Dahlkemper, who defeated seven-term Republican Rep. Phil English in the Erie-based 3rd District, said that she was "very pleased" to join "a group that shares my strong belief in fiscal discipline and responsibility."
The Blue Dog Coalition isn't well-known outside Capitol Hill, and Dahlkemper's membership isn't something that's the stuff of campaign commercials.
But it does allow her to put some political daylight between herself and more liberal elements of the Democratic Caucus.
Including Dahlkemper, 33 of the 52 Blue Dog Democrats represent districts that John McCain won in the 2008 presidential election. Dahlkemper also is among the 16 Blue Dog Democrats first elected in 2006 or 2008 to replace a Republican.
The National Republican Congressional Committee, the campaign arm of House Republicans and the political organization that is working on strategy to defeat Dahlkamper in 2010, criticized Dahlkemper's votes in February for a $787 billion economic stimulus law and a $410 billion omnibus appropriations law. No Republicans voted for the economic stimulus law; 16 voted for the omnibus measure.
"Considering that Dahlkemper supported $1.2 trillion dollars in new spending in only the first two months of the year, her entry in this organization is further proof that the Blue Dogs have officially abandoned any fiscal conservative principles they once may have stood for," NRCC spokesman Paul Lindsay said.
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"Dahlkemper's votes in February for a $787 billion economic stimulus law and a $410 billion omnibus appropriations law." For this she now calls herself a fiscal conservative? This sounds like a death-bed confession; rip a page out of Arlen's book, did ya?
Posted by: NObama
| June 16, 2009 12:39 PM
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