Rep. Jim Moran (D-VA) announces he will retire from Congress

[lowkell]

http://bluevirginia.us/diary/10876/breaking-rep-jim-moran-to-retire-from-congress

Oh, and we may have our first candidate to replace him.

http://bluevirginia.us/showComment.do?commentId=38034

[riversedge]

1. Sure seems like a lot of Dems are retiring from the #teaparty House...

can't say that I blame them.

[Mass]

2. Moderates are leaving the House.

Last edited Wed Jan 15, 2014, 05:10 PM - Edit history (1)

This does not bode well for the next Congress. It is hard to think it could be more polarized, but it sure looks as it it is going to be the case.

[Chan790]

3. This has always been a two-edged razor.

We don't like it when moderate Democrats leave because they feel a threat from either the left or the right. Nevertheless, we do tend to hold these districts most of the time.

We're all happy when moderate GOPs retire, especially if the reason driving them to do so is the increasing conservatism of the GOP or a conservative district where they face the threat of a tea-party challenge. It raises the chances of Akin/Mourdock Effect wins--the inevitability in any election that an inexperienced candidate of extremist conservative leanings will say something so conservative-batshit that they render themselves inelectable in the general-election, thus handing a seat in an otherwise-safe GOP district to the Democrats. Let's be honest, experienced candidates and incumbents don't do this...Eric Cantor may be despicable and James Inhofe revolting but both have the good political sense not to say that rape-induced pregnancies are a gift from God, at-least not on a hot mic. The more races in any election cycle subject to Akin-Mourdock Effect, the more races where it will be a factor and we win. The rate of those wins has been increasing as the rate of races subject to the effect have also increased as moderate Republicans flee office.

In net, this has been a positive for us. Yes, we lose moderate Democrats and Congress becomes more partisan...but we're gaining more seats from this de-moderation than we're losing.

[former9thward]

5. In 2010 the moderates were replaced by Republicans.

That is why they took the House. All the moderates in the South were replaced by Republicans.

[thespianrunner]

4. Chance for a progressive

I really want to write an op-ed to a local paper here, but not sure how to go about it. This seat is fairly safe D, so this would be a perfect opportunity to get a real progressive in there. Not a corporate backed DINO or moderate, but a Warren/Sanders type fighter. The only issue is that this area is all Federal workers, especially military, and I think they want a moderate Dem. But with an eye forward, this is the kind of seat Democrats should use to start getting some true progressives in the House.