Good Candidates/Bad Candidates... It's Not Like Throwing Darts At A Wall Of Candidates' Photos

Another cue that someone's likely to be good

I graduated college and went to live overseas-- actually I just went for a summer vacation but stayed for almost 7 years-- traveling and living in various places in Europe, Africa and Asia.Once Nixon was removed I came home and eventually washed up in San Francisco and had to get a job in the real world, something I had never experienced. Previously I had worked as a smuggler and then in a meditation center. So I got a job, via a Sufi friend from the meditation center, working in a p.r. firm. I didn't work there long-- maybe a year or so-- but long enough to learned how to spot a lazy reporter's newspaper article that was basically written by a p.r. firm, the way the DCCC wrote the Frank Bruni, Liriel Higa feature, 13 Faces That Tell The Story Of 2018 in the NY Times Friday.

The photos are what I'd call original work. Very nice... but some of us are old enough to remember when we could expect original reporting from The Times, not hack jobs cribbed from a glorified p.r. agency on behalf of its clients. They weren't even subtle. Who do you think wrote this bit of prose?

Usually you only get to dream about a candidate like Chrissy Houlahan. People in the Philadelphia suburbs actually get to vote for her. She’s brainy: a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering from Stanford, a master’s in technology and policy from M.I.T. She’s bold: service in the U.S. Air Force. She has entrepreneurial bona fides from her years as the chief operating officer of an athletic wear company but also had a top job for a group promoting childhood literacy. She's a wife and mother, with two grown daughters.

Congratulations, Chrissy! Your p.r. firm got you on the cover of the Rolling Stone... or something like that. I was talking with a congressman yesterday who wanted to contribute some money to the best candidates. He asked me who the best ones are. I asked him-- like I ask everyone who makes that inquiry of me-- what his metrics are for "best." I was so happy. His metrics were exactly the same as mine! He just wanted someone who would make a great member if he or she were to be elected. We talked for a long time about how easy it is if the candidate was in the state legislature. We both agreed that super-performers in state legislatures-- like Jamie Raskin (MD), Parmila Jayapal (WA), Ted Lieu (CA), Karen Bass (CA), Katherine Clark (MA), Bonnie Watson Coleman (NJ)-- make excellent members of Congress. Conversely horrible state legislators-- like Kyrsten Sinema (AZ), Henry Cuellar (TX), Tom O'Halleran (AZ), Al Lawson (FL), Lou Correa (CA), Donald Norcross (NJ), Juan Vargas (CA-- make horrible members of Congress.

Based on that, you can deduce that sure bets this cycle would include Lisa Brown (WA), Jared Golden (ME), and Rashida Tlaib (MI). And you can also deduce that among next year's worst congressmembers will be Jeff Van Drew (NJ), Paul Davis (KS) and Anthony Brindisi (NY).

But what about the candidates who were in legislature? The DCCC certainly prefers them, since they are mystery meat candidates. Most of these years crop were in the military or law enforcement. Some of them came out great and some of them came out looking like they're going to be absolute shit in Congress-- which brings us back to Bruni's shit Times article. You learn a lot about Houlahan from Bruni-- but nothing that will give you a clue about what kind of legislator she will be. He didn't even bother to mention-- or the DCCC didn't tell him, standard operating procedure for them-- that she's part of the Republican wing of the Democratic Party, already having joining the conservative Wall Street-owned New Dems. I guess she could turn out good-- but I can;'t think of any of the dozens and dozens of New Dems who ever had. They all suck. Every single one of them sucks. But Houlahan will be the first one who doesn't. Anyone want to bet me?

Another one of the 13: Katie Hill (CA)-- also a New Dem... also with nothing that Bruni thought it would be worthwhile to inform his readers about a little something that might indicate what sort of a legislator she will be. (Obviously he decided not to let anyone know she-- who was personally warned by yours truly several times-- had joined the New Dems. Maybe Houlahan and Katie will be the first two good New Dems ever. What's the chance? Very nice photo, though. Did I congratulate Damon Winter for the beautiful photographs? And there are plenty of other New Dems in the story... another hint it was fed to Bruni by the DCCC, rather than, say, the Congressional Progressive Caucus, which probably would tend to include more candidates from the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party.

Another one where Bruni gives no clue about policy is next-- Lauren Underwood. And again, we learn all the kinds of things that would be perfect for People Magazine, but alas, nothing remotely related to how she stands on issues. I mean I can deduce she might be bipolar or schizophrenic-- I never remember which is which-- but I couldn't tell you how she'll approach Medicare-For-All, which, after all, is what over 70% of Americans want. This is a good time for me to mention that if you click on the thermometer here on the right, you'll get too a campaign page with progressive candidates who won their primaries and were then abandoned by the DCCC. I can't believe it took me this long to get to that.

Elissa Slotkin (MI) is another New Dem, but you'd never know it from Bruni. She's interested in the state of health care, he mentions. Yes? And? And? Nothing. It gets worse. There are some really superb candidates running for Congress this cycle, but the DCCC doesn't care about any of them, and, coincidentally I'm sure, neither does Bruni and his team. Actually, they couldn't resist including one-- it was the tabloid notoriety last week of Ammar Campa-Najjar (CA)-- and I can imagine the DCCC wanted to punch him for ruining their piece with him... But 12 out of 13 ain't bad. No, no... I mean they'll probably be bad, but the p.r. firm did well for the clients.