Bush Dog Watch: Jim Costa

by David Dayen [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

Chris Bowers and Matt Stoller have started the Bush Dog Project to identify those Democrats who have voted with the President on the major issues that have the rank and file screaming betrayal; specifically, the Capitulation Bill giving Bush billions more for Iraq, and the FISA bill allowing Alberto Gonzales to wiretap American citizens without a warrant.  These are overwhelmingly unpopular positions at odds with most of the American people, to say nothing of Democrats.  Yet 38 "Bush Dog" Democrats voted for both of these bills, including one member of Congress from California: Jim Costa.

Costa is a member of the Blue Dogs but not the New Democrat Coalition.  He's in one of the most Democratic seats out of the 38, with a Cook PVI of +4.6, so he's wildly out of step with his constituency.  CA-20, Costa's district, runs along I-5 through Fresno, Kings and Kern Counties in the Central Valley.  It includes the city of Fresno.  Democrats have held this seat for a while, but Costa was only elected in 2004, replacing Cal Dooley (who was also something of a Bush Dog, having voted to authorize the war in Iraq, a vote he now regrets).  While Costa had a mildly difficult battle winning the open seat against Roy Ashburn in 2004 (he won 54-46%), he faced no Republican opposition in 2006.

So we have a somewhat new legislator in a traditionally New Democrat seat, but it's in a district that gave Al Gore his largest margin of victory outside of the urban metropolises.  And it's 63% Latino.  So there's no excuse for Costa to be so in line with President Bush on the major issues, and certainly no excuse for him voting to throw the Fourth Amendment overboard and drown it (Incidentally, AT&T has given him a lot of money over the years.  Do with that information what you will.).  This is also important because the Central Valley needs to return to being a more prominently Democratic area, and Jim Costa needs to be the standard bearer for that because this is the most Democratic district in the region.  So he must hear from his constituents about their displeasure with his being a rubber stamp for failed Bush Administration initiatives and the taking away of our civil liberties.  This will ultimately make us a stronger party.