If the Democrats in the House are going to get anything meaningful done about getting us out of Iraq and keeping us out of Iran (I know, something of a BIG "if" indeed), then they are going to have to put a leash on the Blue Dogs. Rather than sitting around blogging our frustration at the Blue Dogs, let's do something about them.
Here is a table I have compiled of the Blue Dogs, starting with their website here.
2006 Bush % Bush %
vote % in '04 in '00
Berry AR 01 69 52 48
Ross AR 04 75 38 48
Cramer AL 05 Unapposed 60 54
Thompson CA 01 66 38 39
Cardoza CA 18 66 50 44
Costa CA 20 Unapposed 48 44
Schiff CA 29 64 37 38
Harman CA 36 63 40 39
Baca CA 43 65 41 34
Sanchez CA 47 62 50 42
Salazar CO 03 61 55 54
Boyd FL 02 Unapposed 54 53
Mahoney FL 16 50 54 53
Bishop GA 02 68 54 51
Marshall GA 03 Unapposed 55 52
Barrow GA 12 50 46 45
Scott GA 13 69 36 41
Boswell IA 03 52 50 48
Bean IL 08 51 56 56
Donnelly IN 02 54 56 53
Ellsworth IN 08 61 62 57
Hill IN 09 50 59 56
Moore KS 03 64 49 48
Chandler KY 06 85 58 56
Melancon LA 03 55 58 52
Michaud ME 02 70 46 45
Peterson MN 07 56 55 54
Taylor MS 04 80 68 65
McIntyre NC 07 73 56 52
Shuler NC 11 54 57 58
Pomeroy ND AL 66 63 61
Israel NY 02 70 45 39
Gillibrand NY 20 53 54 51
Arcuri NY 24 54 53 48
Wilson OH 06 62 51 49
Boren OK 02 73 59 52
Murphy PA 08 50 48 46
Holden PA 17 65 61 56
Herseth SD AL 69 60 60
Davis TN 04 66 58 50
Cooper TN 05 69 48 49
Tanner TN 08 73 53 48
Matheson UT 02 59 66 67
I have included the percentage of the vote each got in the Congressional elections in 2006. As you can see, most of them won by pretty healthy margins.
I also included the percentage of the vote that George Bush got in both the 2000 and 2004 elections in each district. This data was compiled from state and local election authorities by Polidata. The data is available by subscription. Most jurisdictions do not report results for president by district, or portions thereof. The district-level numbers reflect the estimated result of the presidential election based upon analytical judgment using the best-available data at the time of the project, i.e., Spring of 2005.
What is interesting to me, as indicated by the bolded representatives in the list, is that nearly half of the Blue Dogs represent districts that voted against Bush either in the 2000 election, the 2004 election or both.
Given the generally high re-election percentages that most of these representatives (I use the word loosely) enjoy -- and the fact that those with lower percentages tend to represent districts that voted heavily for Bush in both elections -- it would seem to me that these Blue Dogs may not be vulnerable to primary challenges, but should be ripe for some serious constituent reaction to the roadblock, water-it-down tactics this coalition is trying to impose on the debate about Iraq and Iran.
I say let's stop whining about them, let's start putting some pressure on them.
Who has some ideas for constituent pressure we could exert on these folks?