Blue Dog Democrats

The Blue Dog Democrats who are (collectively) known as the Blue Dog Coalition is a coalition of conservative and moderate Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives.

The term "Blue Dog" is taken from the longtime description of a Southern party loyalist as one who would vote for a yellow dog if it were on the ballot as a Democrat. The 'Blue Dog' moniker was taken by members of the Coalition because their more-conservative views had been 'choked blue' by their party in the years leading up to the 1994 election. They are concentrated in those states where tobacco is a major cash crop, and they have often caucused (House and Senate) to defeat tobacco control legislation, and often vote as a block alongside the Republicans.

"The Coalition was formed in the 104th Congress as a policy-oriented group to give moderate and conservative Democrats in the House of Representatives a common sense, bridge-building voice within the institution," its website states.

Blue Dog members
There are currently 48 "Blue Dog" members in the 110th Congress posted on the website of Rep. John Tanner, a leader and founding member of the Blue Dog Coalition.


 * 1) Rep. Michael Arcuri (N.Y.)
 * 2) Rep. Joe Baca (Calif.)
 * 3) Rep. John Barrow (Ga.)
 * 4) Rep. Melissa Bean (Ill.)
 * 5) Rep. Marion Berry (Ark.)
 * 6) Rep. Sanford Bishop (Ga.)
 * 7) Rep. Dan Boren (Okla.)
 * 8) Rep. Leonard Boswell (Iowa)
 * 9) Rep. Allen Boyd (Fla.)
 * 10) Rep. Dennis Cardoza (Calif.)
 * 11) Rep. Chris Carney (Pa.)
 * 12) Rep. Ben Chandler (Ky.)
 * 13) Rep. Jim Cooper (Tenn.)
 * 14) Rep. Jim Costa (Calif.)
 * 15) Rep. Robert E. Cramer (Ala.)
 * 16) Rep. Lincoln Davis (Tenn.)
 * 17) Rep. Joe Donnelly (Ind.)
 * 18) Rep. Brad Ellsworth (Ind.)
 * 19) Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (Ariz)
 * 20) Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand (N.Y.)
 * 21) Rep. Bart Gordon (Tenn.)
 * 22) Rep. Jane Harman (Calif.)
 * 23) Rep. Stephanie Herseth (S.D.)
 * 24) Rep. Baron Hill (Ind.)
 * 25) Rep. Tim Holden (Pa.)
 * 26) Rep. Steve Israel (N.Y.)
 * 27) Rep. Nick Lampson (Texas)
 * 28) Rep. Tim Mahoney (Fla.)
 * 29) Rep. Jim Marshall (Ga.)
 * 30) Rep. Jim Matheson (Utah)
 * 31) Rep. Mike McIntyre (N.C.)
 * 32) Rep. Charles Melancon (La.)
 * 33) Rep. Mike Michaud (Maine)
 * 34) Rep. Dennis Moore (Kansas)
 * 35) Rep. Patrick Murphy (Pa.)
 * 36) Rep. Collin Peterson (Minn.)
 * 37) Rep. Earl Pomeroy (N.D.)
 * 38) Rep. Mike Ross (Ark.)
 * 39) Rep. John Salazar (Colo.)
 * 40) Rep. Loretta Sanchez (Calif.)
 * 41) Rep. Adam Schiff (Calif.)
 * 42) Rep. David Scott (Ga.)
 * 43) Rep. Heath Shuler (N.C.)
 * 44) Rep. Zack Space (Ohio)
 * 45) Rep. John Tanner (Tenn.)
 * 46) Rep. Gene Taylor (Miss.)
 * 47) Rep. Mike Thompson (Calif.)
 * 48) Rep. Charlie Wilson (Ohio)

Blue dogs and tobacco
The tobacco industry lobbyists saw them as allies along with Republican oriented think-tanks and policy support groups. They financially supported both the Coalition as a whole, and Blue Dog coalition members by campaign contributions. 

One of their main projects was to maintain the extraordinary subsidies paid to tobacco farmers even at times when other government agencies were actively working to reduce cigarette consumption. They also had consitutents who worked in leaf-drying/curing, storage, transport and cigarette-making factories, and in some regions of the South, the tobacco industry was a key economic resource that they protected. So the Coalition was also against the hiking of taxes on cigarettes.

Therefore, in the tobacco archives, the term "Blue Dog Coalition" is a close approximation of the term "Congressmen from the tobacco-growing states" (there were 21 of them in 1996 ), but not all southern Democratic politicians were pro-tobacco. Campaign funding was directed by the tobacco indsutry towards selected coalition members. See the notations alongside this listing for tobacco funding:

A member of the Health Subcommittee of the House Commerce Committee, Hall was the key Democratic vote when the Waxman smoking restriction legislation was under consideration. A conservative, he is a founding member of the Blue Dog coalition "As the representative of a large, agricultural district in West Tennessee, Tanner has been a leader among the House tobacco district members. He is a conservative member of the Blue Dog coalition, where he is frequently the spokesman on budget issues." A leader of the Blue Dog Coalition, Congressman Condit is influential beyond his seniority and committee assignments, particularly on budget matters. He serves on the Agriculture and Government Reform and Oversight Committees.
 * Ralph Hall, Democratic Representative for Texas:
 * Jack Tanner, Democratic Representative from Texas:
 * Gary Conduit, Democratic Representative from California:
 * F. Allen Boyd Jr. the Blue Dog Whip from Florida also appears to have negotiated a Kraft Food Hunger grant from Philip Morris (who own Kraft)

Contact information
Website: http://www.house.gov/tanner/blue.htm Website: http://www.house.gov/ross/BlueDogs/

External articles

 * "History of the Yellow Dog Democrat," yellowdogdemocrat.com.
 * "What are 'Blue Dog' Democrats? Are they any relation to 'Yellow Dog' Democrats?" C-SPAN.org, November 16, 2000.
 * Emily Yoffe, "What Is a 'Blue-Dog' Democrat?" Slate, December 14, 2000.
 * "National Taxpayers Union Applauds ‘Blue Dog’ Spending Reforms," USNewswire, February 23, 2005.
 * Chris Meyers, "Congressional Loyalty Scorecards, Part Four: Blue Dog Democrats," MyDD.com, April 28, 2005.
 * Bob Davis, ed., "Newsmaker profile: Blue Dogs Rising — Browder sees 'revival' of centrist Democrats," The Anniston Star (Ala.), November 11, 2006.
 * "'Blue Dog' Democrats May Back GOP Issues," NewsMax, November 15, 2006.
 * Kate Phillips, "Intel Infight in the House," The Caucus Blog/New York Times, November 16, 2006.
 * "Blue Dogs Democrats Have a Centrist Agenda," NPR, December 12, 2006.
 * "Rep. Patrick Murphy, Iraq Vet and 'Blue Dog'," NPR, January 9, 2007.
 * Larry Lipman, "Blue Dog Democrats Remain Loyal To Fiscal Restraint," Cox News Service, February 4, 2007.
 * Julie Hirschfeld Davis, "Conservative Democrats Assert Power," Associated Press (Washington Post), March 7, 2007.
 * Amanda B. Carpenter, "Who Got Bought" Human Events Online, March 28, 2007.
 * "Tim Mahoney: Blue Dog or Lap Dog?" National Republican Congressional Committee, April 30, 2007.
 * Shailagh Murray and Elizabeth Williamson, "The Conservative Democrat - Dan Boren," Washington Post, July 22, 2007.
 * John Laesch, "FISA underscores the differences between blue dogs & progressives," The Daily Kos, August 5, 2007.
 * Julie Rose, "Matheson, Blue Dogs More Bark than Bite?" KCPW News (Salt Lake City, Utah), August 8, 2007.
 * Matt Stoller, "Waking Up to a Working Republican Majority," Open Left; The Huffington Post, August 9, 2007.
 * Matt Stoller, "Going After Blue Dogs: A Question for You," Open Left, August 13, 2007.
 * Chris Bowers, "Vital Statistics On The 'Bush Dogs'," Open Left, August 16, 2007.
 * Matt Stoller, "DCCC Chair Van Hollen Whines About Bush Dog Campaign," Open Left, August 16, 2007.
 * Populista, "Call to Action(?): Google-Bombing the Bush Dogs (And More?)" Open Left, August 17, 2007.
 * Mike Lux, "Why Insiders Should Support The Bush Dog Campaign," Open Left, August 17, 2007.
 * Chris Bowers, "IL-14: Differentiating Between Blue Dogs and Bush Dogs," Open Left, August 18, 2007.
 * Matt Stoller, "Pushing Back on Bush Dog Democrats: Step One," The Daily Kos, August 22, 2007.

External resources

 * "Blue Dog Democrats" in the Wikipedia.