Dennis Moore's Retirement Marks the Loss of Another Moderate Politician

So far three House Democrats have announced their retirement from Congress next year and a number of others are leaving to run for other political jobs. There are almost certain to be more retirement announcements in January which must make Democratic leaders a little nervous about their prospects for holding onto the majority in next fall's election.

The first to announce his departure in late November was Dennis Moore. Elected to Congress in 1998, he is the only Democrat in the Kansas delegation and his seat is one the Republicans feel they have a good chance of picking up. Before Moore's election, the seat had been held by the Republicans for 40 years.

Moore is a soft-spoken, centrist Blue Dog and New Democrat who favors fiscal discipline but he has been a reliable vote for the Democratic leadership, voting in favor of the stimulus plan, cap and trade and healthcare reform. He also voted for the bank bailout a year ago, a decision he calls "the most difficult vote I've had in 11 years in Congress."

The House leadership has asked Democratic moderates like Moore to take a number of tough votes this year which could come back to bite them in their campaigns.

Moore points to the timing of the cap-and-trade vote as an example of this. "I voted for it and I've taken political heat."

Before they scheduled a vote, Moore says the House leadership should have "considered whether it has a chance to pass in the Senate."

"It just puts all the members on the line if the Senate doesn't do anything. I would just as soon not vote on something like cap and trade unless the Senate is going to vote on it first—that does put some of us at risk."

The same is true of the House vote on healthcare reform. With the Senate plan still being crafted and no guarantee of a vote this year, some House Democrats may feel they were forced to make a tough vote for nothing since the final version could be very different from what passed in the House.

Moore says when he was elected he had only planned to serve for 10 years and having exceeded that he decided it was time to do something new. But he admits he probably would have faced a tough race this time around given the national mood.

Moore understands that people are frustrated with Congress and the Democrats and that being in control of the presidency as well as the House and Senate means that people will hold the Democrats accountable if they don't think things are going well next November.

"We have some vulnerabilities," Moore acknowledges. Moore says the Democrats will probably lose some seats—but he does not think they will lose the majority, although he adds, "You're nervous every time there's an election."

In the statement he issued when he announced his retirement from Congress, Moore said he has always tried to represent the "moderate mainstream". He also said that while serving in Congress has been the most exciting job he has ever had it has also been the most frustrating "because of the strident partisanship which too often distracts Congress from squarely addressing the critical issues of our time."

The handling of healthcare reform is just the most recent example of the Republicans and Democrats being unable to work together on an issue of national importance.

Moore says he hears from constituents all the time that it should not be about Democrats and Republicans but about solving problems. "We should be working together."

They should be, but sadly for many years that has not often been the case in Washington and that's a big part of the reason why polls show people are so disappointed with Congress, government and both political parties.

The proportion of American voters who identify themselves as independents is at its highest level in 70 years, according to a recent survey by the Pew Research Center. More people now call themselves independents—roughly 40 percent—than either Democrats or Republicans.

Most Americans are not staunch Republicans or Democrats but rather decide things issue by issue and they are not being well represented by their government. An overwhelming majority of Americans, 60 percent, want leaders who take a mix of conservative and liberal positions.

The public's rating of congressional incumbents of both parties is the lowest in two decades which undoubtedly predicts a bad year for all incumbents in 2010.

Only about a third (34 percent) of registered voters say they think most members of Congress should be re-elected next year, which is on par with ratings during the 1994 and 2006 elections. Meanwhile, just 52 percent of voters say they want to see their own member re-elected, approaching levels in early October 2006 (50 percent) and 1994 (49 percent).

Since 1954, the average midterm House loss for the president's party has been 27 seats, and in the Senate, 4 seats.

But at the same time the number of people who consider themselves moderates and independents continues to grow, the number of moderates in Congress like Moore shrinks with every passing election.

Because the Democratic Party has steadily become more liberal and the Republican Party more conservative over the past few decades, those elected to Congress and the presidency tend to be at the extreme ends of the political spectrum.

No wonder so many people feel disconnected and disillusioned with their government.

Both Democratic and Republican congressional leaders tend to 'tolerate' their moderate members but often treat them like second class citizens. They would do well to pay more attention to members like Dennis Moore if they want to hold onto or recapture the majority because the key to reaching out to disaffected voters will be speaking to the voters in the middle who want real answers to real problems instead of more political posturing and gamesmanship.

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