There are no moderate representatives

One graph in the story refered to in the previous post deserves to be highlighted since it puts in a nutshell not only the polarized nature of Congress, but the fact that members of Congress do not represent the interests of moderates, only those of the extreme - who happen to be primary voters by the way. This is based on data from California, but there is little reason to expect it to not apply elsewhere - here in Texas for example.



Notice that the no member of Congress lies directly under the peak of either the typical Republican  or Democratic voter. This does suggest that we rethink who or what members of Congress actually represent. The traditional story - that they represent their constituents - clearly does not explain a thing.

The article this was pulled from costs money to access, but here is a link to it anyway.

Rubio helps GOP tack to the center

The Washington post reports on the Senator's proposal for an alternative Dream Act - which would offer chances for the children of illegal immigrants to become citizens. This is another example of the pivoting the party has to do in order to win the presidency, but its interesting that Romney is not doing it. He can embrace or reject it based on how it plays. Rubio is rumored to be on Romney's VP list.

Two questions:

1 - Will it be accepted by the party's base? Meaning, can Romney embrace the proposal and not lose the support of the party's right wing?

2 - Will it be accepted by the Latino population? Rubio's Cuban roots does not put him in the mainstream of the Latino community.