Colorado’s two Democratic U.S. senators, Mark Udall and Michael Bennet, have joined a new club comprised of the new moderates.

Led by senators Evan Bayh of Indiana (pictured), Tom Carper of Delaware, and Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas, the group of about 15 lawmakers hopes to influence the direction of President Barack Obama’s agenda, writes The Denver Post.

The Moderate Dems Working Group hopes to figure prominently in negotiations over the government’s role in stimulating the economy, but it has already become a target of the Democratic Party’s left wing. Rachel Maddow, the popular MSNBC television host, has dubbed Udall and Bennet part of the “conservadems” movement. But Udall and Bennet say they are trying to be brokers for Obama by getting Republican support.

The New York Times notes that the group, “in some ways,” is a “direct challenge” to Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada.

The senators will meet on alternating Tuesdays, according to The Colorado Independent, and ColoradoPols is calling the organization a “caucus thingy” and is critical about what it will be able to accomplish: “Hiding yourself in the ‘moderate caucus’ in order to cast votes against your Democratic constituency isn’t going to fool anyone.”

Posted 3/19/2009 at 9:15 am by Michael de Yoanna
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