I'll throw one more diary on this subject into the pool of hundreds of others, but I took a look at Democrats who won in Conservative districts on Tuesday, and see what their voting record looks like.
I saw this post on the WSJ outlining some of the Conservative districts that were held by Democrats. In all, there were 83 districts that were targeted by Republicans from the get-go. These were districts that had been won by Bush in 2004, and by John McCain in 2008.
As you can imagine, it was a bit of a blood bath. 54 of those districts had gone to Republicans. 22 of them to Democrats, with the rest being sorted out. So, I am focusing on just those 22 winners, and see if they ran to the center, or what exactly saved them.
First, I took a look at their votes on health care, because this election was all about rejecting Obamalamaramadancare, right?
From the House Roll Call vote on health care:
Mike Ross in Arkansas - NO
Dennis Cardoza in California - YES
Loretta Sanchez in California - YES
Sanford Bishop in Georgia - YES
John Barrow in Georgia - NO
Leonard Boswell in Iowa - YES
Joe Donnelly in Indiana - YES
Gary Peters in Michigan - YES
Timothy Walz in Minnesota - YES
Collin Peterson in Minnesota - NO
Mike McIntyre in North Carolina - NO
Larry Kissell in North Carolina - NO
Heath Shuler in North Carolina - NO
Bill Owens in New York - YES
Dan Boren in Oklahoma - NO
Kurt Schrader in Oregon - YES
Jason Altmire in Pennsylvania - NO
Tim Holden in Pennsylvania - NO
Rubén Hinojosa in Texas - YES
Henry Cuellar in Texas - YES
Jim Matheson in Utah - NO
Nick Rahall in West Virginia - YES
12 yes votes, 10 no votes. They hardly ran from health care, with a slim majority voting for it, just as the House had done, overall. This election wasn't about health care, people.
But maybe it was about Financial Reform! Because those damned Democrats passed a Financial Reform bill that's sure to destroy capitalism.
So, they surely went to the center on that:
Mike Ross in Arkansas - NO
Dennis Cardoza in California - YES
Loretta Sanchez in California - YES
Sanford Bishop in Georgia - YES
John Barrow in Georgia - YES
Leonard Boswell in Iowa - YES
Joe Donnelly in Indiana - YES
Gary Peters in Michigan - YES
Timothy Walz in Minnesota - YES
Collin Peterson in Minnesota - YES
Mike McIntyre in North Carolina - NO
Larry Kissell in North Carolina - YES
Heath Shuler in North Carolina - YES
Bill Owens in New York - NO
Dan Boren in Oklahoma - NO
Kurt Schrader in Oregon - YES
Jason Altmire in Pennsylvania - YES
Tim Holden in Pennsylvania - YES
Rubén Hinojosa in Texas - YES
Henry Cuellar in Texas - NO
Jim Matheson in Utah - YES
Nick Rahall in West Virginia - YES
17 YES, 5 NO. What were they thinking? They're too liberal, and they're going to go down!
What about the stimulus? They voted for health care, they voted to overhaul Wall Street. They couldn't have been silly enough to vote for the stimulus package. Could they?
Let's see:
Mike Ross in Arkansas - YES
Dennis Cardoza in California - YES
Loretta Sanchez in California - YES
Sanford Bishop in Georgia - NO
John Barrow in Georgia - YES
Leonard Boswell in Iowa - YES
Joe Donnelly in Indiana - YES
Gary Peters in Michigan - NO
Timothy Walz in Minnesota - YES
Collin Peterson in Minnesota - NO
Mike McIntyre in North Carolina - YES
Larry Kissell in North Carolina - YES
Heath Shuler in North Carolina - NO
Bill Owens in New York - (had not been elected yet)
Dan Boren in Oklahoma - YES
Kurt Schrader in Oregon - YES
Jason Altmire in Pennsylvania - YES
Tim Holden in Pennsylvania - YES
Rubén Hinojosa in Texas - YES
Henry Cuellar in Texas - YES
Jim Matheson in Utah - YES
Nick Rahall in West Virginia - YES
Another 17 YESses, 4 NO, and Bill Owens had not yet won in a district that had not elected a Democrat since the Civil War.
Even Conservative districts seem to respect a liberal with the balls to stand up and be a LIBERAL.