Blue Dog Tim Matheson, who won the primary in in UT-2 last night, wasn’t lacking for money:
By contrast, Matheson spent $757,000 as of June 2, and he still had money left to spend. About $959,000 of his contributions had come from various PACs, and $161,000 came from individual donors.
His opponent, Claudia Wright, spent about $20K after convincing 45% of the delegates at the Utah Democratic Convention to back her, which forced the primary.
I don’t know if this R+15 district could support a more progressive candidate, but this race illustrates a key point about the ugly mix that characterizes the typical Blue Dog. They’re conservative because of the ideology of their constituents, and they’re corporatist because of the demands of fundraising. If you need a couple million dollars every two years, you’re going to be in the pockets a more than one industry.