The invitation for the Williams & Jensen lobbying fundraiser for Jim Costa advises that the minimum price of admission will be a $1,000 gift for Costa, to be his “friend”.

The political consulting firm Fraioli & Associates set up the meeting where a nuclear power company with interests in the business of Congressman Zack Space’s committee could have the opportunity to help Space gather a great deal of money.

The retirement of so many Blue Dogs in this election cycle suggests that their opportunistic political strategy of voting like Republicans has not been sustainable.

The Twenty First Century Group’s lobbyists will be showing some extra hustle to accommodate Joe Baca’s birthday wish for lots of money. Let it not be said, however, that Congressman Baca won’t contribute anything to this party. He’s doing the catering – on an ongoing basis.

Ohio’s U.S. Representative Charlie Wilson took large amounts of money from representatives of political action committees at an event held at a lobbying firm working for the insurance companies and other health care companies.

Congressional candidate Ken Nadler may not win the election in 2010, but he could be the deciding force that knocks Blue Dog Marion Berry out of office, if he can peel away enough progressive votes in protest of Berry’s many efforts to defeat Democratic legislation by cooperating with congressional Republicans.

Betsy Markey is making her political troubles worse, by aligning herself with the Blue Dog Coalition of right wing Democrats at precisely the time that the reputation of the Blue Dogs is in a worse state than ever.

The loss of Bart Gordon is good news for progressive activists, who will have a clear path for nominating a more reasonable Democratic alternative

Glenn Nye seems to have been betting that, if he just tried to please Republican voters by opposing health care reform, he would avoid any serious challenge from the 2010 election. Instead, the opposite has taken place. 5 candidates have announced their intention to run for the Republican nomination to take the district’s House seat from Nye.

Blue Dogs are like ailing wildebeest out on the African savannah who, in order to help lions tracking the herd identify them as easy to pick off, have painted a big blue X on their flanks.