[img_assist|nid=3089|title=Rep. Mike Ross (D-Ark.)|desc=Campaign Photo|link=none|align=left|width=200|height=164]This afternoon, Queen Anne's County State's Attorney Frank Kratovil, the Democratic nominee in Maryland's 1st Congressional District, pledged to join the Blue Dog Coalition of moderate to conservative congressional Democrats if elected this November.

On a conference call with the group’s co-chair, U.S. Rep. Mike Ross (D-Ark.), Kratovil said he was “very pleased” to receive this coveted endorsement since “the Blue Dogs in many ways represent ‘responsibility’ across the spectrum,” but especially on fiscal issues.

“It’s wrong to be telling people what they want to hear. We have to be responsible,” Kratovil said. “We can’t continue to tell people we can have it both ways” when it comes to spending and taxes.

Kratovil promised that he would join “like-minded Democrats and like-minded Republicans” to “get our fiscal house back in order.” He pledged to work toward the Blue Dog goals of a public review of earmarks and a balanced budget amendment to the U.S. Constitution, with an exception for times of war and national crisis.

Ross said, “We represent the middle of the House of Representatives because that’s where we know America is and that’s where we know where Frank is.”

The Democrat from Arkansas’ 4th Congressional District mentioned that “dozens” of candidates are seeking the Blue Dog’s endorsement, but only 7 others had made it through the extensive interview process, with Kratovil making number 8.

“Frank can tell you, it wasn’t easy to get to where we are today,” he said.

Ross also emphasized that the group is “not in the interested in endorsing candidates just for political cover,” saying that they take their endorsements and their membership roster quite seriously.

The Blue Dog Coalition capped its membership to 20 percent of the Democratic caucus because they didn’t want to grow “too big, too fast,” which is “a great problem to have,” Ross said.

“A lot of groups in Congress have grown so large, they’ve lost their effectiveness.”

He believes they will likely change their by-laws after the 2008 elections to include their newly endorsed members.

Ross also said that Kratovil will receive the maximum donation from the group’s political action committee and that several other “conservative, moderate, common-sense Democrats” will send money as well.

“He’ll win big,” Ross said confidently, “and he’ll be joining the Blue Dog Coalition in January.”

To Republican Andy Harris’ campaign, the endorsement means little.

"Voters in the 1st District will care more about Kratovil's promise to raise taxes, support wasteful spending, and be ally of Governor O'Malley's in Washington than the support he has received from a Washington Democratic endorsement,” campaign manager Chris Meekins said. "Voters are looking for a change in the way Washington does business and clearly Kratovil is more of the same."

The Blue Dog Coalition, formed 13 years ago during the 104th Congress, currently touts 49 members from 26 states whose focus is to “bridge the gap between ideological extremes.” The caucus does not currently include a member from Maryland.

The name is play off of the old Southern saying, ‘Yellow dog Democrat’ (As in ‘I’d vote for a yellow dog before I vote Republican’), and because they feel “their moderate-to-conservative-views had been "choked blue" by their party in the years leading up to the 1994 election.”

Ross also used the conference call as an opportunity to highlight how Blue Dog candidates win in tough races. Endorsements went to two of the Democrat’s three 2008 special election pick-ups: Travis Childers in Mississippi’s 1st Congressional District and Don Cazayoux in Louisiana’s 6th. Also, 24 Blue Dogs won their seats by defeating a Republican incumbent since 1996.