The Democrats' Magic Bullet? They'd Be Better Off With A Magic Mullet

A few weeks ago a friend of mine who sits in Congress left a Democratic House Caucus meeting and called me and said the party is doomed. Most of them, he warned me, have lost whatever retail political skills and instincts they may have once had. "All they know about is running to special interests and whoring out their asses for cash to hire consultants and media firms who put together ineffective, astronomically expensive ad campaigns." On the other hand, he said the DCCC, as poorly run and incompetent at anything beyond sucking up cash, was loaded. "They're sitting on $50 million," he told me. Well, now they're sitting on $41 million and it's what they're counting on to save their asses.

I was on a conference call with Speaker Pelosi Wednesday. I had the uncomfortable feeling that her upbeat mood wasn't because she was attempting to deceive the folks on the call... but because she had succeeded in deluding herself. She told us her Members are fired up, ready to stand up for their accomplishments and take the battle to the people. She's delusional. When the moderator accidentally opened up my mike and I started to ask a question-- about apologetic, craven Blue Dogs Bobby Bright and Jim Marshall (see video above)-- I was immediately cut off. [It's been 2 years and I still have no idea why they invite me on these calls; I've never gotten to ask a question. Just as well; I'm shy.]

Anyway... the DCCC had predetermined the unhappy outcome of this year's midterms when visionless leaders Chris Van Hollen and Debbie Wasserman Schultz-- not to mention corrupt (more about that November 3) professionals Jon Vogel and John Lapp-- followed the advice of the Republican Party and their Village allies by going into the defensive crouch of determined losers. They put corporate money vacuum/Rahm Emanuel protégé Wasserman Schultz-- best known for her sabotage of 3 Democratic races in South Florida in 2008-- in charge of incumbent protection and told her she could use virtually the whole budget to help re-elect the Democrats who had most alienated the base by voting most frequently with John Boehner (i.e., Blue Dogs). Basically there would be next to nothing for Democratic challengers willing to go on the attack against some of the most hateful and harmful of the Republican Party's storm troopers-- from leaders like John Boehner, Thaddeus McCotter and Paul Ryan to execrable, shrieking backbenchers like Steve King, Virginia Foxx, Paul Broun and Ken Calvert.

There are too many Democrats in deeply red districts for this kind of a strategy to work in a year like this. Never mind that Bobby Bright-- who never votes with the Democrats on contentious issues, brags he's a Boehner Boy in his own TV ads and vowed to not vote for Nancy Pelosi or any other liberals-- is worthless; his district is overwhelmingly Republican. Obama only managed to win 36% of the vote there in 2008 and Bright managed to scrape by with a 1,790 vote margin. This hasn't stopped Wasserman Schultz, Vogel and Lapp from allocating more money to Bright than to any other Democratic incumbent in the House, so far $870,664.90-- with more in the pipeline. (Second has gone to an almost equally reprehensible conservative, Frank Kratovil in a Maryland district that gave Obama 40%, Kratovil a 2,852 vote margin and has sucked up $802,799.82 from the DCCC so far this year.)

This wasteful expenditure isn't going to save either of these seats. Both will be won by actual Republicans in 2 weeks. What it does is jeopardize loyal Democratic incumbents who are cash-starved and possibly doom the prospects of promising Democratic challengers in districts that Obama won in 2008. Bill Hedrick is the perfect example. His Inland Empire (Riverside/Orange counties) district gave Obama a 50-49% win over McCain-- a ten point increase over Kerry's total 4 years earlier-- while Hedrick lost to Ken Calvert 51-49%. The DCCC spent nothing at all in the district in 2008 and acknowledged what a terrible mistake they had made afterwards, promising to never let it happen again. This year, though, in a rematch-- after demographic and registration shifts that favor Democrats-- the DCCC has spent the exact same amount that they spent in 2008: nothing. The latest polling-- on top of a Fox News exposé of Calvert as one of the most corrupt Members of Congress-- shows Hedrick, a committed progressive, ready to beat the incumbent. One problem: the corrupt corporate hack has sucked up $1,368,747 this year, while Hedrick has managed to raise $367,698. Going into the final two weeks Calvert has a massive cash advantage and the DCCC has shirked its responsibility once again-- coming to California to raise millions for Blue Dog retention in the Deep South-- for anti-Choice, antigay, anti-reform, anti-healthcare conservatives-- while leaving California true blue challengers like Hedrick and Beth Krom high and dry... and unable to compete (at least financially). Even the California challengers the DCCC pretends to be behind-- Ami Bera and Steve Pougnet-- haven't seen a nickel in Independent Expenditure media buys. So where is all the money going?

There are some very well-connected-- connected to Lapp and Vogel, that is-- campaigns that are getting it all. Justin Coussoule, who's running against John Boehner? Nooooo... Ed Potosnak, who's running against the ultra-vulnerable Leonard Lance in a neck-and-neck race? Nooooo... Joyce Elliott, the Majority Leader of the Arkansas state Senate who would be the first African-American woman ever elected to federal office from that state if she were to win (against despicable Rove protégé Tim Griffin)? Nooo... they're too busy trying to wring a victory for right-wing Blue Dog Chad Causey (spending an obscene $743,919.61 on his race while ignoring Elliott's entirely).

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee had a monster September, bringing in nearly $16 million and ending last month with $41.6 million in the bank for the homestretch of the midterm elections.

The monthly fundraising total is nearly twice as much as the committee raised in August, and leaves it with a significant amount to spend on an expanding landscape of competitive races that feature vulnerable incumbents.

The committee has spent nearly $19 million in independent expenditures so far, according to reports filed through Tuesday with the Federal Election Commission. According to DCCC spokeswoman Jennifer Crider, it will spend another $40 million on TV over the final few weeks, while $20 million will be spent through coordinated spending and direct get-out-the-vote efforts.

Although the DCCC has managed to corral most of the Inside-the-Beltway operators and most big Democratic donors, the progressive grassroots are rallying to promising progressive candidates making worthwhile fights-- like Billy Kennedy in North Carolina, Bill Hedrick and Beth Krom in southern California, Boehner's opponent Justin Coussoule in Ohio, Tarryl Clark, the intrepid state Senator from St Cloud taking on vicious hatemonger Michelle Bachmann, Ann Kuster in New Hampshire and, in New Jersey, the LGBT's best chance to add a gay member to Congress, Ed Potosnak, supported by feisty, independent LGBT organizations, like Stonewall Democrats, but utterly abandoned by the DCCC-coopted shills like HRC and the Victory Fund. You can contribute to any-- or all-- of these campaigns, and others, here at the Blue America ActBlue page. And you can sign up at the Blue America/DFA/PCCC phonebank page to help make crucial phone calls to potential voters for your favorite House and Senate candidates; not just challengers like the ones we've been talking about above, but also a few well-deserving incumbents as well, like Russ Feingold, Alan Grayson, Raul Grijalva, Mary Jo Kilroy and Carol Shea-Porter (none of whom, predictably, have gotten any significant incumbent protection money from the DCCC so far).