Blue Dog PAC Lends Vulnerable Members a Hand

[rpannier]

As a group, the Blue Dog Coalition of fiscally conservative Democrats may be the most vulnerable House incumbents in the 2010 election. But they are getting an assist from the Blue Dog political action committee, which handed out the most contributions of any politician-controlled PAC through November 2009, according to CQ MoneyLine.

The Blue Dog PAC has made $635,000 in donations thus far this cycle, $500,000 of which went to members of the coalition and their PACs. The rest went to home state party committees of a number of Blue Dogs, including many facing competitive re-election contests, and to one House candidate, Polk County Supervisor of Elections Lori Edwards, who is running for the open seat in Florida's 12th district.

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Though much of it originated with the corporate and trade association PACs, the money doled out by the Blue Dog committee does not count against the limits on donations those PACs make to members directly.

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Two others, Tennessee Reps. John Tanner and Bart Gordon, have already announced they are retiring. A third, Alabama Rep. Parker Griffith, announced earlier this month that he was switching parties and becoming a Republican. All three received $10,000 apiece from the Blue Dog PAC.

link:
http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/eyeon2010/2010/01/blue-dog-pac-lending-a-hand-fo.html