The largest partisan caucus in the House, is the Congressional Progressive Caucus.

[cali]

The ongoing myth that there are only a few progressives in the Congress is belied by this fact.

From wiki:

The Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) is the single largest partisan caucus in the United States House of Representatives, and works together to advance progressive issues and causes.

The CPC was founded in 1991 by the independent Congressman Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who remains a member as Senator. It represents about a third of the House Democratic Caucus (with 71 members). Of the twenty standing committees of the House, eleven are chaired by members of the CPC.

According to their website, the CPC advocates "universal access to affordable, high quality healthcare," fair trade agreements, living wage laws, the right of all workers to organize into labor unions and engage in strike actions and collective bargaining, the abolition of significant portions of the USA PATRIOT Act, the legalization of gay marriage, strict campaign finance reform laws, a complete pullout from the war in Iraq, a crackdown on free trade and corporate welfare, an increase in income tax on the wealthy, tax cuts for the poor, and an increase in social welfare spending by the federal government.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congressional_Progressive_Caucus

[blueclown]

1. The progressive/liberal wing of the Democratic Party is the largest wing in the party.

But the liberal/progressive wing does not even come close to dominating the Democratic Party like the conservative wing dominates the Republican Party.

[cali]

2. Please provide some evidence that the liberal/progressive wing

of the dem party is the largest wing of the party. Even here in VT, where more people identify as liberal than any other state in the union, it's only 31% of people that label themselves liberal.

[blueclown]

6. How many Democrats identify themselves as liberal?

Why would we include Republicans and independents in the mix?

I would assume a majority of Dems in Vermont identify themselves as liberal. In the United States, a plurality of Democrats identify themselves as liberal.

[HereSince1628]

4. The importance of membership numbers is something like the number of keys on your key-ring.

The more important you are the fewer keys you carry.

The real issue in an authoritarian organization is whether power is on your side. With power you get to choose what is voted on and you get to count the votes and declare victory for your cause.

[Dhalgren]

3. Largely powerless.

If Pelosi is supposed to be a "progressive" then that is all you need to know about that group. "Progressive" doesn't mean the same thing in congress as it means in the real world...

[Phred42]

5. BS - it's the Blue Dog republican-lites