Party Conservatives May Carry the Win for Democrats
By Janet Hook, Times Staff Writer
October 25, 2006
....Republicans are ringing alarms about what the House would be like if the GOP lost control: a throwback to the unreconstructed liberalism of big-government activism, tax increases and weak-kneed defense policy. They point with Halloween-season horror to the likely line-up of Democratic committee chairmen, including Rep. Henry A. Waxman, D-Calif., and other liberal old-timers.
But, like (Heath Shuler, a North Carolina Congressional candidate) many of the Democratic candidates most likely to be elected are cut from a different cloth. Sixteen of them have been endorsed by the Blue Dogs, a coalition of conservative Democrats. Several of them used to be Republicans. Shuler was recruited to run as a Republican a few years ago but opted not to.
With so many conservative-leaning candidates at the forefront of the Democratic effort, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has, at least for now, stuck to a minimalist agenda that steers clear of grand, liberal ambitions.
Instead, Democratic leaders are focusing -- and almost all serious Democratic candidates are campaigning on -- a limited agenda that includes raising the minimum wage, repealing tax breaks for oil companies, restoring college tuition tax breaks, cutting Medicare drug costs and other plans they believe could draw bipartisan support....
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An influx of new blood from the Democrats' right wing could test party leaders' ability to maintain the remarkable unity they have forged during their years in the minority....
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-na-dems26oct26,0,6859332.story?coll=la-home-headlines