Politico's Alex Isenstadt Gets Slammed In The Face By DCCC Mystery Meat

Poor Sean Eldridge is getting blamed for Steve Israel's "Mystery Meat Strategy." He and his husband, Chris Hughes, have contributed so much money to Steve Israel's corrupt enterprise that, surely, he deserves better. First Israel downgraded him to a mere "Emerging Race," a bad signal to institutional donors, and now he's left Sean to rot in the hands of the high-priced, cynical and incompetent consultants who will rob him blind and leave him with… at best, a lesson learned.

When the Democrats sift through the ashes of their fake campaign to take back the House in November, I bet no one will bring up the cornerstone of Steve Israel's absurd "strategy," his "mystery meat" tactics. Israel has ordered his unbelievably bad roster of fifth rate candidates to keep their mouths shut about issues and to avoid serious reporters who might ask them substantive questions. Last month we saw Israel's horrible recruit to run against Rodney Davis in IL-13, Ann Callis, lose all the newspaper endorsements in the area by refusing to sit down for an interview with any of them. This is becoming standard operating procedure for the Steve Israel zombies. Real candidates seek out the media and push their issues and positions, trying to win over voters. Steve Israel manufactured shills hide from the media, put up asinine websites with no issues and behave the way poor Sean behaved towards Alex Isenstadt. Watch the video up top.

Back to IL-13 for a moment, where Republican Rodney Davis is probably now a lock for reelection, the Israel candidate won her primary but not before the Chicago Tribune and the State Journal-Register exposed the DCCC strategy:

When political candidates agree to sit with the State Journal-Register's editorial board ahead of an election and explain where they stand on issues important to voters, it's a unique opportunity for them to do just that-- explain where they stand.

When political candidates agree to sit with The State Journal-Register's editorial board ahead of an election and explain where they stand on issues important to voters, it's a unique opportunity for them to do just that-- explain where they stand.

The Chicago Tribune was even more explicit about Callis'-- and the mystery meat strategy's-- shortcomings. As part of their endorsement of her Democratic opponent, George Gollin, they said that "in the Democratic primary… Sen. Dick Durbin's chosen candidate is carefully insulated from anyone who might ask her a tough question. Former Madison County chief judge Ann Callis sticks to safe talking points, occasionally name-checking Durbin. Her answers to our survey are carefully scripted, heavy on promises to protect seniors and middle-class families without explaining what she'd actually do. She would not agree to be interviewed by the Tribune." The conservative-leaning newspaper went on to say "Our pick is George Gollin… We disagree with many of his positions, but at least we know where he stands."

What reporters haven't figured out yet is that the Callis and Eldridge silliness is a national phenomenon. Take CA-31 as another example, the solid blue Inland Empire district Israel botched in 2012, allowing far right Arkansas neo-Confederate multimillionaire, Gary Miller, to sneak into office. Israel doubled down this year by recruiting the same out-of-touch, corrupt, lame-brained candidate who lost in 2012, Pete Aguilar. Before I knew that Aguilar was out-of-touch, corrupt, and lame-brained, I called his office to ask him about his campaign, since there was nothing useful on his website. He wouldn't come to the phone but the guy who answered very politely said he would try helping answer my questions. Except he didn't know any answers to any questions-- even the most basic, non-invasive, uncontroversial ones. I figured he was an intern when he told me the DCCC hadn't told them what their positions are supposed to be yet but that they expected them to within a week and that they would call me back. I was somewhat flabbergasted that even an intern would be so lame as to admit that and made a note to myself to mention it to Aguilar when he called back. He never did of course… and the intern turned out to be-- unless there are two Boris' in this pathetic campaign-- Boris Medzhibovsky, the imported DCCC campaign manager. No reporter has been able to get Aguilar, who is frequently… high, to speak about the huge blunder he made in backing Chained CPI, a very conservative position that steals benefits from the Social Security cost of living adjustment and isn't popular in hard-pressed San Bernardino County, especially not among Democratic voters Aguilar needs to impress. Maybe Alex Isenstadt should try interviewing Pete too!

Standing in sharp contrast to the tongue-tied loser candidates Israel has assembled, are the candidates listed by Alternet today-- Key Progressive Politicians To Watch In the 2014 Elections. Every single one of them, though they may have to battle moron consultants trained in mystery-meatism by the DCCC, has taken on a leadership role in his or her community about the tough issues that distinguish a progressive from a conservative. These are not "ex"-Blue Dog Steve Israel's dreadful array of Blue Dogs and New Dems… these are candidates eager to seek out the media and make the case for a progressive agenda. You can find the best of the best House candidates here and the best of the best Senate candidates here. The DCCC isn't helping these men and women win in November, just like they never helped Alan Grayson, Donna Edwards, Raul Grijalva, Matt Cartwright or any good progressives who needed it. So… it's up to us.

UPDATE: Isenstadt Strikes Back

Earlier today Isenstadt posted his report, Chasing Sean Eldridge. It's another is a series of devastating reports about an ambitious, fabulously wealthy, completely unprepared 27 year old outsider thirsting for political power.

Wealthy people who run for public office typically stick to the same basic blueprint: Plow millions of their personal fortunes into the campaign. Hire big-name consultants. Flood the TV airwaves with ads.

Sean Eldridge is making all of that look quaint. The 27-year-old husband of Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes has turned his congressional campaign for New York’s 19th District into a multimillion-dollar start-up-- a gambit that veteran election watchers say is as unique as it is brazen.

It has unfolded in rapid-fire sequence. After Eldridge decided he wanted to run for office, he and Hughes in 2011 bought the first of two luxurious homes in the Hudson Valley region. Soon after, Eldridge set up a venture capital firm, Hudson River Ventures, that has provided millions in loans and equity lines to local companies. And now the first-time candidate, who’s running his first business, is touting the jobs he’s created in the blue-collar district.

“I know firsthand what it takes to support small businesses and create good jobs,” reads one pamphlet his campaign is plastering throughout the area.

Like no other 2014 candidate, Eldridge is testing the limits of dollars and cents to secure a seat in the House of Representatives. The Democrat is tapping Hughes’s vast wealth-- estimated at $700 million-- to build an elaborate campaign apparatus in a district where he remains a stranger to many. In addition to his firm’s investments, Eldridge has spent more than $700,000 on his campaign, and that figure is sure to rise exponentially because he’s promised to match each contribution he receives, dollar for dollar.

His efforts are all the more striking in contrast with incumbent GOP Rep. Chris Gibson, a 49-year-old decorated war veteran and former college professor who lives in the same middle-class neighborhood where he grew up. Gibson’s financial disclosure report filed with the House lists a savings account of $100,000 to $250,000, and the Center for Responsive Politics ranks his personal wealth in the bottom fifth of House members.

Gibson does little to hide his disdain for Eldridge, whom he calls a “young man with virtually no experience.” The district, encompassing a vast swath of the northern Hudson Valley and Catskills, is one of the most evenly divided in the country. Gibson won there in 2010 on the strength of the Republican wave and secured reelection in 2012 even as President Barack Obama carried the district by 6 percentage points.

“This is about him and his political aspirations, and I think that’s going to be a problem for him. He married well, he married into money,” Gibson said of Eldridge. “But there are some things money can’t buy.”

It’s difficult to size up the person behind the polished image Eldridge and his campaign are projecting to voters. He’s been running for more than half a year but remains mostly an enigma.

Congressional challengers typically seek maximum media exposure; Eldridge allows few chance encounters with the media. His campaign frequently posts pictures on his Facebook page of the candidate out and about in the district, but local reporters say they’re usually not made aware of his public schedule ahead of time. He declined to be interviewed by Politico, and the door to his campaign headquarters in Kingston was locked on a recent visit. No one answered a call on an intercom.

A spokesman provided a statement from Eldridge that said, “Chris and I have been very fortunate in our lives, and we’ve benefited from those who took a chance on us. The Hudson Valley is our home, and we’re proud to be investing in entrepreneurship in our community.”

Even people who have spent time with the candidate aren’t sure what to make of him.

A few weeks after his September campaign launch, Eldridge sat for an interview with Alan Chartock, an influential liberal radio host in upstate New York. They talked for almost 30 minutes, discussing Eldridge’s views on the federal shutdown, environmental policy and money in politics.

“If you look at what we’ve seen in Washington recently, with more of this brinkmanship, more of the games and party politics that are really hurting our economy and hurting middle-class families and not helping anyone. I’m frustrated. I know we can be doing better than how we’re doing now,” Eldridge said in the interview.

Chartock came away without any real sense of the candidate.

Eldridge sounded like “what a young person thinks a politician should sound like,” the radio host said in an interview. “He’s right on all the issues, but what I think people are looking for is a person. He’s extremely bright, has all the assets that you need to run. But it’s cookie cutter.”

Eldridge employs a team of prominent political consultants-- including media firm SKDKnickerbocker, polling outfit Global Strategy Group and veteran party operative Anne Lewis — who carefully tend to his image. Through the end of last year, he paid the three entities a total of $241,000, campaign records show.

…For a while, Eldridge had his eye on another congressional seat. In 2011, he and Hughes, who had been living together in a SoHo loft, purchased a $5 million estate in Garrison, N.Y, positioning Eldridge to run in the neighboring 18th District. But in November 2012 that district’s Republican congresswoman, Nan Hayworth, lost reelection to a Democrat. So Eldridge looked north to the 19th District, where Gibson had just won a second term.

In Jan. 2013, the couple paid $1.9 million in cash for a 3,000-square-foot home in Shokan, N.Y., an area just outside Woodstock in Gibson’s district. “Sleek and sexy with walls of glass to showcase the awe-inspiring views of the Catskill Mountains, Ashokan Reservoir, and beyond,” the buyers were promised.

The home is shielded from public view; a “Private Property” sign warns passersby. Eldridge’s advisers won’t say how much time he spends in the Shokan house as opposed to the couple’s other two residences.

...Eldridge’s team denies that the venture capital firm and campaign are coordinated. But the overlap is undeniable.

Michael Oates, a New York businessman and CEO of the firm, is Eldridge’s campaign treasurer. SKDKnickerbocker is working for Eldridge’s campaign and doing public relations work for the investment group at the same time. Some press releases for Hudson River Ventures lavish Eldridge with praise.

Several campaign finance experts said the use of a venture capital firm to advance a political campaign was a novel tactic. They say it wouldn’t be illegal unless Eldridge was using campaign dollars to fund Hudson River Ventures, which aides say he isn’t doing.

“Candidates who employ people in the districts they’re running in enjoy some advantages. What’s so unusual about this situation is that he’s being so transparent about it,” said campaign finance expert Paul Herrnson, executive director of the University of Connecticut’s Roper Center for Public Opinion Research.

Some locals have been turned off by Eldridge’s sudden arrival on the scene. They suspect he’s using his fortune as a substitute for the hard, tedious work of running for Congress.

As the Democratic mayor of Kingston, the district’s largest city, Shayne Gallo said he expected to hear from Eldridge shortly after he moved into the district. Instead, last June, he received an email from an Eldridge staffer, asking for an endorsement. Gallo didn’t respond to the message.

“I was extremely surprised, and I was offended,” he said. “I would think it would be prudent … if not politically polite and respectful, to reach out to those who’ve gone through this process and who are local yokels and who are stakeholders in the community you hope to represent.”

“Considering that someone isn’t from the area, wasn’t born or raised in the district, doesn’t have an established record in public or private service, nor any notable achievements in our local or regional economy … I’m very perplexed by that,” the mayor said.

Gallo said the Eldridge campaign had recently reached out to him and that a meeting between him and the candidate would be taking place soon.

Others say they’re simply puzzled by what Eldridge is doing.

…Eldridge, for his part, is pitching himself as a middle-of-the-road Democrat. In interviews with local reporters, he’s come out in favor of comprehensive immigration reform while stressing the need for secure borders. He backs Second Amendment rights, but with stricter background checks.

And in an irony his GOP adversaries have seized on, Eldridge has made campaign-finance reform a central plank of his bid, decrying what he calls the corrupting influence of corporate money in politics.

“We will certainly do what we need to do to be competitive and win next year,” Eldridge said in a 2013 radio interview. “But at the same time, when I am in Congress I will be a loud and consistent advocate for campaign-finance reform.”

He repeated that position-- and, in his detractors’ view, betrayed his obliviousness-- last week when the Supreme Court struck down aggregate caps on campaign contributions. Eldridge blasted the ruling as “a disappointing step backwards for our democracy.

“Right now the voices of everyday New Yorkers are being drowned out by the big money and corporate interests in our politics,” he said in a statement. “And today’s ruling only makes that problem worse.”