The Hill News

A retiring Democrat on Thursday blamed the "stovepiping of news" for centrists' increased electoral difficulties.

Outgoing Rep. Chet Edwards (D-Texas) blamed partisan news outlets for making it difficult for centrists like himself to get reelected to Congress.

"I think people getting their news from stovepipe sources of information, where people are basically getting the news they want to hear ... is making it hard for centrist Democrats," he told ABC News as part of a roundtable of outgoing members of Congress.

Edwards lost to Republican Bill Flores on Nov. 2, ending a three-term career in the House during which House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) in 2008 publicly recommended that then-Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) name the congressman his vice presidential nominee.

"The stovepiping of news is making it hard to elect centrists, who I think are critical to our checks-and-balances form of democracy," Edwards said.

A ! number of centrist Democrats, many of whom were elected in 2006 and 2008, lost to Republicans in this past fall's elections. The Democratic Caucus returning to Washington next year will have a much more liberal profile as a result.

The returning Republicans will be more conservative, too, thanks to some of the primary victories by GOP figures associated with the Tea Party movement.

Outgoing Rep. Mike Castle (R-Del.), one such casualty of the Tea Party via his loss to Christine O'Donnell in a GOP Senate primary, also lashed out at the media.

"People are listening to what they want to listen to, and not hearing any other point of view at all," he said in the roundtable.