More on GOPers jumping ship

In These Times reports on an increasing number of Republican politicians doing a switcheroo and running for office as Democrats. Mostly, these candidates are from "red" states, like Oklahoma, Idaho, and South Carolina. All have similar reasons: the party's extreme rightward shift, increasing intolerance, and refusal to acknowledge its moderates and pragmatists. For example

“The moderate Republican has been pushed aside for the extreme right wing,” Oklahoma state Senator Nancy Riley told the Associated Press in August, when she became a Democrat. Riley represents a district in suburban Tulsa and has served as minority whip in a chamber that her former party was looking to take over in the fall election. She announced her defection after years of what she described as “abhorrent” treatment by Republican leaders who suffer a “lack of compassion for people.”

These days, the party most welcoming to centrists is the Democratic party, not the GOP. And the netroots are embracing these new Democrats with open arms. Go to Daily Kos and you'll find admiration for the moderate-to-conservative John Murtha and moderate candidates John Tester and James Webb. Heck, Webb's a former Reagan cabinet member. More candidates recognize this now.

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