Van Hollen brushes off members' ads that seek distance from Obama, Pelosi

The chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee brushed off various members' ads touting opposition to President Obama and Speakers Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), saying it simply shows the party is a big tent, unlike the right.

On CNN's "State of the Union" on Sunday, Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) was asked about a variety of the ads, including one from Rep. Bobby Bright (D-Ala.) boasting he voted with Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) 80 percent of the time.

"We're very proud of the fact that we have an ideologically diverse caucus," Van Hollen said. "As opposed to on the other side, where you have this ideological purity test," he added, saying the Republican Party litmus test had been moved even further to the right by the Tea Party movement.

"We have a big tent, and we're problem solvers," he said. "And that is, I think, what voters are looking for."

Van Hollen said the ads showed members breaking with the president and speaker on various issues, but really showed there is "no room for moderates, no room for pragmatists in the Republican Party."

"And while you're emphasizing some of the issues where they are separating themselves from the president and the speaker, there are a whole lot of issues where they're very much in support of that agenda," he said.

"Yes, there are going to be examples where members are taking a position that's different than the position of the speaker, or of the president," Van Hollen said. "But there are also lots of cases where they're contrasting themselves very clearly to the Republicans and the special interests."

Chief Deputy Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) brushed off suggestions that Republicans were waiting to pull some of these vulnerable members over to their party, saying "the Democratic makeup is much more liberal than it's ever been."

Pelosi is continuing to push "job-killing legislation," McCarthy said, and "every single Democrat that's running right now voted for her as speaker."

He said he felt enthusiasm for GOP candidates was even stronger than in 1994.

"I think there's a great chance that we take the House," McCarthy said. "...We're not running to be a minority party."