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Immigration Law

: Greg Siskind's Blog

By Greg Siskind

The conventional wisdom of many in the Democratic Caucus is that members of the Blue Dog Coalition of moderate and conservative Democrats are likely to vote with Republicans against pro-immigration measures. But do the voting records of the 47 members of the Blue Dog Coalition really back this up? If we look at the ratings from the anti-immigrant NumbersUSA organization (www.numbersusa.org), only 19 Democrats have records that would be considered anti-immigration. 14 have records  that are mixed. And another 10 Blue Dog Democrats have highly pro-immigration records. While this doesn?t provide reliable information on how a Blue Dog will vote on any individual measure, this analysis does show that overall, Blue Dogs are only somewhat more likely to vote restrictionist than the Democratic Caucus as a whole.

Why does this matter? Apparently, some in the House are fearful of moving pro-immigration measures because they think the Republicans and the Blue Dogs have the votes to stop these bills from passing. But the net increase of 20+ seats for the Democrats including the replacement of some of the most anti-immigrant members of Congress could mean that these fears are unwarranted. Here's the data.

Mike Arcuri (NY) ? B-

Joe Baca (CA) ? F

John Barrow (GA) ? A-

Melissa Bean (IL) ? C+

Marion Berry (AR) ? B

Sanford Bishop (GA) ? C-

Dan Boren (OK) ? B+

Leonard Boswell (IA) ? C+

Allen Boyd (FL) ? C

Dennis Cardoza (CA) ? D+

Christopher Carney (PA) ? C+

Ben Chandler (KY) ? B+

Jim Cooper (TN) ? C+

Jim Costa (CA) ? D+

Lincoln Davis (TN) ? A-

Joe Donnelly (IN) ? A-

Brad Ellsworth (IN) ? A-

Gabrielle Giffords (AZ) ? D+

Kirsten Gillibrand (NY) - B

Bart Gordon (TN) - B

Jane Harmon (CA) - F

Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (SD) ? B-

Baron Hill (IN) ? B-

Tim Holden (PA) ? B+

Jim Marshall (GA) ? A-

Jim Matheson (UT) ? B+

Mike McIntyre (NC) ? A-

Charlie Melancon (LA) - B

Mike Michaud (ME) - D

Dennis Moore (KS) - C

Patrick Murphy (PA) - B

Collin Peterson (MN) - B

Earl Pomeroy (ND) ? C-

Mike Ross (AR) ? B-

John Salazar (CO) ? D+

Loretta Sanchez (CA) ? D-

Adam Schiff (CA) ? D-

David Scott (GA) - C

Heath Shuler (NC) ? A-

Zack Space (OH) - B

John Tanner (TN) ? B+

Gene Taylor (MS) - A

Mike Thompson (CA) - D

Charlie Wilson (OH) ? C

 

anti-immigration (A, A-, B+, B) - 19

moderate (B-, C+, C, C-) - 14

pro-immigration (D+, D, D-, F) - 10

Full post as published by Greg Siskind's Blog on November 22, 2008 (boomark / email).