It was a pitiful whimper from the last of a breed.
During last week’s House speaker election, almost all Republicans were voting for Paul Ryan and virtually all Democrats for Nancy Pelosi. Then the clerk called on Jim Cooper, a moderate Democrat from Tennessee.
“Colin Powell,” he declared.
A moment later, Gwen Graham, a centrist Democrat from Florida, cast her vote — for Cooper. A third moderate Democrat, Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, voted for Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., who, along with the rest of the 183 Democrats in the chamber, voted for Pelosi, the San Francisco liberal icon.
All three dissidents are members of the once-powerful Blue Dog Coalition, which has seen its membership of Democratic moderates shrink to just 15 from 54 in 2010. All three are also members of the New Democrat Coalition, a 50-strong group that claims to represent moderates — but the average “liberal” rating of New Democrat leaders, 79 percent, is above House Democrats’ overall liberal rating of 77 percent.
It was a timely reminder that there really is no such thing anymore as a moderate Democrat. The handful of centrists in office have ceased to play a meaningful role in the party, much as moderates long ago ceased to influence the Republican Party.