The Fine Art of Primaries-- Doug Tudor, A Quintessential "Better Democrat"

I only trust one of these Florida Democrats to actually breath fire when the chips are down

Yesterday my friend Chris Bowers did a provocative post at OpenLeft, Keeping Better Democrats, in which he posits that the netroots should put more concentration on working to protect endangered progressives in the 2010 cycle. His premise is solid.

Good Democrats in either swing or Republican leaning districts who I would like to protect include Representatives Tom Perriello, Eric Massa (yeah, I know I have ragged on him before), Alan Grayson, and Senator Russ Feingold. Even Democrats like Representatives Brad Miller, Phil Hare, Raul Grijalva, Betty Sutton, Chellie Pingree and Senator Barbara Boxer might face some trouble.  It seems to me that keeping these members of Congress around is a more prudent allocation of resources than taking a chance on candidates who, even if they are lucky enough to take away open and / or blue seats from Republicans, might not end up being all that great once they are in Congress.  We know who the better Democrats already are--isn't it better to keep them than to take chances on new ones?

I sent him a note cheering him on and making a couple of additions to his calculations. For one thing I felt the need to point out that the DCCC is also putting their main focus into incumbent retention (led by Debbie Wasserman Schultz). If history is prologue, we will be able to count on her to pour resources into quasi-Democrats in red districts, people like Parker Griffith (who has already promised that he will vote against Nancy Pelosi as Speaker next year) and other Democrats who have LITERALLY voted more frequently with the Republicans on key issues than with the Democrats, like (from bad to worse, Griffith being tied with Boren as the second worst of all)-- Baron Hill (IN), Kathleen Dahlkemper (PA), Ann Kirkpatrick (AZ), Bill Foster (IL), Chris Carney (PA), Mike McIntyre (NC), Heath Shuler (NC), John Barrow (GA), Jim Matheson (UT), Mike Ross (AR), Bobby Bright (AL), Frank Kratovil (MD), Joe Donnelly (IN), Glenn Nye (VA), Travis Childers (MS), Charlie Melancon (LA), Jason Altmire (PA), Harry Mitchell (AZ), Walt Minnick (ID), Jim Marshall (GA), Dan Boren (OK), Parker Griffith (AL), and Gene Taylor (MS).

The problem with primarying bad Democrats, alas, is that there aren't progressives or even genuine moderates, up the food chain in many of these Republican-tilting districts. Where there are local Democrats in the legislature they are often as bad or worse than the congressman we'd like to primary. Last year we thought we found the ideal situation-- Regina Thomas, a sterling state legislator who had never lost an election-- and in a solid Democratic district represented by a reprehensible Blue Dog (John Barrow). The Democratic primary turn out is very labor oriented and very African-American. The unions backed Barrow and Obama cut radio spots for him that just buried Thomas. Barrow has returned the kindness by opposing labor and Obama on almost everything.

This year I've been looking at open seats. There are lots of Republicans and Democrats leaving the congressional seats, often to run for higher office. My favorite race so far is in Polk County, Florida, where Howdy Doody Adam Putnam is giving up his seat to run for State Agriculture and Consumer Commissioner, a gateway to higher office. The progressive candidate who ran last year-- and did as well, with ZERO institutional support, as the DCCC Florida candidates who lost-- is Doug Tudor and he's running again. This blog has endorsed him. The Blue Dogs have rallied-- big time-- for a quasi-Democrat who's as reactionary as you can be and reasonably call yourself a Democrat, Lori Edwards. The Blue Dogs have endorsed her, are collecting money for her, and are getting their colleagues on board. This week Congressman Fire-breathing Liberal endorsed her as well. Wasserman Schultz is jumping all over everyone to get behind Edwards-- a sure vote against the Democratic agenda. She has one of those Rahm Emanuel websites that doesn't include any policy positions. Florida progressives have already expressed dismay that Wexler would get behind her.

It disturbs me greatly to hear that you have endorsed Lori Edwards, a Blue Dog DINO, for Florida CD-12. I am a Progressive Democrat who looked to you for leadership in this most dysfunctional of states, and to see that you have gone against your own beliefs to support someone who has gone on record as opposing the Healthcare overhaul and the public option confounds me to no end. It calls into questions whether you really believe in the Progressive values you say that you do.

I called Doug Tudor and he told me he's "amazed."

How in the world the House’s only self-proclaimed “Fire Breathing Liberal” can tout a Blue Dog is beyond me. With a firm Democratic majority in both chambers, the Blue Dogs are the only reason we will get a watered-down version of a public option on healthcare. I fully support a single-payer plan, but a robust, strong public option has to be the absolute baseline for any bill worthy of consideration to come before this Congress. I trust Mr. Wexler will rethink his friendship-based, email endorsement of Lori Edwards, as it is the same as endorsing the presumed Republican nominee in Florida’s 12th District. There is no light between those two candidates. With FL-12 having some of Florida’s highest unemployment rates, high school dropout rates, and home foreclosure rates, we need a bold progressive voice that will stand up for working families. We absolutely, positively do not need an echo of failed Reaganomics and corporate profits offered by the conservatives-- both Republican and Democratic. 
 
Working on the personal staff of three Commanders, U.S. Central Command, I learned that “no man is a hero to his valet.” Today, I learned the same thing about a fighting progressive in relationship to a fire-breathing liberal.
 
Last year, we progressives astounded the world by not going with the politically safe, status quo candidate for President. Mr. Wexler, as someone who has always been on the front lines of progressive leadership, should have learned that lesson also. He, if anybody, should be pushing the healthcare legislation from the left. I look forward to personally making that argument to him, but I hope your readers will help remind him that sometimes-- preferably most of the time-- you have to take a chance on the underdog in order to truly effect ‘change.’”

I called Wexler's office this morning and they said his press assistant would get back to me. She never did. Like Adam Putnam and the Republican hoping to follow him-- but unlike Doug Tudor-- Lori Edwards opposes meaningful health care reform. Looking at the report the House Energy and Commerce Committee published for FL-12, it is clear that Lori Edwards has no idea how beneficial the bill she's against would be for the people she's seeking to represent.

America’s Affordable Health Choices Act would provide significant benefits in the 12th Congressional District of Florida: up to 15,700 small businesses could receive tax credits to provide coverage to their employees; 13,300 seniors would avoid the donut hole in Medicare Part D; 1,500 families could escape bankruptcy each year due to unaffordable health care costs; health care providers would receive payment for $101 million in uncompensated care each year; and 109,000 uninsured individuals would gain access to high-quality, affordable health insurance. Congressman Adam H. Putnam represents the district.

• Help for small businesses. Under the legislation, small businesses with 25 employees or less and average wages of less than $40,000 qualify for tax credits of up to 50% of the costs of providing health insurance. There are up to 15,700 small businesses in the district that could qualify for these credits.

• Help for seniors with drug costs in the Part D donut hole. Each year, 13,300 seniors in the district hit the donut hole and are forced to pay their full drug costs, despite having Part D drug coverage. The legislation would provide them with immediate relief, cutting brand name drug costs in the donut hole by 50%, and ultimately eliminate the donut hole.

• Health care and financial security. There were 1,500 health care-related bankruptcies in the district in 2008, caused primarily by the health care costs not covered by insurance. The bill provides health insurance for almost every American and caps annual out-of-pocket costs at $10,000 per year, ensuring that no citizen will have to face financial ruin because of high health care costs.

• Relieving the burden of uncompensated care for hospitals and health care providers. In 2008, health care providers in the district provided $101 million worth of uncompensated care, care that was provided to individuals who lacked insurance coverage and were unable to pay their bills. Under the legislation, these costs of uncompensated care would be virtually eliminated.

• Coverage of the uninsured. There are 132,000 uninsured individuals in the district, 17% of the district. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that nationwide, 97% of all Americans will have insurance coverage when the bill takes effect. If this benchmark is reached in the district, 109,000 people who currently do not have health insurance will receive coverage.

• No deficit spending. The cost of health care reform under the legislation is fully paid for: half through making the Medicare and Medicaid program more efficient and half through a surtax on the income of the wealthiest individuals. This surtax would affect only 2,310 households in the district. The surtax would not affect 99.3% of taxpayers in the district.

Let me offer you two ways to fight the Blue Dogs. First-- contribute to Doug Tudor's campaign. Second-- contribute to the new Bad Dogs page. The DNC is running this spot against Republican opponents of health care. They could just as well run it against Blue Dog "Democrats" like Lori Edwards while they're at it: