Centrists Rising. Maybe.

Are Centrists taking a power role in Congress? Knight Ridder has this report. A must read, but here’s the conclusion:

The rise of an assertive centrist bloc in Congress could change the dynamic of power along Pennsylvania Avenue. In his first term, Bush largely relied on Republican leaders in Congress to enforce party discipline and got almost everything he wanted.

His stature as the war-on-terrorism president seemed to trump Congress' usual instinct to demand respect as an equal branch of government requiring give and take.

Now, despite having won a clear majority in November, Bush could be forced into the kind of bargaining with lawmakers that he ignored in his first term.

"Were a group like this to continue to cooperate this way, we might see the center really take hold," said John Green, a political scientist at the University of Akron. "We're into new territory."