There are more conservatives than Republicans and more Democrats than liberals.In other words, there are conservative Democrats out there, and some relatively conservative independents too. His article explores the consequences of this imbalance for both parties.
He also finds that the Democrat leadership comes from very liberal districts, while the Republican leadership comes from moderately conservative districts. This explains why recent legislative action hasn't been popular with the public.
Read the article, nobody crunches numbers better than Barone.
