Dominoes: Another prominent Democrats switches parties and joins the GOP!

This is a biggie.  Ashley Bell, a former President of College Democrats, Bell is a 30 year old moderate who campaigned for John Edwards and spoke at the 2004 Democratic Convention.  And did we mention he is African American?

For Democrats, Ashley Bell was the kind of comer that a party builds a future on: A young African American lawyer, he served as president of the College Democrats of America, advised presidential candidate John Edwards and spoke at the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston.  But after his party's midterm beat-down in November, Bell, a commissioner in northern Georgia's Hall County, jumped ship. He joined the Republicans.  Bell, 30, said he had serious issues with the healthcare law and believed that conservative "blue dog" Democrats in Congress who shared his values had been bullied into voting for it.  Bell's defection is one of dozens by state and local Democratic officials in the Deep South in recent months that underscore Republicans' continued consolidation of power in the region — a process that started with presidential politics but increasingly affects government down to the level of dogcatcher.  "I think the midterms showed you really can't be a conservative and be a member of the Democratic Party," Bell said.  Since the midterm election, 24 state senators and representatives have made the switch in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and Texas.

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