Blue Dogs Sticking With the Party

Members of the House Blue Dog Coalition - moderate and conservative Democrats - have been in lockstep with their party on most votes so far this year, an analysis of vote data shows. A majority of the 43 Blue Dogs have voted with their party 98.6 percent of the time, only straying as a group three times in 2007:

• A vote on an amendment to the FY 2008 budget offered by Rep. Carolyn Kilpatrick, D-Mich.
• A motion to recommit on the Gulf Coast Hurricane Housing Recovery Act of 2007, HR 1227.
• Another motion to recommit on the Rail and Public Transportation Security Act, HR 1401.

Early in the year, Republicans suggested that they would try to pick off conservative Democrats by offering bills that would be hard for them to resist, but the Blue Dogs have mostly resisted their entreaties (or Republican proposals haven't been given a vote). The bad news for Democrats is that the three votes on which most of the Blue Dogs parted ways with their party have all come since March 21.