Yesterday, the following amendment to The National Defense Authorization Act, FY `06 was voted on in the House: The amendment marked the first time that withdrawal from Iraq has been voted on in the House since the start of the war. Lynn Woolsey (D-CA) introduced the amendment, and forced a roll call vote. The amendment went down 128-300. While this was not an actual vote on withdrawal, since the amendment it did not specify a timetable or rescind Bush's authorization to conduct the war, it does at least provide a general sense of where the House currently stands on withdrawal. We are ninety votes short of reaching 218, which actually isn't that bad when you consider that seventy-nine Democrats voted against the amendment. What is somewhat less hopeful is how the different Democratic subgroups in the House voted (12 Blue Dogs are also DLC, and so total Democrats and Bernie Sanderses do not add up to 203):

Progressives: 92.2% (47 of 51 voted in favor)
Non-aligned: 63.3% (57 of 90 voted in favor)
DLC: 35.9% (14 of 39 voted in favor)
Blue Dogs: 14.3% (5 of 35 voted in favor)
Republicans: 2.2% (5 of 232 voted in favor)

There is clearly a gaping divide in the Democratic Party over Iraq. While the non-aligned Democrats are, as usual, almost precisely between the DLC and the Progressives, the difference between the DLCers and the Progressives is much, much larger than normal. While my last update on Congressional voting loyalty showed only a 16.6% gap between the two groups, here we see a galactic 56.3% divide. When it comes to withdrawal, these two Democratic groups are actually more dissimilar than similar. Further, the Blue Dogs are actually closer o the Republicans than the DLC. Iraq policy remains the ultimate wedge within the Democratic Party.

I should point out that the twenty-seven members of the DLC who are not also members of the Blue Dogs actually voted slightly in favor of withdrawal. Fourteen of those twenty-seven voted Yes, twelve voted No, and one did not vote. Also, Nancy Pelosi was one of the four Progressives who voted No. When the majority lacks the support of the leadership, disunity of this sort is to be expected.