The shrinking ranks of Blue Dogs: What Tuesday's primaries say about Democrats and the health law

Apr 27 2012

Also in the news, GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich announced Wednesday that he would suspend his campaign. 

The New York Times: 2 House Democrats Defeated After Opposing Health Law
The defeat of two conservative House Democrats by more liberal opponents in Tuesday's Pennsylvania primary illustrates the strong hold the new health care law still has over committed Democratic voters and foreshadows an even more polarized Congress next year in the aftermath of the latest round of redistricting. Representatives Jason Altmire and Tim Holden both lost in primaries to opponents who joined together with activist groups to pummel the veteran lawmakers over the opposition to the new health care law… (Weisman, 4/25).

The Wall Street Journal: The Bite Of Redistricting Shrinks Ranks Of Blue Dogs
The ranks of the Blue Dogs … have already fallen from 54 members before the last election to 25 today. With the defeat of two leading members in Tuesday's Pennsylvania primaries, Reps. Tim Holden and Jason Altmire, the group has absorbed another blow. … Blue Dogs forced President Barack Obama two years ago to drop his goal of including a government-run insurance plan in his health-care overhaul, which eventually won a House majority and became law. In recent months, Blue Dogs have taken a leading role in trying to forge a deficit-cutting deal with both spending cuts and tax increases (Bendavid, 4/25).

Boston Globe: Push For Health Care An Error, Frank Says
Republicans and Tea Party activists have made the strongest ideological case against President Obama's health care law. Now, some Democrats are leveling their own complaints, focused on the politics of the debate. US Representative Barney Frank, the liberal stalwart from Newton who is retiring next year, has helped fuel the criticism by arguing that it was a mistake for the president to push the health care bill before overhauling the financial system and that Democrats paid a high price when they lost the House in the 2010 mid-term elections (Levenson, 4/26).

The Associated Press: Gingrich Faces Uncertain Future After Failed Run
As he winds down his presidential campaign, Newt Gingrich faces a new challenge: reinventing himself politically yet again... Several GOP strategists and leaders suggested that Gingrich could still play a political role by reviving organizations he previously led that fought President Barack Obama's health care overhaul and raised millions of dollars for conservative causes (Henry, 4/26).