Word: griffiths
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...month for Democrats. Early in December, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi moved to stem the tide of lower-chamber retirements after four veteran moderate, so-called Blue Dogs announced that they would not run for re-election. Then, instead of a retirement, another Blue Dog - this time Alabama freshman Parker Griffith - jumped ship to the Republican Party. Only a year after celebrating an expected six GOP Senate retirements in 2010 and nearly a dozen in the House (that number is now up to 14), Democrats suddenly find themselves increasingly on the defensive...
...order to achieve this, Republicans must unify their fractured party, and given the spate of conservative primary challenges, from Mark Rubio in Florida to Rand Paul in Kentucky, this will be no easy task. The tea-party movement is also making life difficult for new recruits like Griffith, who after switching parties now faces a tough primary. And the GOP is plagued by cash woes. After spending heavily in the Virginia and New Jersey gubernatorial races last November, the Republican National Committee has $8.7 million left in the bank - the worst balance in a decade - compared with the Democratic National...
...Griffith, a radiation oncologist, had accumulated one of the most conservative voting records of any House Democrat. He was one of seven Democrats to oppose Obama's economic stimulus measure early this year...
Democrats will hold 257 House seats to the GOP's 178 after Griffith's switch...
...Spearman, executive director of the Alabama Democratic Party, said the switch "shouldn't come as a surprise" with the way Griffith voted...