By Katherine Skiba
Posted June 13, 2008
Many of the Blues are conservative on social issues, though by Boyd's estimate about half support abortion rights. They take their name from the old "Yellow Dog Democrats" of the South, apocryphally so loyal to the party that they would vote for a yellow dog if it were on the ballot with a "D" after its name. As members explain, the Blue Dog moniker arose because they'd been "choked blue" by liberals in the Democratic tent. "We're part of a movement. We're part of a cause to bring our party, the Democratic Party, back to the middle. We believe that the majority of the American people today are in the middle," says House Democrat Mike Ross of Arkansas, unabashedly "pro-gun, pro-life, against illegal immigration, and against same-sex marriage." Talking about how the Blue Dogs have won seats, Ross says: "We're not defeating Republicans with liberal Democrats. We're defeating them with conservative Democrats like Don Cazayoux in Louisiana and Travis Childers in Mississippi." Read More at USN
House of Representatives Majority Leader Steny Hoyer speaks during a news conference along with members of the Congressional Blue Dog Coalition (L-R) Rep. Dennis Moore, Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin, Rep. Mike Ross, Rep. Allen Boyd and Rep. Jim Cooper at the Captiol in Washington, D.C. Hoyer was endorsing the Blue Dogs' fiscally conservative proposals as the House heads into a major vote on the federal budget.
(Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
