DCCC Finds Another Race To Screw Up And Doom To Republican Dominance, In Illinois-- And Enlists A Republican In Arizona

Although the PVI of IL-12 is even, Obama won this district in the southwest corner of Illinois (across the Mississippi from St. Louis) twice-- 55-44% against McCain and 50-48% against Romney. When longtime conservaDem Jerry Costello finally retired in 2012, Obama's draw at the polls helped another DINO type, Bill Enyart, hold the seat for the Democrats. Enyart was always just a placeholder for Jerry Costello Jr., and he botched up his job badly, losing to Republican Mike Bost 106,435 (52.7%) to 84,136 (41.6%) two years later. 60,000 voters who had pulled lever for Enyart in 2012 didn't vote for him in 2014.

Most of the population of the district lives in the St. Louis Metro, St. Clair and Madison counties, Democratic bastions that Enyart won handily in 2012 (58% in Madison and 57% in St. Clair)-- and even managed to win narrowly in 2014 (St. Clair and Madison, each with 50%, not nearly enough to overcome the GOP strength in the more rural parts of the district).

So Jerry Costello Jr. isn't ready to run for Daddy's old seat yet-- putting some kids through college and working as a state rep in Springfield. The only declared candidate is a progressive young attorney, C.J. Baricevic, who doesn't see himself as a placeholder. The DCCC is firmly opposed and dug up an old St. Clair County sheriff, Rick Watson, to woo. Watson went to DC and met with the DCCC, and eventually turned them down flat.

Baricevic, 30, is the son of John Baricevic, the chief St. Clair County Court judge, the former county board chairman and a leader of the St. Clair County Democratic Party. Baricevic doesn't care what the DCCC wants in his district.

We’ve spent the last three-and-half months reaching out to constituents all across the district. Not just in the metro-east, but through every county in the district. And the response has been unequivocally positive... We’ve got real excited people who are really excited about the race. And if the people outside the district feel otherwise, that is certainly their prerogative. But my main concern is focusing on what the people of this district want.

The DCCC, in their hideous dynastic tendency to look towards conservative Costello Jr., is likely to guarantee a win for Bost-- in a district that the Democrats have held since World War II. Brian Smoot, the worst kind of Beltway hack and a former operative for the DSCC, has been leading the charge against Baricevic. "I just would say that this is not the type of candidate that the DCCC would be interested in," said Smoot, who in the 2008 cycle served as that group’s political director.

I can’t speak for the DCCC. But I can say he doesn’t reach a certain threshold as a credible candidate... All I can tell you is what I can see. And $85,000 [which is what Baricevic has raised so far despite DCCC sabotage] doesn’t cut it.

And The DCCC is Screwing Up Another Arizona Race As Well

Speaking of the DCCC wrecking the Democratic Party brand, Israel and Luján have recruited another Republican to run as a DINO, this one in Arizona. With conservative New Dem Ann Kirkpatrick giving up the AZ-01 seat to run a losing contest against John McCain for the Senate, the DCCC has lured Republican former State Sen. Tom O’Halleran into the race. The DCCC is working hard to undercut an actual Democrat, State Sen. Barbara McGuire, who is also expected to run.

O’Halleran assured his conservative supporters that he hasn't changed his values. When he was defeated by an extreme right-wing fringe candidate in 2008, he reregistered as an independent. Suddenly last week he reregistered again-- this time, at the urging of the DCCC, as a "Democrat." What are they doing to the party?