DCCC Chair Steve Israel-- Nancy Pelosi's Biggest Mistake

Who's watching their waist... and who's not?

The DCCC has all it's eggs in one basket: defeating Republican freshmen. As we've seen all cycle, the DCCC just doesn't go after senior Republicans, Republican leaders or committee chairmen; very different from the successful Republican strategy of decapitating House Democrats whenever they can. In 2010 the NRCC targeted lots of top Democrats and beat them-- like Jim Oberstar, Chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee (first elected in 1974), Solomon Ortiz, Chairman of House Armed Services Committee's Subcommittee on Readiness (first elected in 1982), Paul Kanjorski, Chairman of the Subcommittee on Capital Markets, Insurance, and Government-Sponsored Enterprises (first elected in 1984), Gene Taylor, Chairman of the Subcommittee on Seapower (first elected in 1989), Rick Boucher, Chairman of the Subcommittee on Communications, Technology and the Internet (first elected in 1982), John Spratt, Chairman of the House Budget Committee (first elected in 1982), Ike Skelton, Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee (first elected in 1976). They replaced Spratt with Paul Ryan as head of the Budget Committee and Skelton with Buck McKeon as head of House Armed Services. Both Ryan and McKeon are in vulnerable positions in districts Obama won in 2008 and each could be beaten if the DCCC made an effort. They refuse to make that effort and have left Rob Zerban and Lee Rogers, two outstanding candidates, to struggle for funds on their own.

Yesterday The Hill reported that House Republican leaders are crisscrossing the country and raising money to help preserve their majority, a large portion of which comprises freshman members elected in the historic class of 2010. And who are those leaders? Boehner (who the DCCC made sure would have no opponent), Cantor (who does have an excellent opponent, Wayne Powell, who the DCCC is studiously ignoring) and House Whip Kevin McCarthy (who has no Democratic opponent).

House Democrats need 25 seats to regain the Speaker’s gavel. Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) put the chances of Democrats winning back the lower chamber at better than 50-50. 

Independent political handicappers disagree. Some, including The Hill, predict that Democrats will cut into the GOP majority, but will fall short of the 25 needed.

History is on the GOP’s side. A party with a president in the White House has not picked up 25 House seats since the landslide election of 1964.

Steve Israel is on the GOP's side as well-- not because he's trying to help them or like a Trojan Horse, but because he's so incredibly lame, so ideological and so driven by his own career ambitions. And while Israel stumbles around blindly with his freshmen strategy, the Republican leaders have nothing to do with their time than further undermine an already flawed strategy. McKeon, for example, as head of Armed Services, was approached by a military equipment donor for a favor (a disguised earmark, in effect). He handed him a list of freshmen and told him to donate $5,000 to each one of them. The donor did-- and got his earmark.

Boehner, Cantor and McCarthy have raised record-setting amounts of money to donate to the GOP congressional contenders in the 2012 cycle.

As of mid-July, Boehner topped fundraising charts, raking in nearly $80 million since becoming Speaker in 2011, according to a memo released by his political office. The prolific fundraiser transferred $20 million from his various funding committees to the NRCC. 

McCarthy’s leadership PAC contributed nearly $800,000 to more than 75 members of the historic freshman class. He has transferred more than $1 million to the NRCC.

Boehner and Cantor both have headlined more than 100 fundraisers for candidates in 20-plus states, according to data released by their respective staffs earlier this year.

Cantor has raised more than $22 million since the beginning of 2011 and transferred more than $1.5 million to the NRCC, according to data provided by Cantor’s office in June.

Vegas/Macau organized crime figure Sheldon Adelson, who owns McKeon's gigantic gambling debts, has given the most outrageous bribes in American political history to Boehner and Cantor: $5 million dollars each. Romney's biggest single donor, he's busy trying to buy the whole government on behalf of his right-wing ideology, his business interests... and the agendas of China and Israel. Next time the DCCC asks you for money to help them take back the House, use it as a reminder to contribute to an effort to actually take back the House-- right here.