Blue Dogs becoming an endangered species

Fresno Bee reports:

Today, the Blue Dogs are an endangered political species and face relegation to the dust bin of history, alongside the Boll Weevils and Dixiecrats.

Obama's controversial health-reform law and the continuing economic malaise picked off nearly half of the Blue Dogs in 2010. Now, other Blue Dogs, including Cardoza, are sizing up the future and deciding to get out instead of running again.

It's a startling turn for a coalition that once had muscle and served the important role of brokering compromise between hardcore liberals and conservatives.