Closing Message From Cheri Bustos: Polls In Pennsylvania Are Still Open... So Get Out There And Vote For Shit

 

When a politician from the Republican wing of the Democratic Party makes progressives want to puke, Beltway media defines him as having "broad appeal." Meet DCCC fave Eugene DePasquale. Why do I say "DCCC fave?" By Friday, the DCCC and Pelosi's House Majority PAC had spent a total of $4,467,203 on his behalf-- and they're still spending. In their Washington Post piece about the DePasquale challenge to Trump puppet Scott Perry, Colby Itkowitz and Paulina Firozi noted that a win for DePasquale would be "a coup for Democrats if they pick up a central Pennsylvania seat and possible vote boost for Biden." OK, but that's also true for central Texas districts being contested by progressives Mike Siegel and Julie Oliver, where they DC hasn't done any IE spending-- or in central Florida, where progressive Adam Christensen is running for an open seat where Trump must win and where Christensen has turned out a higher proportion of Democrats to vote (in Alachua County) than the sluggards at the Florida Democratic Party have in Miami-Dade, Broward, Duval, Orange, Palm Beach, Hillsborough or anywhere else. And the DCCC and Pelosi's SuperPAC have given Christensen's cause exactly no help at all-- and not a cent.

In 2016 PA-16 was Trump country; he beat Hillary 52.3% to 43.4%, a bit worse for Hillary than Obama had done either time he ran. In 2018, the DCCC ran another hapless Blue Dog, George Scott, against Perry. No one told the voters there that there was a blue wave; Perry beat him 51.3% to 48.7%, GOP turnout in York and Cumberland counties swamping Scott's more modest win in blue-leaning Dauphin County.

On Sunday Pennsylvania reported another 1,684 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the state total to 214,500. 207 have died in York County, 196 in Dauphin County and 81 in Cumberland. Trump has been holding multiple super-spreader events all over Pennsylvania, spreading infection and death. His death cult loves it.

Itkowitz and Firozi noted that "DePasquale, 49, the state’s auditor general for the past eight years, is not a liberal, but he is a Democrat running for Congress in a district represented by a conservative, unapologetically pro-President Trump lawmaker whose politics no longer match large swaths of Pennsylvania’s 10th Congressional District. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court reconfigured the state’s congressional districts in 2018, setting boundaries for Rep. Scott Perry’s once solidly Republican seat that he won by 32 percentage points in 2016 to include more Democratic areas, including Harrisburg and York." After all that DCCC money thrown into PA-10, Cook rates the district a "toss up" (same as TX-10, where the DCCC hasn't been helpful).

Then came the "broad appeal" Beltway stupidity: "Self-described as socially liberal and fiscally moderate, he embraces his grittier, blue-collar upbringing. His biographical ads include one of him doing push-ups as weights are added to his back and another of his father in handcuffs, having been jailed for selling drugs. The elder DePasquale served eight years in federal prison." God, save me from this bullshit. Itkowitz and Firozi found it more significant than mentioning that DePasquale has been endorsed by both the Blue Dogs and the New Dems, the two House caucuses that make up the congressional Republican wing of the Democratic Party. It says a lot more about what kind of a congressman DePasquale will be than how many pushups he can do with weights on his back.

In 2016, DePasquale won reelection statewide by five percentage points, while the Democrat at the top of the ticket, Hillary Clinton, lost Pennsylvania by one percentage point.

“They see me as one of them; I’m a blue-collar kid. And they think the D.C. crowd isn’t them,” DePasquale said later at a downtown York coffeehouse, reflecting on why there were so many crossover votes for him and Trump four years ago.

Democrats hope enthusiasm for a candidate like DePasquale could benefit presidential nominee Joe Biden, as could strong turnout in other districts where Trump did well last time but Democrats now hold the seats in Congress. They include Rep. Conor Lamb in western Pennsylvania and Reps. Mary Gay Scanlon, Madeleine Dean and Chrissy Houlahan in the vote-rich Philadelphia suburbs.

Pennsylvania is ground zero in the presidential race, a state both the Trump and Biden campaigns view as integral to a path to victory. [Same could be said, word-for-word of Florida, North Carolina, Arizona, Michigan... Itkowitz and Firozi must be auditioning for the Cook Report.] The rural middle of the state has long been reliable Republican country, leaving statewide candidates to duke it out over suburban Philadelphia voters and Democrats to rely on high turnout in the city to outperform the Republican votes across the rest of the state.

Trump held four rallies in Pennsylvania on Saturday. Biden campaigned in Philadelphia on Sunday and then he, his running mate Sen. Kamala D. Harris (D-CA) and their spouses were set to fan out across the state on Monday.

“I think everything is driven from the top in this election, but you certainly have in Perry and DePasquale, you really have two compelling candidates who, by the way, mirror in many ways the candidates at the top of their ticket,” said Larry Ceisler, a Philadelphia-based Democratic media consultant. “Eugene’s a nice guy, same Biden demeanor. I would characterize Eugene as moderate, center-left like Biden, and I think with Perry because he’s a member of the Freedom Caucus and when you look at that QAnon vote, that sort of lines up in a way with Trump.”

Actually Perry, is neo-fascist, far right and both Pasquale and Biden are corporate-friendly, center-right, not anything to do with left. "Perry," they continued, "was among 18 House Republicans to vote against a resolution condemning QAnon, the conspiracy theory that Trump is fighting a war against a satanic, child sex trafficking ring run by the 'deep state.' The FBI has labeled the online movement a potential domestic terrorist threat; Trump has declined to denounce it." I bet DePasquale would vote against some kind of concocted "Antifa" conspiracy as fast as Perry would. Perry trolled DePasquale with an idiotic ad "linking" DePasquale to AOC, although it is incontestable that Perry has ten times more in common with Hitler or Stalin than DePasquale does with AOC or what he calls her and DePasquale's "radical socialist agenda." Pasquale was mortified and called the ad a baldfaced lie... which it is.

Mark Harris, a GOP consultant in Pennsylvania, said the race will be close, and that Perry needs the Trump base to turn out and vote down-ballot. Gov. Tom Wolf (D) signed legislation last year eliminating the easy alternative of a straight-party vote.

Money has poured into the race, with DePasquale raising $3.7 million to Perry’s $3.4 million.

In addition to a coup for Democrats if they pick up a central Pennsylvania seat and possible vote boost for Biden, a DePasquale win could have major implications for the presidency in the wild scenario that the House chooses the victor.

Pennsylvania’s congressional delegation is currently split-- nine Republicans and nine Democrats. Assuming Republicans don’t flip any seats in the state, a DePasquale win could give Pennsylvania Democrats a delegation majority.

If neither Trump nor Biden is a clear winner in the electoral college, the decision would go to the House of Representatives and each state delegation would get one vote. For this reason, flipping state delegations has been a priority for Democratic leaders.

In a briefing with reporters, Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairwoman Cheri Bustos of Illinois was speaking broadly about Democrats’ efforts to deny Republicans a majority of delegations.

“We absolutely have been focusing on that. The speaker has been talking about that with supporters all over the country,” she said, adding: “Pennsylvania, we’ve got critical races there. Eugene DePasquale is doing great.”

Chris Borick, a political polling expert at Mulhenberg College in Pennsylvania, said he believes Perry, as the incumbent, who beat back a challenger in the 2018 Democratic wave, still has a slight edge. But DePasquale, with his strong name recognition, is a more formidable opponent with a real chance of flipping the seat.

And that, he said, could bode well for Biden.

“When I look at that district, it’s a little microcosm of [Pennsylvania]; you’ve got an urban core, you look at that area, there’s lots of suburbs, drive 10 miles out and you’re in rural Pennsylvania,” Borick said. “On Election Day, if I found out who won that race, if DePasquale wins, I’d be pretty confident Joe Biden won Pennsylvania.”