JOHN BARROW: SMART TARGETING FROM THE OTHERWISE CLUELESS AND HOPELESS NRCC

Back a few years ago I was working at Warner Bros. Records, and one of our bands was living in Athens, Georgia. They told me a solid local progressive was running for Congress and asked me to donate to his campaign. I wrote a check for $2,000 and towards the end of the campaign I was somewhat nonplused when the candidate called me and told me that, basically, for political expediency he had to throw gays under the bus. I was watering my lawn at the time and just left like I should turn the hose on myself to clean off after the conversation. I recall thinking, "What a cowardly non-leader this is! I have to be way more careful in the future about who I donate to"

The cowardly non-leader went on to win the seat, barely, and accrue one of the half dozen overall worst voting records in Congress-- worst in terms of being the most eager to vote with the GOP and rubber stamp the Bush agenda. His name is John Barrow and you often see him on our lists of Democrats betraying progressive values and principles, progressive values and principles he absolutely believed in when he was a local legislator in Athens. Soon after he was elected the Republicans gerrymandered the district and sliced Athens, the most liberal part of the district, out, leaving him with a slightly more conservative constituency. He moved right-- big time, not just throwing gays under the bus, but throwing working class Americans under with them. He went from being a moderate Democrat to being a Republican-lite Dixiecrat. In 2006, in the midst of a Democratic electoral tsunami, in which 30 new Democrats were elected from every single region of the country and not one blue seat turned red, Barrow came closer than any other Democratic incumbent to losing his seat: 71,651 to 70,787, just 864 votes separating the real Republican from the sorta/kinda Republican..

Apparently he thought that it was so close because he wasn't voting with the GOP enough... so he moved even further right. In November we'll see if his calculations were correct or if he did so poorly because he has alienated enough progressives into staying home and not voting. He is one of the top handful of targets for the Republican Party this year, one of the only opportunities they realistically see for a blue to red change. But you won't find him on many grassroots lists of Democrats who need defending. Activists would just as soon donate their money and energy to incumbents who vote for Democratic values-- and for their own convictions. Barrow comes across like a pandering phony-- which is, at heart, exactly what he is. Even on the DCCC's pathetic Frontline list he's managed to accrue only two donors ($11.00 total).

This morning's Congressional Quarterly explains why Barrow looks like a good bet for Republicans. Barrow's one hope is that the district is 45% African American and that maybe enough of these voters won't realize that in this case the Democrat is nearly as bad for their interests as a Republican. Despite voting badly Barrow thinks he can pull the wool over his constituents' eyes with his endorsement of Barack Obama. The likely Republican nominee, John Stone, "is planning on using radio ads to position Barrow as a liberal," which is patently absurd and could actually drive up Democratic participation against Stone.

With a voting record that ranks among the most conservative of all House Democrats, it is an assertion Barrow, and his staff say they find baffling.

“It’s just silly,” said Barrow spokeswoman Jane Brodsky, noting that Barrow (who graduated from University of Georgia before attending Harvard) votes against the majority more than any other Democratic representative, according to a recent study by CQ.

Barrow takes a great deal of legalized corporate bribes in return for his atrocious voting record, which almost always comes down on the side of Big Business and against workers, consumers and the middle class.