Blue Dog Democrats

Clearly winner-take-all amplifies partisanship and polarization in Congress; it is therefore antagonistic toward the goal of achieving a more collaborative and collegial legislature.

We need Democrats who are willing to stand up to K Street, Wall Street, and big business special interests, so that this election becomes a clear contrast over who will take the big boys on. Pennsylvania's primary results are a great symbol that it is happening.

WASHINGTON -- It was a not-so-super Tuesday for Pennsylvania's Blue Dog Democrats. Reps. Tim Holden (D-Pa.) and Jason Altmire (D-Pa.), both members...

I firmly believe that it takes both Yellow Dogs and Blue Dogs for Democrats to win in most Southern elections. The hitch is that there are few Blue Dogs left out there to be wooed.

Why haven't we had genuine financial services reform? The blame falls on a group called the New Democrat Coalition, members of Congress who have sold their souls for campaign contributions and future jobs as lobbyists.

Our nation deserves a better government, Michael Moore, and you are one of the few people with the ability to actually help make that happen.

Who are these people that we've sent to Washington to represent us? Do they live in this country? Do they see the same news reports, pass the same shuttered businesses, hear the same desperate stories from their friends and family? One has to wonder.

We all know that the president plans to run against a "do nothing" Congress, and what is more "do nothing" than Congress failing to reach a deal that Congress itself designed?

In my recent discussions on passing the American Jobs Act, it seemed clear to me that President Barack Obama was working to create an environment in which the GOP leadership, seeing that job creation was in their best interests, might become amenable to bargaining, as opposed to obstruction. A pretty dicey gamble, considering how well obstruction has worked out for the GOP electorally! Of course, what I should have considered is the first major obstacle the bill would face would actually come in the form of intra-caucus undermining from the Democrats themselves.

What can President Obama do to help lower unemployment? While there will be no magic bullet, the president does have some good options to preserve existing jobs and creating new ones.

While there is a growing progressive trend supporting vetoes of radical right-wing legislation, there is a definite backlash against centrist, populist, Blue Dog-style Democrats in North Carolina and all across the South.

For the DNC to become relevant again, it needs to truly embrace that spirit of "change" from 2008 and support some real Progressives for Congress in 2012.

WASHINGTON -- When it comes to congressional alliances, progressive Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) and Blue Dog Rep. Heath Shuler (D-N.C.) aren't usual...

Democrats need to get serious about budget cuts, even to programs they support, if they are going to have the political capital that they will need to raise tax rates on the wealthiest one percent of Americans.

The president, by reaching out to business, is helping get millions of Americans back to work and at the same time increasing his chances of being elected to a second-term in the White House.

Last autumn, just before the midterm elections, a group of Democratic Congress members -- call them the "Super Blues" -- petitioned President Obama no...

Our country has the intellectual power to lead. Substantive intellectual, thoughtful, conversational dialogues surrounding issues would be a good way to start. Start the engines.

WASHINGTON -- A major swath of the conservative Democratic Blue Dog caucus has written a letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi asking for neither "delay" nor...

No, I am not suggesting that the soon-to-be Republican Majority House Whip change parties. It is clear, however, that Dems desperately need someone to speak for them with Cantor's unabashed, in-your-face style.

When this Obama victory becomes clear, it is likely that most Democrats in Congress and around the country will realize that Obama has regained his mojo and outfoxed the Republicans at their own game.

For those of you unfamiliar with sports-speak, an audible is basically a play called at the line of scrimmage by a quarterback. Former NFL QB turned C...

Kool Aid is the official beverage of the GOP. They've been drinking too much of it if they think that taking the House of Representatives is a mandate...

PROGRESSIVES IN POSITION TO MOVE FORWARD: PART 3 of Hill Progressives WON! In the third part of my "Silver Lining" series, trying to find some hope i...

The Blue Dogs are right about campaign strategy in some conservative districts -- but they greatly overstate their case. Granularity is usually lost in our political narrative, and the numbers suggest subtle, diverging politics.

All right, Democrats. You've had a full week to hide in the corner in the fetal position and frantically avoid any media outlet that's not MSNBC, and...