Real Democrats Don't Run Away When Right-Wingers Attack-- Meet Ohio's Michael Wager

OH-14, just east of Cleveland, is another swing district that Steve Israel is ignoring. It's a winnable seat and there's an exceptionally good Democratic candidate, Michael Wager, and a weak and vulnerable Republican, David Joyce. Joyce, a backbencher who other Republicans have noted is just a puppet of Boehner and the Republican Beltway Establishment, isn't well known by his constituents, who tell pollsters that are very much open to replacing him with a Democrat.

Yesterday morning Michael Wager was on the radio with Bill Press (above) and when Press asked him, he immediately said he thought the Affordable Care Act was a step in the right direction and would have voted for it. Press also asked him if he would invited President Obama and Nancy Pelosi to OH-14 to campaign for him. Since he's a real Democrat, not a Blue Dog, not a new Dem and not some kind of corporate shill from the Republican wing of the Democratic Party, he said he would be proud to campaign with either or both.

The NRCC melted down. Someone get Katie Prill some smelling salts, STAT! "Ohio families finally have confirmation that Michael Wager in Congress means more of the liberal Pelosi agenda for them in Northeast Ohio," she shrieked in distress. "It’s still too hard to tell if Wager couldn’t help but let his extreme liberal flag fly or if he just made the biggest mistake of his political life. Either way, Wager has successfully tanked his own campaign."

The NRCC asserted that "Wager, the Democrat running for Congress in Ohio’s 14th District, has just ended his own congressional campaign on the Bill Press radio show." Michael, who Blue America endorsed as a strong progressive candidate isn't backing down-- in fact, quite the contrary. On the show he said was happy to talk about his friendship with Nancy Pelosi and said "She stands for the things I stand for…" The first thing Michael ever told us when we first met him early this year was that the core motivation for his candidacy "is concern about the future of American participatory democracy as a result of protracted and worsening income equality. The oft-discussed issues of gerrymandering, election law abuses and campaign finance laws are certainly challenges to meaningful choice in our elections; however, it is unjustifiable economic inequality that weakens our social cohesion and erodes the American middle class. This is not a necessary consequence of American capitalism. Rather, it is mostly attributable to a federal tax and expenditure policies that favor narrow interests over most Americans."

When we reached him last night to ask him about the Republicans trying too raise money by screaming about the Bill Press interview, he laughed and told us this:

"From its inception, my campaign has advocated for American workers and stood up to right-wing attacks on the American middle class values. I will continue to stand proudly with Democrats and Independents that want economic growth that benefits all Americans, including a livable wage, fair trade and affordable healthcare. Moreover, I will continue to stand up to special interests that purchase influence in Congress and, then, attack those that oppose their dangerous agenda of lower taxes for the wealthiest and deep cuts to vital social programs serving our children, our seniors and our veterans."

He sounds a lot more like Justin Amash did in his now famous victory speech than Boehner Boy David Joyce does.

The DCCC added the race to their Red-to-Blue page but, as far as I can see from public records, they haven't done a thing to help Michael. He's been getting some assistance from Sherrod Brown, who won OH-14 in his 2012 Senate reelection battle. But he could use some Blue America love too. Here's the place.