WASHINGTON — Congress has so few moderate Republicans that at least in the Senate they could squeeze into a Volkswagen Beetle.
Their ranks have dwindled in recent elections. Those who remain in politics have been marginalized by their own party, which has inexorably veered to the right over the last generation.
But this beleaguered minority has an opportunity to wield outsized influence on what President-elect Barack Obama can accomplish in Congress.
Although Democrats made big congressional gains in the 2008 election, they are still a vote or two short of the 60-vote majority they need in the Senate to keep a tight rein on GOP filibusters that can easily gum up the works.
The support of just one or two moderate Republicans could be decisive in a close, party-line vote on issues such as union rights and economic rescue plans. So though there may be fewer moderates in Congress, they are in for a lot of attention.
"The power of moderates is declining in the country: They are fewer in number and the country has polarized," said Thomas F. Schaller, a political scientist at the University of Maryland at Baltimore County. "But in any vote where you are down to one to two votes there are always going to be people in the middle who have decisive power."
Vice President-elect Joe Biden and Obama's incoming budget director, Peter R. Orszag, have met with Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) about economic stimulus legislation. Obama's team has consulted Rep. Michael N. Castle (R-Del.), an expert on education, about school issues. Obama's choice for secretary of Transportation -- Ray LaHood of Illinois -- was a moderate GOP leader in the House until he retired this year.
But if recent elections are any guide, being a moderate -- one who supports abortion rights, for example, opposed the war in Iraq or supported labor unions -- is hazardous to a Republican's political health.
Swing voters have been alienated by President Bush's policies and perceptions that the Republican Party is dominated by extremists.
The litany of Republican lawmakers who lost reelection over the last few years includes such centrists as Rep. Christopher Shays (R-Conn.) and Sen. Gordon H. Smith (R-Ore.), who were defeated in 2008. Retirees this year included such moderates as Sen. John W. Warner (R-Va.) and Rep. James T. Walsh (R-N.Y.).
In the House, where there is strict majority rule, Democrats will have little need to court Republicans to pass most of their agenda.
