Meet Dan Boren, the lone Democrat in Oklahoma's Congressional Delegation (may challenge Pelosi)

A friend at OU who is close to the family ^ | 10 November 2006 | A friend at OU who is close to the family

[fortheDeclaration]

This is a Democratic Party issue.

The Left is not going to let their moderate wing control anything.

[madison10]

Don't you think he's playing kissy-face for a reason? Splitting the Dems while they control Congress would be brilliant. There are some Dems who have more in common with Republicans than they do with Teddy, John Fn, Nancy and Barney.

They might be as unhappy at the way THEIR party has leaned as we are with ours. There may be a middle ground. I doubt it, but it's a thought.

[yellowdoghunter]

I have already contacted Rep. Boren's office about this. He is my Representative and very conservative. Pro-life, pro-gun, pro-God.....seriously, he is as conservative as they come. I told him that I can stand (since I have no choice) the Democrats being in charge but I could NOT stand Nancy Pelosi leading this country, being the face of our country, or one of them.

How I pray this could be true. However, Nancy has the whole California delegation on her side which is how she wins.

[yellowdoghunter]

and those of you that voted for these so-called "conservative new dems" will have buyers remorse.

WOW! I had no idea that some Freepers voted Democrat....which ones?

[madison10]

The Left is not going to let their moderate wing control anything.

You don't think the Moderate Dems and Moderate Republicans can make-up and play friends? ;) Why the so-ever not?

[Dane]

Pelosi needs exactly 1/2 plus one vote of the democrat caucus to be Speaker.

She has that sewn up better than a San Francisco drag queens dress.

[OldFriend]

but but but the drapes, the drapes.

[mak5]

Not correct. To be elected Speaker, the nominee needs to have the support of a simple majority of the members of the House voting. That is, if all members vote, Pelosi would need almost all of the Democrats to win.

[PhiKapMom]

I have heard the same thing and it did hit the news that Dan Boren is leading the charge of the blue dogs to make sure that some key positions are not turned over and is holding back on any support for Pelosi. The article I read was clear that he is not happy with Pelosi or her choice to head the committees which are mostly black caucus members.

Background: When my Cong Tom Cole was selected to be part of the Ethics Committee, he had to give up full time partipation on Armed Services and he asked Dan Boren to take that position to represent Oklahoma. There is a long time tie between David Boren and my Congressman.

The DemocRATs here want Dan Boren out of the DemocRAT Party. If he were a Republican that ACU Rating would be right up there in the 90's IMHO. When key votes are needed, Dan is there. His father was responsible for Clarence Thomas being on the SCOTUS and then as OU President getting rid of Anita Hill from the OU faculty.

[bpjam]

I know the Boren family AND that Tulsa based district which is the only one which really ever gone Dem in the last 15 years. You have to be a blue dog to win it but the Tulsa downtown is basically the San Francisco of Oklahoma. They aren't queer parading holding, anti-American, Christian haters but they do like opera, theatre and lots of public 'infrastructure' on things that the richest citizens tend to enjoy most. If there is such a thing as an elitist in OK, its in downtown Tulsa. But even with that being the case, the district has enough rural counties in it that you can't get an actual liberal in there. But you could get one who would vote for union issues and probably favor 'targetted' tax cuts instead of actual rate cuts.

If all of the democrats were like the Borens, a lot of us would be voting for democrats instead of RINOs like DeWine, Voinovich or Specter. One of the things that allowed the dems to keep the House for 40 years is that most of the actual conservatives were in their party and lived in the South and Midwest. In 1994, we basically cleaned out all but about 10 blue dogs. Now they just doubled their population again.

[PhiKapMom]

That's not true. She needs to have 1/2 of the votes of the entire House plus one. Ralph Hall voted for Hastert the year before he switched parties. The caucus does not elect the Speaker of the House, the entire House elects the speaker. All other positions are elected in the caucus'.

[WinOne4TheGipper]

No, she needs a majority of the entire House to become speaker. There could be a Republican Speaker if enough Dems throw their support behind him/her.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

David Boren was the single vote it took to block Clinton's BTU tax. We owe him a great deal.

[Vigilanteman]

Since I do not know the Boren family, I'd be interested in knowing just how much backbone young Dan has. He strikes me as very young (33) to pull anything like this off. Perhaps it is nothing more than a "hail Mary pass" to get Pelosi to come off her high horse and consider the national security implications of putting some of the worst and most untrustworthy characters in congress in charge of such committees.

The MSM charge that the Democrats have to do this to keep the black caucus happy doesn't hold water for two reasons: (1)It's never mattered before because they have always been able to take the black vote for granted, (2)Appointment of Harold Ford, Jr. to take over for Howard Dean would more than compensate for the loss of 2 or 3 committee chairmanships.

Hastings and Dingell could also easily be appointed to chair "Breads and Circuses" type committees or special investiations which would be higher profile and less damaging to national security.

[Dane]

That's not true. She needs to have 1/2 of the votes of the entire House plus one. Ralph Hall voted for Hastert the year before he switched parties. The caucus does not elect the Speaker of the House, the entire House elects the speaker. All other positions are elected in the caucus'.

You are correct in that aspect, but the real election for Spekaer will be when the democrat caucus meets and all she needs is 1/2 plus one of that caucus(which she has more than enough votes for), and once that decision is made the whole democrat caucus ususually votes the majority of the caucus.

[dfwgator]

David Boren is a good man. Too bad the Democratic Party didn't have more like him.

[PhiKapMom]

That is true and that is where Boren is going to strike along with some blue dogs is what I am hearing.

[Dane]

Hastings and Dingell could also easily be appointed to chair "Breads and Circuses" type committees or special investiations which would be higher profile and less damaging to national security.

I doubt that, Hastings wants the high profile Intelligence committee so that he can shove his impeachment and conviction in America's face, and nancy probably won't back down to the moderates.

[Dane]

That is true and that is where Boren is going to strike along with some blue dogs is what I am hearing.

Boren doen't have the votes in the democrat caucus.

If he was tru to his so-called "conservative" principles, he would vote for the Pubbie for Speaker and not put on this dog and pony show, when in the end Boren will vote for Pelosi as Speaker when the new Congress begins.

[PhiKapMom]

Tulsa is in Sullivan's district not Boren's. I don't know where you get your info but all of Tulsa is in Congressional District #1 which I just checked to make sure. Dan Boren has NE OK and Little Dixie which is all the way down the eastern side of OK until it meets up with the 4th Congressional district.

I take exception to your comments about Tulsa being like SF because they like the arts.