Rushing the Blue Dogs

It has the makings of a reality TV program: Eight House Democratic lawmakers are vying for five openings in a select society.
But instead of trying to make the cut to join a privileged eating club or sorority, the eight lawmakers want to join the Blue Dog Coalition, a group of self-described fiscally conservative Democratic lawmakers.

{mosads}Reps. Bart Gordon (Tenn.), Zack Space (Ohio), Chris Carney (Pa.), Harry Mitchell (Ariz.), Gabrielle Giffords (Ariz.), Nancy Boyda (Kan.), Henry Cuellar (Texas) and Nick Lampson (Texas) are competing for the five remaining slots. The winners will be announced next week.

The Blue Dogs are a select group. They amended their bylaws earlier this year to limit membership to 47 lawmakers. Lawmakers need to have a sponsor who is already a member of the Blue Dog Coalition, write an essay, and interview before a panel of five lawmakers.

The group planned to announce the selections last week, but postponed its meeting so that members could attend a late-afternoon Democratic Caucus discussion of the vote on the Iraq war supplemental spending bill.