Homeless Blue Dogs?
January 3, 2011 - by
The N&O front-pager about “North Carolina’s three conservative Democrats” – Congressmen Heath Shuler, Larry Kissell and Mike McIntyre – asks whether there’s a place for Blue Dogs in today’s Democratic Party.
For perspective, I turn as always to my work on Jim Hunt’s biography. (I can’t help it; I spent four years on it. I’ll probably spend four more years blogging about it.)
Hunt faced this situation throughout his career. In 1966, he returned from two years in Nepal
From then until today, Hunt tried to keep the Democratic Party open to moderates and conservatives. Here’s how he described his approach back in the 60s, one he maintained through five decades:
“I knew that, to win, you had to reach across lines, build bridges, get people to work together, so that we could have a broad-based majority.”
There’s an impulse to reject that approach in today’s Democratic Party, just as the Republican Party has rejected moderates.
Hard-core liberals argue that Obama’s victory in 2008 upholds their long-held theory that a purely progressive party can win by expanding the electorate. But North Carolina
I think Hunt’s track record speaks for itself. A big-tent party is more likely to win.
Posted in General, North Carolina - Democrats
Homeless Blue Dogs?
January 3, 2011/
The N&O front-pager about “North Carolina’s three conservative Democrats” – Congressmen Heath Shuler, Larry Kissell and Mike McIntyre – asks whether there’s a place for Blue Dogs in today’s Democratic Party.
For perspective, I turn as always to my work on Jim Hunt’s biography. (I can’t help it; I spent four years on it. I’ll probably spend four more years blogging about it.)
Hunt faced this situation throughout his career. In 1966, he returned from two years in Nepal
From then until today, Hunt tried to keep the Democratic Party open to moderates and conservatives. Here’s how he described his approach back in the 60s, one he maintained through five decades:
“I knew that, to win, you had to reach across lines, build bridges, get people to work together, so that we could have a broad-based majority.”
There’s an impulse to reject that approach in today’s Democratic Party, just as the Republican Party has rejected moderates.
Hard-core liberals argue that Obama’s victory in 2008 upholds their long-held theory that a purely progressive party can win by expanding the electorate. But North Carolina
I think Hunt’s track record speaks for itself. A big-tent party is more likely to win.
Posted in General, North Carolina - Democrats