Election wiped out the moderates

Washington Post:

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With the defeat of Leach and several other Republican moderates Nov. 7, the Democrats' victory in the midterm election accelerates a three-decade-old pattern of declining moderate influence and rising conservative dominance in the Republican Party. By one measure, the GOP is more ideologically homogenous now than it has been in modern history. The waning moderate wing must find its place when the Democratic majority takes over in January.

"The irony of this election is that the public, in seeking change, has . . . weakened the center," Leach said recently. "In a sense, what has occurred is the strengthening of the edges of the parties."

Eight of the House's 20 most moderate Republicans lost their seats: Rob Simmons and Nancy L. Johnson (Conn.); Jeb Bradley and Charles Bass (N.H.); Michael G. Fitzpatrick and Curt Weldon (Pa.); Sue W. Kelly (N.Y.); and Leach. Also, moderate GOP Rep. Sherwood L. Boehlert (N.Y.), is retiring, and he will be replaced by Democrat Michael A. Arcuri, the Oneida County district attorney.

On the Senate side, the defeat of Lincoln D. Chafee (R-R.I.), a critic of the war who declined to vote for Bush's reelection in 2004, underscored the same trend.

By one measure, the 110th Congress will have the fewest moderates since the 19th century. This finding is based on an analysis of voting records by Keith T. Poole, a political science professor at the University of California at San Diego, and Howard Rosenthal, a New York University politics professor.

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While Leach was going down, another prominent Republican moderate, Rep. Christopher Shays (Conn.), managed to hold on. Shays, unlike Leach, had supported Bush's war policies, despite strong antiwar sentiment in Connecticut.

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What is missing from this article is how many of the new Democrats in Congress won because they were taking conservative, not "moderate" or liberal positions. The real balance in power has shifted to the more conservative Blue Dong Democrats that make up a larger portion of the Democrats than moderates did in the GOP. If they exercise their power as the swing votes in much teh same way Phil Gramm did in the 1980's the Congress will actually be more conservative. If Pelosi et.a. make the mistakes that Tip O'Neill made, they may be growing the new Republican majority.