DCCC's Doling Out The Money Pretty Badly-- Unless You Want To See Fewer Democrats In Congress

How to get the most bones from the DCCC

Just the way we do here, Reid Wilson at the National Journal watches both polling and where the national party committees are spending their last minute money to come up with a picture of how the House races are likely to come out a week from Tuesday.

Where the DCCC didn't spend money is as indicative as where it did. With two weeks to go, Democrats are using their checkbooks as acknowledgment that nearly a dozen members are beyond saving.

The DCCC did not spend money on behalf of Reps. Mary Jo Kilroy (D-Ohio), Debbie Halvorson (D-Ill.), Betsy Markey (Blue Dog-CO), Alan Grayson (D-FL), Suzanne Kosmas (D-FL), Patrick Murphy (Blue Dog-PA) and Steve Kagen (D-WI), the filings show. Republicans believe those seven seats are all but guaranteed to fall their way.

Even in some races where Democrats did spend money, their advertising indicates little more than a token effort at salvaging seats that are also likely to fall to the GOP. The DCCC is spending just $30,000 for Rep. Steve Driehaus (D-Ohio), who polls show trailing ex-Rep. Steve Chabot (R) by wide margins.

Driehaus is belatedly and desperately campaigning against the DCCC to try to save his seat, which is probably doomed. It looks like Chabot, an ally of Boehner and the worst of the Big Business/Wall Street interests delusional Ohio voters seem eager to re-embrace this year, will win back the seat he first won in 1994 and narrowly lost in 2008 (52-48%-- with Obama besting McCain 55-44%, after narrow Bush wins in 2000 and 2004). And I'm guessing Betsy Markey's and Suzanne Kosmas' inability to define themselves as champions of working families has also doomed their reelection prospects. Beyond that, though, Wilson seems to be buying into GOP overreach. The latest polling still shows Patrick Murphy ahead of former Rep. Michael Fitzpatrick 46-43%. The last FEC report showed that Murphy, who raised $3,610,549 compared to Fitzpatrick's $1,422,323 has $1,617,497 cash on hand, just about double what Fitzpatrick has held onto.

As for Alan Grayson, the recipient of more grassroots money than any other Member of Congress (around $4,000,000 as of September 30), polls don't even take into account that there's an official Tea Party candidate, Peg Dunmire running (as well as another crackpot independent) who will take votes away from Republican Daniel Webster. Grayson still has $1,209,617 cash on hand (to Webster's $399,489) and Grayson has the best field operation in the entire country. The local reactionaries and Beltway pundits so eager to write him off-- he doesn't fit their idea of an easily definable quantity-- seem unaware his operation has been registering Democrats, tens of thousands of them-- even since he was first elected in 2008, a race that all the pundits said he couldn't possibly win and which the DCCC also said he couldn't possibly win. A slimy corporate shill who will be dealt with after Nov 3 couldn't wait to write him off but I wouldn't bet against this guy, even though the big right-wing money has been spent against him more than any other Member of the House.

The big buys the DCCC made this week were once again mostly for reactionary Blue Dogs and fellow travelers. Keeping him close to the #1 most supported incumbent is Bobby Bright who got an additional $225,000 (bringing his total so far to $1,128,188.33). Another dirt bag Blue Dog they spent big on this week was Chad Causey, a corporate shill looking to replace Marion Berry in AR-1 and whose $315,000 IE has pushed his race's total to $1,175,709.11 from the DCCC-- while having spent exactly zero for tested progressive Joyce Elliott in AR-2. Actually here's a list of the races that included expenditures over a quarter million dollars this week for incumbent retention, with the totals spent by the DCCC as well. The bolded names voted against the healthcare reform bill and the ones in italics voted against Choice.

Zack Space (Blue Dog-OH)- $609K/ $1,235,384.94
Dina Titus (NV)- $395K/ $935,892.59
Baron Hill (Blue Dog-IN)- $374K/ $786,079.99
Bill Foster (IL)- 366K/ $717,389.49
Larry Kissell (NC)- $363K/ $1,235,982.62
Phil Hare (IL)- 360K/ $956,054.66
Kurt Schrader (Blue Dog-OR)- $345K/ $778,583.95
Ike Skelton (MO)- $313K/ $743,980.44
Frank Kratovil (Blue Dog-MD)- $308K/ $1,118,981.58
Jerry McNerney (CA)- $308K/ $476,450.86
John Boccieri (OH)- $294K/ $1,141,887.71
Mark Schauer (MI)- $265K/ $955,225.00
Bobby Bright (Blue Dog-AL)- $255K/ $1,128,188.33

God Knows I've Been Disappointed By Obama And The Democrats...

but a C is always better than an F and I'll be damned before I let these muthafuckers take over the country again without me fighting back as best I can