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"Blue Dogs" Neutered By Pelosi's Election
By Mike Bayham
November 16, 2002

There was probably as much Republican support for the election of Nancy Pelosi as House Minority Leader as there was for Denny Hastert's reelection as Speaker of the House within the GOP caucus, though their intentions concerning the two congressional leaders varied.

Pelosi has been termed a "dream Democrat" by Republican operatives caught in an uncontrollable state of giddiness over her promotion. Just by looking at Pelosi's profile, one can surmise that she is aligned with the McGovern (philosophically liberal) wing of the Democratic Party instead of the Clintonian (pragmatically liberal) wing.

Pelosi is a San Francisco Democrat who has a voting record that is reflected by her political home base. Pelosi's time as Minority Whip entailed cajoling middle of the road Democrats into opposing measures the President supported and supporting legislation that their constituents might favor.

Most recently Pelosi voted against the resolution authorizing President Bush to take military action against Iraq, a measure even her predecessor, "just call me congressman" Dick Gephardt, supported. Though Pelosi was elected by a wide margin within the Democratic caucus, she was criticized by several of her Democratic colleagues as soon as the race to succeed Gephardt began.

One time challenger Martin Frost of Texas blasted Pelosi as someone that would drive the party further to the left which some believe is what cost the Democrats any hope of ending their Babylonian exile in the House. After realizing that her election was a done deal, thirtysomething Congressman Harold Ford, Jr. of Tennessee jumped into the fight picking up Frost's tattered banner of advocating moderate leadership.

Even though the contest was locked up by Pelosi before the caucus met, the Tennessee congressman saw an opportunity to gain some positive national exposure for himself, which is not a bad gambit considering Jim Talent's rising political fortunes after making a quixotic challenge to Bob Livingston for speaker in 1998. Young Ford ended up winning the support of the neutered centrist "Blue Dogs" which was the extent of his success in his bid to be minority leader. Interestingly enough Ford even lacked the support of the Black Caucus, of which he is a member.

There was little magnanimity in victory for the Pelosi camp. Virginia Congressman James Moran slammed Ford for having the audacity to challenge Pelosi which, heaven forbid, showed dissension within the party ranks. So much for the party of "minds are like parachutes, they only work when they are open." Moran also chided Ford's meager 29-vote showing but there is more to this story than Pelosi's supposed popularity within the party ranks.

Ford's showing is an example of the Democratic Party's rejection of both black leadership and moderate influence within their party. Black congressmen were good enough to save Bill Clinton from the political gallows during the impeachment crisis and to be thanklessly used time and time again as a loyal block vote against Republican initiatives but not good enough to serve in a real leadership capacity within the party. Ironically, Ford can thank many of his black colleagues for their help in his loss.

Second, for an advocate of moderate political leadership to score such a paltry number of votes for minority leader is just another sign that the party is drifting ever more to the left. There was a time when so-called "boll weevil" Democratic moderates, usually hailing from the conservative South, played a dominant role in the Congress. Now their kind is almost extinct.

More than a few have been subject to considerable haranguing by "ideological purists" for their pseudo-Republican voting records, which has driven some and might drive even more mainstream Democrats into making the switch. Those Democrats who still maintain that the party is a safe harbor for centrist thinking are either naive or really Republicans who because of the district demographic makeup requires their retention of a "D" next to their name at the ballot box.

Though Pelosi has been the "woman of the hour," the Democratic Party is not alone in selecting leadership that diverts from the centrist path. At the same time congressional Democrats were shifting to the left, the Republicans were heading in a rightward direction themselves. Conservative Tom DeLay's ascension to Majority Leader was not unexpected so it has not received the high level of publicity of Pelosi's promotion.

On the Senate side, Mitch McConnell, the "Darth Vader" of Campaign Finance Reform proponents, is the new Majority Whip in the US Senate and adamant pro-lifer Rick Santorum as chairman of the Republican Conference. However, because the GOP leadership already has a conservative flavor, the new leadership's impact in terms of internal affairs should be minimal.

The same cannot be said for the Democrats where the one time party disciplinarian now runs the show in the House. While Gephardt is by no means a "middle of a roader," his politics were held in check if only by his St. Louis constituency; the congresswoman from the Bay Area does not have such impediments to the embracing of liberal programs.

The era of F. Edward Hebert, Billy Tauzin, Allen Ellender is long gone. These centrist titans that managed to keep Democratic presidents from going too far to the left and Republican presidents from going to far to the right are now dead, retired, or Republican. Pelosi's election is another sign that many of the "blue dogs" might be sent to "obedience school" or "put to sleep" if they end up "running away from home" on too many votes.