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THE EXURBANITES VS. THE DIXIECRATS. Some good analysis from The Times on the 110th Congress's composition:
Of 233 Democrats who will be sworn in on Thursday, 147 � 63 percent � have been elected since Republicans won control of the House in 1994, and have never served in the majority. Those whose service predates the 1994 revolution, on the other hand, number only 86, or 37 percent. But it is this core of senior Democrats, Mr. Dingell among them, who will lead 20 of the 21 major committees and so exercise concentrated legislative power.The differences in tenure tend to manifest themselves geographically as well. The makeup of the senior membership has a more urban flavor, while those more recently elected tend to come from the suburbs and exurbs. These newer members have faced tougher electoral opposition than their older counterparts, who in many cases represent overwhelmingly safe Democratic districts; a majority of new chairmen have traditional liberal roots.It's worth not overstating the divide, though. Pre-1994, Democrats had a powerful, large, and very senior block of conservative Southerners who not only controlled votes, but headed committees and wielded seniority. And they were a sight more conservative than this year's crop of suburban freshmen. Indeed, the decline of a serious Southern bloc among House Democrats should open the path to much more progressive legislation than was ever possible when the Dixiecrats needed to be continually placated. While indeed true that some -- and some is a key qualifier there -- of the frosh are a bit to the right of, say, Dingell, they're not to his right by much, and they're not going to exercise the sort of hammerlock on the party's progressive wing that the Dixiecrats once did.--Ezra Klein
