Since The Beltway Democratic Establishment Refuses To Back Progressives Candidates, Why Should Grassroots Dems Unite Behind Their Crap Candidates?

Earlier today, we took a quick look at why Hillary isn't doing better in Florida. Last week, it was Ohio. The latest national polling of likely voters shows Hillary beating Trump 42-36% in a match-up that includes the third party candidates. Part of the reason she isn't doing better in Florida and Ohio is because the Beltway Establishment helped impose vile loser candidates locally-- Wall Street garbage like Patrick Murphy in Florida and pathetic walking corpse Ted Strickland in Ohio, neither of whom brings a single thing to the table other than a prayer that they can ride Hillary's coattails.

Meanwhile, on the generic congressional question in the same Morning Consult poll, about voting for a Democrat or a Republican, Democrats win 46% to 37%. Unfortunately many of the DCCC and DSCC recruits are far worse-- far, far worse-- than a generic Democrat and others, good, solid progressive ones, are being starved of resources by a DCCC more eager to keep progressives out of Congress than electing Democrats to Congress.

Beltway Villagers and establishment goons everywhere reached for their smelling salts when Tim Canova courageously refused to endorse Debbie Wasserman Schultz and when Grayson passed on endorsing Patrick Murphy after both were beaten in the Florida primary at the end of August. This past weekend, Elizabeth Warren had some establishment noses out of joint when she did a Senate Democrats fundraiser and very pointedly left out craven Wall Street shills-- and Schumer favorites-- Patrick Murphy (FL), Evan Bayh (IN), Ann Kirkpatrick (AZ) and Patty Judge (IA).

The problem is that neither Canova, Grayson nor Warren sees themevles as mindless cogs in a well-greased party wheel that goes round and round and round. Grayson and Warren have been beyond-the-call-of-duty loyal Democrats but there's a serious question as to whether or not Patrick Murphy fits any reasonable defination of "a Democrat" and there is no serious question about which interests Murphy, Bayh, Kirkpatrick and Judge would be working for were any of them to ooze into the Senate. Each of them could only be viewed as part of the problem Warren's career is built on tackling, not part of any reasonable solution. And her list of endorsed candidates doesn't just include progressives. Aside from Russ Feingold-- a sure-fired ally-- she's raising money for moderates like Katie McGinty (PA), Maggie Hassan (NH), Jason Kander (MO), Tammy Duckworth (IL) and Catherine Cortez Mastro (NV). Murphy, Bayh, Kirkpatrick and Judge, on the other hand, have records of working for the banksters and very much against the crucial issues Warren and Grayson and other progressives are working on.

Sunday, Kevin Robillard and Gabe Debenedetti reported that Bernie is refusing the help the crap-conservative Democrat, Sue Minter, running for governor in his own state-- and that it could cost her the race. They wrote that "Sanders' unwillingness to participate in the Minter race "is starting to generate ill will" with the state's Democratic establishment, according to "a top Vermont Democrat." Before Gov. Howard Dean put a stop to it, corrupt right-leaning Vermont Democrats like Minter and others from the Democratic Party establishment used to run right-wing Democrats against Bernie. In fact, in 1988 they ran someone just like Minter-- Democratic State Rep Paul Poirier-- against Bernie, draining away enough votes from him (19%), to throw the congressional seat to Republican Peter Smith and keep Bernie out of Congress.

How popular is Bernie in Vermont? In his last reelection race in 2012 he beat Republican John MacGovern 207,848 (71.1%) to 72,898 (24.9%). On that same day, Obama was reelected with 199,259 votes (67%). Yep! This year, Bernie beat Hillary in the state primary 115,900 (85.7%) to 18,338 (13.6%). He's been spending his political capital in Vermont trying to get a big turn-out for Hillary and for progressive allies like David Zuckerman (for Lt. Governor), Tim Ashe (for state Senate) and Mari Cordes (for state House). Howard Dean told the two Politico reporters that Minter is "very much a moderate Democrat"-- a polite way for Democrats to point out someone in their own party is a corrupt conservative piece of shit-- "which is probably why Bernie is sitting aside."

Minter, a technocrat who won a three-way Democratic primary by hyping her support for gun control and her role helping the state recover from flooding after Tropical Storm Irene, is still capable of winning without Sanders' help. But some observers believe the senator's endorsement would essentially guarantee a Democratic victory.

It's unclear exactly why Sanders hasn't backed Minter. He's been holed up with a top aide writing his book, mixing in travel to campaign for Hillary Clinton and higher-profile Senate candidates like Pennsylvania's Katie McGinty. Sanders also isn't fond of Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin-- who endorsed Clinton the day Sanders announced his presidential bid and scrapped plans to implement single-payer health care in the state-- and Minter worked in Shumlin's administration.

Minter also simply has a more moderate [again, that purposefully misleading Beltway word for "corrupt right-wing piece of shit"] profile than Sanders does.

“There is always an underlying question of who Bernie will support, but it isn't of the utmost importance,” said Dottie Deans, the state Democratic Party chair. “I certainly would welcome his support for any of our Democratic candidates, but what’s clear in this state is we have three parties: the Republican Party, the Democratic Party and the Progressive Party, and that makes it a little dicey.”

Sanders has marched to his own drumbeat on endorsements this year. National party leaders asked the Vermont independent to back two lower-profile Senate candidates over the summer-- Iowa’s Patty Judge and North Carolina’s Deborah Ross-- but they are not among the candidates Sanders has personally endorsed so far.

During the presidential primary race Schumer threatened Bernie with loss of a committee chair if he endorsed Grayson in Florida, Sestak or Fetterman in Pennsylvania or Sittenfeld in Ohio, where Schumer was desperate to have his conservative handpicked pro-Wall Street candidates-- respectively Patrick Murphy, Katie McGinty and Ted Strickland-- win the primaries. Bernie went along with it and the details of that will be a chapter in my "book" one day.

For establishment monsters like Steve Israel, Rahm Emanuel, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Nancy Pelosi, Steny Hoyer, Ben Ray Lujan, Schumer, Tester, etc, "party unity" is always a one-way street. The thermometer below goes to a page that has progressive House candidates who won their primaries and have been completely and spitefully abandoned by the DCCC. All are in winnable districts, although some are very winnable and others are tougher shots. Please consider contributing to any-- or all-- of their campaigns: