MORE PERFIDY FROM THE DCCC-- THIS TIME IN MICHIGAN

A couple weeks ago we looked at the hush-hush training session the Democratic Insiders Club did in Chicago for some of their anointed candidates. As I wrote at the time, when the Insiders Club and it's puppet organizations (the DCCC and AFSCME, for example) picked candidates who are in contested or virtually uncontested primaries-- like Charlie Brown (CA), Darcy Burner (WA), Steve Dreihaus (OH), Jim Himes (CT), Mary Jo Kilroy (OH), John Boccieri (OH), Ron Shepston (CA), Eric Massa (NY), Dan Maffei (NY), Gary Peters (MI)-- they are doing exactly what they should be doing: helping Democrats beat Republicans. Each of these candidates is fighting a rubber stamp Republican. My beef with the DCCC is when they go back on their pledge not to interfere in primaries between two viable candidates.

Normally, although not always, they come down on the wrong side in these races. They come down on the side of tepid, overly careful, Republican-lite candidates who have lots of personal wealth but little in the way of grassroots support of activist passion. I was especially incensed that they invited millionaire Blue Dog Bill Foster instead of widely backed grassroots progressive John Laesch in IL-14. And Jared Polis spoke out loudly and strongly about the Insiders' Club favoritism towards Joan Fitz-Gerald, a race Blue America hasn't taken a stand on yet, mostly because both candidates seem equally progressive and equally viable and either would probably make a good member of Congress. Seeing the DCCC and it's allies trying to tilt the process against Polis, makes us want to reconsider our own neutrality.

Today a story in Roll Call shows the DCCC up to their old Rahmish tricks again in Michigan, subtly attempting to tilt a hotly contested local race in favor of their Insider candidate. Blue America members in Michigan have asked us to stay out of the primary between Nancy Skinner and Gary Peters. One of them is likely to beat rubber stamp Republican incumbent Joe Knollenberg next year. But first the residents of this suburban Detroit district have to choose their candidate. They have two good choices. Last year, in the best a Democrat has ever done against Knollenberg-- and with no help from the DCCC-- Nancy Skinner held him down to 52%. Nancy spent $400,000 and Knollenberg spent $3,105,161. Imagine if Rahm Emanuel would have directed some of the millions he wasted on reactionary Blue Dogs like Tammy Duckworth (IL), Christine Jennings (FL), John Cranley (OH) and Ken Lucas (KY) and used just a fraction of it to help Skinner! We would have had another vote for SCHIP and for ending the war, one of them a policy Emanuel even supports.

So how are they meddling? According to Roll Call DCCC Chair Van Hollen is touting an internal poll that shows "Democratic challengers gaining ground because of the battle over the State Children's Health Insurance Program. Van Hollen contended that Republicans who refuse to back the Democratic proposal to extend SCHIP could face a voter revolt in their home districts." So far so good. So far so good; Van Hollen is making a good point to the press. But then he veered off course, citing 3 districts, one in Virginia, one in Missouri and the one we're talking about today in Michigan. The only district-- at this moment at least-- Van Hollen cares about of the 3 is the one in Michigan. "Knollenberg is a major Democratic target this cycle... Van Hollen said it was proof positive that Knollenberg is vulnerable because of his position on the current SCHIP bill. The poll memo prepared by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research noted radio ads by the DCCC and television spots by the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees-- both hitting Knollenberg on SCHIP-- and credited them for softening up support for the Congressman among voters. Still good.

But here's where it got hairy; here's where the DCCC monkeys around.

According to this survey, portions of which were obtained by Roll Call, Knollenberg's lead over his likely challenger, state Lottery Commissioner Gary Peters (D), was at 7 points-- 42 percent to 35 percent-- a 5-point drop from the advantage the incumbent held in April.
 
Knollenberg's 7-point lead turned into a 7-point deficit after respondents were read both a push question characterizing his position on SCHIP, and the Democratic and Republican arguments for and against the program.

What makes Gary Peters the "likely challenger?" It sounds very much to me that Van Hollen is attempting to do exactly what Emanuel tried to do in CA-11 last year when he parachuted in an Ellen Tauscher Blue Dog (Steve Filson) to challenge anti-war grassroots Jerry McNerney. California voters told Emanuel and the DCCC to go to hell and, while many of Emanuel's horrible candidates lost around the country-- while others, like Heath Shuler, the 3 creeps in Indiana and Tim Mahoney routinely vote for Bush's agenda-- McNerney is now an anti-war congressman. Grassroots activists in Michigan tell me Skinner has at least a 50-50 chance to come out of this on top. It's wrong for the DCCC to treat this race as though she doesn't exist. It's ugly.

One Nancy Skinner advocate in the district just voiced the same kind of frustration with Van Hollen that so many people have felt about Emanuel. "It would have been nice if they had polled Joe against both Gary and Nancy, but they've obviously picked their guy and are not staying out of it like they should be --- and as they promised. Maybe they're afraid they'd find out that Nancy actually has more support and name recognition around the district. Joe was even leading Gary in this poll until they threw SCHIP into the question. I would have loved to see where Nancy would have polled with and without SCHIP."

This DCCC mentality is anti-democratic and leads to lost opportunities. It's the same mentality that led Nancy Pelosi to alienate so many activists with her ill-advised fundraiser last weekend for reactionary and corrupt Democrat Al Wynn in Maryland. Which reminds me... we went over the $90,000 mark today in our quest to bring Donna Edwards the same $100,000 Pelosi, Hoyer and Emanuel squeezed out of lobbyists and other Inisder slime for the corrupt and reactionary Wynn. Wanna help? Right here.