Party factions

There are two official caucuses in the House Democrats, the moderate to conservative Blue Dogs and the Progressives. Some of the other belong to the New Democrat caucus (aligned with the Clintonite Democratic Leadership Council) but its membership does not seem to be available. Graph for Democrats shows the two caucuses and the rest. The self-defined moderate Republicans are in the 'Mainstreet Partnership' and Republican graph shows this group and the rest of the Republicans. Note there is less of a one-dimensional left-right split in the Republicans; this may be due to paeloconservative tendencies opposed to social liberalism and economic globalisation. Note that there are no economic and social libertarians in Congress, there are socially moderate Republicans with laisser-faire economic views, but they are socially moderate not socially radical. 'Sex, drugs and capitalism' might have a blogsphere presence but it is not an effective political force. Socially mdoerate Republicans probably seem more progressive than they actually are because they tend to be compared, by the media and even by themselves, to the ultra-conservatives in their own party rather than all of Congress.