This article talks about an interesting development in the U.S. House of Representatives over the last year. The so-called purple Democrats–generally moderate to conservative Democrats from conservative districts– have largely stopped voting with the GOP. This has forced the GOP leadership to lean more on their moderates which does give those moderates some leverage within the caucus. In spite of Grover Norquists’s comments in the article, I think this is exactly the kind of strategy the House Democrats should be following. Incumbents are almost always re-elected. It’s genuine news when one isn’t. With the president’s low approval ratings, the scandals plaguing the GOP leadership, and the general political environment in the country right now, it’s a great time to put some pressure on the moderate Republicans. Make them defend lavish giveaways for the rich while working families have seen a sixth straight year of drops in income, while gas and heating fuel prices are up, health insurance costs are up, and jobs aren’t being created.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 23rd, 2005 at 12:08 pm and is filed under electoral politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.