Reply #155: You would hand districts to the Republicans? Give them back the House? [View All]

I live in a fairly conservative area, and sadly my Rep is a 'Thug (Radanodick). Where I live, however, is sometimes referred to as the "hole in the 18th", because we're surrounded on three sides by the California 18th district, which is represented by Dennis Cardoza...a Blue Dog Dem. This is a Republican majority area, where Republicans vote regularly and vote CONSERVATIVELY. Should I mention that Bush carried both elections around here? Despite that, we have a Democrat representing the 18th...a conservative, mildly obstructionist one, but still a Democrat.

I would love it if a liberal Democrat could win the district, but it will never happen. The last time a liberal Democrat tried to run, when Condit left office, he took about 6% of the vote. We had a 'Thug, a liberal Dem, and a conservative Dem...and we barely won it with the conservative Dem (still lots of old school conservative farmer Democrats around here). If Cardoza were shown the door, if voters in this district were forced to choose between a liberal Democrat and a moderate Republican (which is what a conservative Democrat really is), the 18th would go red and we'd lose it for decades. One less seat for us, one more for them.

This same story is echoed in many blue-dog districts around the country. There are some areas where conservative Democrats are the only kind that can win. Are you really comfortable handing those seats to the Republicans just to satisfy your desire for ideological purity?