat in the Senate.
Actually they are the real OLD Democrats. As they were before 1960s. If Democratic party returns to the old New Deal formula, they will get Reagan Democrats back and secure their hold on power for a long long time.
It will be very interesting to see how these Blue Dogs actually vote. I am sure Hillary and the Dems have their own "dirt" on these guys if they have to use it to get them in line.
"Many of them are from Republican districts. I don't think they will move to the left right away, at least not in the first two year. If they do, they will say goodbye to their offices in 2008."
Which is actually a benefit of having conservative Democrats in red districts. They know darn well that if they stray too far from conservatism, they'll lose in the next election.
How many times have conservatives complained about so-called RINOs who run on conservative rhetoric and then do the exact opposite when they get into office? A conservative Democrat in that same district doesn't have the privilege of a nice, safely gerrymandered district. Their position is not secure, and they know it.
"We have a FReeper who is planning to take that seat back in 08."
Which is really a good thing. In a race between between two conservatives, I don't see how conservatism really ends up on the losing end.
Wouldn't it be nice to see conservatives fighting it out for the privilege of being your representative rather than what we normally get: a contest between two shades of socialism?
Neo-Dems? How can that be? Are any of them Jewish?
"We decide our party on which has more of what we agree with overall. I have chosen Republican. There are pro-abortion Republicans, and pro-life democrats. There are gun nanny Republicans, and pro 2nd amendment democrats. There are southern democrats who are conservative, northern republicans who are liberals."
Amen. For the record I'm a pro-life, gun-toting, socialism-detesting Christian. I also happen to be a Democrat.
I'm tired of this rhetoric that says that Republicans are always conservative, and Democrats are always liberal. That's the kind of mindless jingoism that would lead us to sacrifice a Zell Miller for the sake of electing a Bob Taft or Lincoln Chafee.
I suspect you are correct, but we'll have to wait and see. I don't think this latest election is as bad as it looks.
He's just a ghetto bull.
100 % right!
Another demonstration that there is no difference between the two major parties. The downward spiral, trashing the Constitution for the united States in the descent, continues....and continues....and continues....
Congressman Billybob
...of course, you're right, and maybe Heath Shuler could be miles to the right of Lincoln Chafee, but you're neglecting the letter after the names...that's what counts...the party, and holding onto power...Dems will never win by being conservative, because overall the Pubs do it better, and because the 40% liberal element of the populace cannot be ignored. Regardless of how Heath runs his own life (hopefully better than he ran the 'Skins offense)his political reality that of a good soldier...win the battle though you may hate having to fight...and it's also unlikely any newly elected people will be turned out within two years, the Pubs were hurt badly by the popular perception that they'd been in power long enough, and time for someone else to get a chance...(Santorum a perfect example of that, as well as the poular Casey bloodline...)
btt 4 l8r
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