Leonard Boswell prominently displays a "Blue Dog Conservative Democrat" logo on his House web page. And this week, his Blue Dog partners control the fate of federal legislation granting telecommunications companies retroactive immunity for cooperating with the government in warrantless surveillance. Boswell and other self-described Blue Dogs are bucking Democratic leadership and joining with House Republicans to keep the retroactive immunity provision the Bush Administration wants. The Protect America Act, a stopgap measure, has been in place since a classified ruling from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court reportedly imposed limitations on the government's warrantless eavesdropping activities.

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