What Will Obama's Presidential Library Cost The Progressive Movement?

When Obama stabbed Joe Sestak in the back during the 2010 Pennsylvania primary in the ill-conceived establishment rush to support Republican-turned-faux-Democrat Arlen Specter, Specter was up by 30 points. The earliest polls all showed Spector crushing Sestak. Three months after Specter switched parties, the July 19, 2009 Quinnipiac poll, for example, had Specter running away with it, 55-23%. The whole corruption-ridden Democratic Establishment, especially corporate Democrats Ed Rendell, Harry Reid and Joe Biden put pressure of Sestak to drop out. Obama offered Sestak a cushy job if he would withdrawn from the race; he refused. Then Obama cut the ad. Specter spent $17,486,421 during the primary. But the more Obama, Biden, Rendell and the other establishment bosses campaigned for him, the more Specter's polling numbers dropped and Sestak's rose. By late April, 2010 Quinnipiac reported a poll showing Specter still ahead with 47% but Sestak was gaining and had risen 16 points to 39%. By May 12, Quinnipiac was showing it essentially tied, Specter 44%, Sestak 42%. The primary was May 18 and Quinnipiac released one last poll 2 days before. After an onslaught of Obama ads targeted hard at African-American audiences, Specter had fallen behind with 41% to Sestak's 42%. Two days later the news was much bleaker for the Establishment and their conservative candidate. Sestak beat Specter 568,563 (53.9%) to 487,217 (46.1%).

The Democratic establishment never really got behind Sestak during the general election battle with Toomey. Specter's chief of staff, David Urban, went to work for Toomey's campaign rounding up conservative Democratic support. The DSCC spent $1.4 million on Specter during the primary but only $200,000 on Sestak during the general. The race was extremely close in a cycle very favorable to Republicans, in which the GOP beat the Democrats in Massachusetts, Illinois, Arkansas, Indiana and Wisconsin. Democrats failed to pick up any Republican Senate seats at all. Sestak came closer to victory-- only about 1% separated him and Toomey-- than any other Democrat including incumbents Russ Feingold and Blanche Lincoln who the DSCC spent millions on. Had the DSCC spent on Sestak, he would have won the seat.

Now he's trying again and, once again, the DSCC, Reid, Rendell, Biden and Obama are campaigning against him. This time they have an even more ridiculous candidate than Specter, Katie McGinty, who polls indicate that Pennsylvania's Democratic voters are utterly turned off to. New York political boss, the heir to Tammany Hall, Chuck Schumer, is orchestrating the campaign against Sestak and, nationally, against any Democrat who is independent enough to stand up against Schumer's allies (and financiers) on Wall Street. Obama endorsed the female version of Schumer last week, DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the single most hated Democrat by the Democratic grassroots anywhere in the country. (You can contribute to her opponent in the FL-23 congressional race, Tim Canova here).

On that same page, you will also find Alan Grayson, the progressive icon in the Florida Senate race who Schumer and Wall Street have declared war on in favor of pathetic "ex"-Republican Schumercrat Patrick Murphy, known in the halls of Congress as "Wall Street's errand boy." Obama, eager for the Schumer-engineered contributions for his presidential library from Wall Street banksters and from Murphy's Republican parents, endorsed Murphy despite Murphy's shockingly anti-Obama voting record. Murphy, for example, didn't just vote for the Keystone XL Pipeline every time the Republicans brought it up in the House, he was one of just a tiny handful of extreme right-wing Democrats who voted for the Republican bill to take Obama out of the decision-making process on Keystone, a proposal Grayson countered at the time with a constitutional challenge.

Murphy was also one of just a tiny bunch of right-wing Democrats to vote for the Republican plan to derail Hillary Clinton's presidential bid with the creation of a special committee to use the Benghazi tragedy to smear her. Murphy has worked with the Republicans to repeal Obamacare, to deal a death blow to Wall Street reform in return for legalistic bribes, and to compromise away Social Security benefits for the elderly using the Republican longtime trope about "saving it."

I'm thinking this worthless endorsement of McGinty by Obama can just be filed away under the growing list of shameful Obama endorsements. It worked to kill Regina Thomas' campaign, although ultimately led to the loss of a Georgia seat to the Republicans but Sestak won despite Obama last time and I bet he can again. It will be interesting see if Canova can overcome Wasserman Schultz and if Grayson can beat back the Murphy money onslaught. A new poll from PPP of the Florida Senate race yesterday showed Grayson still beating Murphy despite Schumer and Biden and Obama-- or maybe that establishment garbage is working against Murphy in this very unique political year. This, from the PPP survey of likely Florida Democratic primary voters is ominous for Murphy and his establishment backers:

If you'd like to help Grayson's and Canova's grassroots campaigns, they're both on this page of progressive candidates running for the Senate and the House this year.

UPDATE: DSCC Would Rather Elect Toomey Again Than See Joe Sestak Win

Joe Sestak's campaign sent out an e-mail to their supporters today denouncing the DSCC for their sabotage of his campaign. This is Schumer and Tester at work:

In 2010, Washington D.C.’s Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) did something it had never done before: it gave a candidate in a contested primary the $1.4 million it had always reserved for the general election. Nevertheless, Sen. Arlen Specter lost to Joe Sestak.

The day after the primary, Pat Toomey began spending millions of dollars on TV ads against Joe that went unanswered-- unanswered, because the DSCC financing meant to be available for a Democrat in the general election was spent propping up Specter in the primary. Undefended on TV, Joe dropped 18 points in the polls before he raised replacement funds for his own TV ads months later. Dogged, Joe only lost by 2%, but Pat Toomey became PA’s Senator.

On Friday, DSCC took the same dangerous action for the 2nd time in its history-- again, in PA. With Joe now ahead by 17% against a primary opponent who has no more of her own money to spend, DSCC placed $450K into this week’s TV buy against Joe-- the beginning of the full $1.9 million DSCC can do in 2016-- in order to dictate who Pennsylvanians should pick.

Worse, spending the $1.9 million in the primary means it once again won’t be available for the general election-- and this time Pat Toomey has $10 million in ready campaign cash for unanswered TV ads the day after the primary. The DSCC is handing Pat Toomey his election-- once again.

Dem Party leaders in Washington are taking money that should be used to beat Pat Toomey and instead using it to prop up a candidate trailing by 17% in the polls just because the top Dem Senate leaders will not accept Admiral Joe Sestak’s independent thought and people-first approach.