Pennsylvania Progressives Just Say No To Corrupt Conservatives From The Republican Wing Of The Democratic Party

It isn't likely, but New Dem vice chair and EMILY's List fave, Allyson Schwartz, could still win the May 20, Pennsylvania gubernatorial primary-- and equally conservative corporate shill Marjorie Margolies Mezvinsky could win her congressional primary the same day. But that's also unlikely. Both women from the Republican wing of the Democratic Party were dubbed prohibitive frontrunners by the brain-dead Beltway punditry from the outset. The 3 most recent polls show progressive Tom Wolf beating Schwartz by an average of just over 27 points. And Internal PA-13 polling I've looked over shows Margolies' steady collapse from a 44 point lead to something in the mid-20s-- and dropping.

Monday, David Freedlander marveled at how progressives were able to expose the fatal flaws-- similar fall flaws-- in both conservative Democrats. "Schwartz," he wrote, "was up by 25 points in Pennsylvania’s Democratic primary for governor. Then came accusations of centrism-- now a dirty word in a party with an energized left flank."

Even though Schwartz severed her ties with Third Way after the group came out publicly against progressive values and progressive leaders like Elizabeth Warren and NYC mayor Bill DeBlasio, she didn't sever her connection to the corporately-owned right-wing New Dems and she couldn't severe her connection to her crappy voting record. ProgressivePunch gives her a 71.33 crucial vote score for 2013-'14, pretty miserable, especially for a Democrat in a D+13 district, the one she's leaving and the even more conservative Margolies is trying to win back. Freedlander quotes a local political operative looking at how the district has changed since the '90s, "I think at the time when income inequality is such a central issue and we have gone through the financial collapse and it seems like Wall Street was responsible for it, the country just isn’t there anymore. Groups that have been pushing Democrats to be more corporate-friendly at the expense of spending on social issues are living 20 years past their expiration date.”

How much has the Democratic Party of Pennsylvania moved to the left? Consider this: When Schwartz won her seat in the suburbs in 2004, it was carved out to elect a Republican. She beat one and held the seat for 10 years, and now a front-runner to replace her is Daylin Leach, a state lawmaker who proudly calls himself “The Liberal Lion of Pennsylvania.” Leach received the endorsement of Sen. Bernie Sanders and is threatening to hold a sit-in in Gov. Corbett’s office to bring attention to the issue of medical marijuana.

“She’s a centrist. She wanted to run as a progressive, but her voting record and her associations disproved it,” said John Hangar, a one-time candidate who before dropping out jumped on Schwartz’s Third Way connections. “Economic unfairness is moving public opinion. Two years ago, proposing a $10.10 minimum wage would have made you a radical. Now it’s like, ‘We already got that.’ There is something going on in the political world of the average worker that is causing them to favor strong, liberal actions, and I think Allyson probably missed that.”

For her part, Schwartz backs a $10.10 minimum wage. She supported the bailout of the banks but wanted stricter oversight, too, supporting the creation of the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau.

But she also thought the Bush tax cuts should be extended for everyone making less than $500,000, double what many liberals called for and more than what President Obama favored. “In my district, there are families that make $200,000 that don’t feel enormously wealthy, so I was open to that discussion,” she says. The government, she adds, “has to create the environment for private-sector growth. Now, some progressives are critical of that. On the federal level, I have been clear: The country needs to balance its budget and deal with its debt.”

Still, she says she feels as if progressive groups wanted to make “an example of her.”

“I don’t think it was personal,” she sighs. “But there it was.”

“There are right-wing organizations, [and] there are progressive organizations that just care about an issue and that do use the opportunity of campaigns to push candidates further where they want to go,” she says. “It is less about me than it is about pushing all the candidates further.”

So her crappy corporate voting record doesn't mean anything? It may not among corrupted Beltway elites. It does among progressives. And both their problem is that there are plenty of progressives in Pennsylvania-- people looking for leaders with a coherent vision that goes beyond DC talking points. And neither of these relics from the past has one. Margolies has a base-- primarily older women who remember better times in their lives 2 decades ago when Margolies was politically relevant. Maybe they were healthier. Or wealthier. Maybe they were getting laid. Younger women are gravitating towards Val Arkoosh, who plays a nice lady on TV, and state Senator Daylin Leach, the proven progressive in the race. The one Democrat women aren't gravitating to is Brendan Boyle a vehemently anti-Choice/anti-public education Big City Machine Democrat. As Margolies' support falls apart, he's the one candidate who isn't benefiting. If you want to help make sure Daylin Leach beats this whole motley crew, please consider making a contribution to his campaign through ActBlue. Here's Margolies-Mezvinsky's last desperate ploy, which was released this morning-- weak tea: