To continue: Also from the aove Wikipedia entry:
RINO accusations since 2004
Two Republican senators who have been labeled RINOs by conservatives such as the group Club for Growth and Human Events magazine are Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania and Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island.
In 2004, Specter drew a conservative primary election opponent in Rep. Pat Toomey. Toomey had significant financial support from the Club for Growth while the Young Conservatives of Pennsylvania provided volunteers. While the Club for Growth opposed Specter’s role in increased federal spending, many conservatives focused on Specter’s pro-choice views on abortion. Specter was supported by the GOP establishment including President George W. Bush and Senator Rick Santorum. This support helped Specter win by a narrow 17,000-vote margin.
In 2006, Chafee received over $1 million from national Republican party officials, especially the National Republican Senatorial Committee. Chafee defeated Steve Laffey, the mayor of Cranston, Rhode Island. When Chafee was one of six Republican incumbents who failed to be reelected in 2006, (losing to Sheldon Whitehouse), the party indeed lost its Senate majority.
Comparisons of liberal vs. moderate Republicans
John Nichols, a correspondent for The Nation (a left-leaning political magazine) argued in a 2004 article that “Using the measures that progressives might reasonably apply to define a liberal... it is possible to point to just one [current Republican] senator, Rhode Island’s Lincoln Chafee, and two members of the House, New York’s Amo Houghton and Iowa’s Jim Leach... A somewhat larger circle clings to the moderate GOP mantras of a Gerald Ford or a Richard Lugar, chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, but they are fading fast as a force in Congress.”
It should be noted that the three Republican congressmen whom Nichols considered liberal (Chafee, Houghton, and Leach) are out of office. Chafee and Leach were defeated in the 2006 elections, whereas Houghton did not stand for reelection in 2004.
While Delaware representative Mike Castle claims that there are 40-45 moderate Republicans in the House, Nichols remarks, “That’s actually a bit of a stretch — either of the numbers or of the definition of a ‘moderate’.”
To continue the trend, also from the same Wikipedia article:
[edit] National Journal’s Top 25 Liberal Republicans in the House of Representatives
National Journal (a nonpartisan magazine) list of the 25 most liberal Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives in 2005.[26] Ranked by a weighted analysis of selected roll call votes by National Journal magazine.[27]
Representative... ...is more liberal than __% of the House on these issues:
Name
1 Leach, Jim, IA-2
2 Paul, Ron, TX-14
3 Shays, Christopher, CT-4
4 Castle, Michael, DE-AL
5 Boehlert, Sherwood, NY-24
6 Johnson, Nancy, CT-5
7 Kirk, Mark, IL-10
8 Ehlers, Vernon, MI-3
9 Johnson, Tim, IL-15
10 Simmons, Rob, CT-2
11 Wilson, Heather, NM-1
12 Flake, Jeff, AZ-6
13 Gilchrest, Wayne, MD-1
14 Jones, Walter, NC-3
15 Ramstad, Jim, MN-3
16 Biggert, Judy, IL-13
17 Schwarz, Joe, MI-7
18 Bartlett, Roscoe, MD-6
19 LoBiondo, Frank, NJ-2
20 LaTourette, Steven, OH-14
21 LaHood, Ray, IL-18
22 Otter, Butch, ID-1
23 Bass, Charles, NH-2
24 Fitzpatrick, Mike, PA-8
25 Reichert, Dave, WA-8
In 2006, Leach (IA-02), Johnson (CT-05), Simmons (CT-02), Bass (NH-02) and Fitzpatrick (PA-8) were defeated by Democrats where as Schwarz (MI-7) was defeated in the Republican primary. Boehlert (NY-24) retired from politics and Otter (ID-1) made a successful run for Governor of Idaho. In 2008, Shays (CT-04) was defeated by a Democrat while Gilchrest (MD-1) was defeated in a primary. Wilson (NM-01) retired to wage an unsuccessful run for the US Senate while LaHood (IL-18) retired from the US House only to serve as the Secretary of Transportation in Barack Obama’s cabinet. Both Schwarz and Gilchrest seats are now held by Democrats after the two were defeated in primaries by more conservative Republicans.