| Yellow, Blue Dogs Visit At Journal |
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Con. Travis Childers, the latest member of the Blue Dog Democrats, stopped by The Journal last Thursday for a visit. Childers was barely through the door when he shared with me, a longtime “Yellow Dog Democrat,” the news that he had been accepted as a Blue Dog – an exclusive group of 47 moderate conservative Democratic members of the United States House of Representatives. Membership in the Blue Dogs is by invitation only, and Childers rightfully took considerable pride in his acceptance. The Blue Dogs are identified as fiscally conservative and strong on accountability. They are often referred to as “Reagan Democrats” by the national media, referring to the group of Democrats who supported President Ronald Reagan in the 1980s and went by the nickname “The Boll Weevils.” The name “Blue Dog” was derived from the original term Yellow Dog Democrat. Former Texas Democratic Rep. Pete Geren once reportedly said that his fellow “conservative” Democrats had been “choked blue” by the “extreme” Democrats from the left, giving birth to the new term. A separate story suggests that the term came from the “Blue Dog” paintings of Cajun artist George Rodrigue of Lafayette, Louisiana. Louisiana representatives Billy Tauzin and Jimmy Hayes, both of whose offices were decorated with the paintings, hosted many of the initial gatherings of the group in the mid 1990s. Regardless, Childers is proud to be included in the group that typically doesn’t fall prey to partisanship as some of the other political factions. Childers also shared his experiences getting moved into a “tiny shotgun” apartment near the Capitol, only a bit larger than my office. “It suits me well,” he said. Childers said of his first few months in Washington, he was most excited by his appointment to the Agriculture Committee. “I feel like I’m in a real position there to help all of Mississippi, but particularly Northeast Mississippi,” Childers said. The biggest vote to come up so far was the “Bailout Bill.” Chil-ders voted against the bill due to the cost to the taxpayers and too much uncertainty over whether it would actually help the economic crisis. “I was sitting as close as I am to you from Henry Paulson when he addressed the Congress,” Childers said sitting in my office. “When he said he couldn’t assure us it would fix it, that made my mind up.” He said he has a great working relationship with the other members of the Mississippi delegation in the U.S. House – Gene Taylor, Bennie Thompson and Chip Pickering. “We don’t have a crossed-up, splintered delegation,” Childers said. I came to know Con. Childers during the campaign earlier this year on his many stops in Calhoun County and other parts of the district. His tireless work ethic convinced me early on that the longtime Prentiss County Chancery Clerk was Calhoun’s obvious choice for great representation in Washington. During his first few months in office he has only reaffirmed that belief, making it an easy choice on Nov. 4 to keep Con. Travis Childers working for Calhoun County for the next two years. You may email Joel McNeece at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it |
