As reported in the Politico:

Moderate and conservative Democrats in the Senate are starting to choke over the massive spending and tax increases in President Barack Obama’s budget plans and have begun plotting to increase their influence over the agenda of a president who is turning out to be much more liberal than they are.

A group of 14 Senate Democrats and one independent huddled behind closed doors on Tuesday, discussing how centrists in that chamber can assert more leverage on the major policy debates that will dominate this Congress.

Sen. Evan Bayh, the Indiana Democrat who assembled Tuesday’s skull session, added that he was “very concerned” about Washington’s level of spending, especially in a $410 billion “omnibus” spending bill to fund the government until the start of a new fiscal year in October.

As for the tax increases on high-income earners called for in Obama’s plan, Bayh said, “I do think that before we raise revenue, we first should look to see if there are ways we can cut back on spending.”

The anxiety that moderate and conservative Democrats in the Senate are feeling about Obama’s agenda is potentially significant. In the House, moderate Democrats have much less leverage to slow action on a majority that under Speaker Nancy Pelosi is eager to embrace the boldest and most expensive parts in the agenda.

Still sounds like CYA to me…….some of the 15 are up for re-election in 2010 and they are trying to help themselves to more popularity as the president’s is sliding.  Still sounds like cowards to me….this group is just trying to distant themselves from Obama…..because they will be in opposition on some issues like the card check thing among others.

The media is calling them “centrists”…….sorry, Obama is a “centrist”, this group is further right than that.   These cowards are nothing but the Senate copy of the House of Representative “Blue Dogs”.  Another group of cowards that are more intersted in covering their collective asses than working for the people that elected them.