…When Democrats held the majority, their control depended in part on holding moderate-to-conservative districts. This created a running story line about the disaffection of vulnerable Democrats with various liberal policies.
The new Republican House majority, by contrast, depends on holding moderate-to-liberal districts. As Shane D’Aprile usefully reported last week on the Hill’s Ballot Box blog, 31 of the newly elected Republican House members represent districts that Obama carried in 2008, bringing to 62 the number of House Republicans hailing from Obama districts.
A list of the 31 Republican freshmen representing districts Obama won in 2008 is here. All of which means that, as E.J. Dionne puts it, “a large number of GOP House members will have to look at least occasionally over their left shoulders,” not just at the tea partiers to their (far) right. That should be fascinating to watch, including two Virginia Republicans in Obama districts – Scott Rigell (Used Car Dealer-2nd) and Frank Wolf (Phony “Moderate,” Actual Right Wingnut-10th). We’ll see how BONEr, Can’tor et al. deal with this situation.
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