LAT: Losing Its Middlemen, Senate Shifts to Right

[DeepModem Mom]

THE NATION
Losing Its Middlemen, Senate Shifts to Right
Many centrists bow out, leaving fewer lawmakers willing to cross party lines and make deals.

By Janet Hook, Times Staff Writer


WASHINGTON — It would be hard to find two politicians more different than John B. Breaux and David Vitter.

Breaux, who is retiring from the Senate, is a centrist Louisiana Democrat. A pragmatic dealmaker, he shuttles between parties in search of legislative compromises.

Vitter, who was elected to succeed Breaux, is one of the most conservative Republicans in the House. He likes term limits, loathes gambling and rarely votes against his party or the president.

That changing of the guard is part of a broader trend emerging from the election that helps explain why the Senate — like the greater political landscape — has become so polarized. Many centrists are leaving Congress; unvarnished conservatives are arriving in their place.

The retirement of Breaux and several other Southern Democrats depletes even further the dwindling ranks of lawmakers inclined to work across party lines. They are being replaced largely by a younger generation of Republicans, schooled in a more uncompromising form of conservatism....


http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-senate14nov14,0,1645680.story?coll=la-home-headlines

[aquart]

1. I'll let you know when I miss Breaux.

[VegasWolf]

2. Breaux, what a worthless democrat. n/t A "centrist"???

[arcos]

3. oh, come on.... he's much better than Zell...

and he was royally pissed when that LA Rep switched to the GOP just hours before the filing deadline for candidates.