Will The Anti-Red Wave Continue To Grow?

Longtime Harlem Congressman Charlie Rangel (retired) was on the air with John Catsimatidis yesterday and he explained what Trump, a former campaign contributor of his, has done to the political system. "It is a terrible thing because it doesn’t give Americans an opportunity to vote on the issues. It’s either you’re for Trump or against Trump... The worst that we have in America has joined up with Trump and good Republicans have nowhere to go."

That's been manifesting itself in special elections all year and now, very strongly, in the polls. Take Iowa, for example. Up for re-election are the state's 4 members of Congress (3 Republicans and one Democrat) and the state's Republican governor, Kim Reynolds. A poll for the Des Moines Register released Sunday shows that Democrat Fred Hubbell is beating incumbent Kim Reynolds 43-41% in a state Trump won by ten points in 2016. The worst news for Republicans is that "Among independent voters, who represent the largest share of registered voters in the state, Hubbell leads Reynolds 40 percent to 34 percent. Twelve percent say they support Porter, and 14 percent are unsure... Hubbell also leads among Iowans who say they did not vote in the 2014 midterm election, by 41 percent to Reynolds’ 31 percent. Selzer said that could be an indication he’s drawing support beyond the traditional Democratic base, from people who are not regular midterm voters." As for the makeup of the state's congressional delegation, it may well go from 3 Republicans and 1 Democrat to 3 Democrats and 1 Republican or if everything keeps going they way they have... 4 Democrats and no Republicans! (Contribute to J.D. Scholten's campaign for the Steve King seat here.)

We find a similar story just north of Iowa in Minnesota, where early voting has already begun and where Republicans had been making gains in recent years. Trump seems to have brought that trend to a screeching halt. As J. Patrick Coolican wrote ominously for the StarTribune over the weekend, "because politics has become so nationalized, an unpopular president portends bad things for his party."

Trump’s approval rating has dropped from 45 percent to 39 percent, while 56 percent disapprove of his handling of the job, according to our recent Minnesota Poll, which was conducted by Mason-Dixon Polling & Strategy in partnership with MPR News. The pollster conducted 800 interviews, with a margin of sampling error of 3.5 percentage points.

The question is whether Minnesota voters who disapprove of Trump will take out their frustrations on Republican candidates-- yes, it may seem strange, but voters often choose legislative candidates based on how they feel about the president.

Perhaps most surprising and most troubling for the GOP: Trump’s approval rating in southern Minnesota is just 40 percent, which belies the conventional wisdom that Trump is popular in greater Minnesota.

In other results, Democrats are safely ahead of Republicans in nearly every major statewide race. U.S. Rep. Tim Walz leads Jeff Johnson by 9 points in the governor’s race, U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar is up big over Jim Newberger, and U.S. Sen. Tina Smith leads state Sen. Karin Housley by 7 points.

How will this play out in House races? Let's look at the 8 seats. The Republicans thought they had a slam-dunk to take Democrat Tim Walz's open seat in a district Trump won 53.3% to 38.4%. Their candidate, Jim Hagedorn, hasn't been able to make the sale and it's now a dead-heat in an R+5 district. If the wave is strong enough, Dan Feehan will be sworn in as MN-01 congressman in January, not Hagedorn. In MN-02 Angie Craig (D) is clobbering Republican incumbent Jason Lewis.

Same in the 3rd district, where Dean Phillips is beating Republican incumbent Erik Paulsen by an even greater margin! These two Twin Cities suburban seats are becoming an elephant's graveyard this cycle, entirely because of voter antipathy towards Trump. Phillips and Craig are both weak candidates who will be swept into Congress because of a Trump-inspired anti-red wave.

Democrats have no viable opponents in MN-04 (Betty McCollum), MN-05 (Ilhan Omar) and MN-07 (Collin Peterson-- a district Trump won by THIRTY points!) and the Republicans have no viable opponents in MN-06 (Tom Emmer). So that leaves MN-08, another one the NRCC thought was an easy pick-up. Rick Nolan is retiring. The PVI is R+4 and Trump beat Hillary 54.2% to 38.6%. But despite Republican Pete Stauber spending 3 times more money that Democrat Joe Radinovich, this is another dead heat race that will depend on the size and strength of the wave on election day.

Before we get down into the nitty gritty of how this is playing out on the national stage, one more bit of background, this from Jonathan Martin at the NY Times over the weekend: Kavanaugh Was Supposed To Be A Midterm Boon For the GOP. Not Anymore. Martin reported that "With Judge Kavanaugh and his accuser, Christine Blasey Ford, tentatively scheduled to testify this week before the Senate Judiciary Committee, and many women furious over President Trump’s attacks on Dr. Blasey, a Supreme Court nomination that was once seen as a political winner in many conservative-leaning states could, instead, rouse female voters and independents who otherwise may have cared little about the confirmation fight... Suburban women are pivotal in this year’s campaign and many of them were already tilting toward Democrats because of their contempt for President Trump. If Republicans are too harsh in their questioning of Dr. Blasey, they risk inviting an even greater backlash at the ballot box in an election where their House majority is in peril and their one-vote Senate majority is teetering."

OK, and that takes us right to the new poll from NBC News and the Wall Street Journal. To begin with, 52% of registered voters disapprove of the job Trump is doing (45% strongly). 44% approve (29% strongly). The Republican Party is viewed negatively by 44% of likely voters and 32% positively, as opposed to the Democratic Party, which is viewed negatively and positively by 38% of registered voters.

Kavanaugh is viewed positively by 27% and negatively by 30%.

And when asked which party they would prefer in control of Congress, 52% say the Democrats and 40% say the Republicans.

Most voters-- and most independent voters-- want their vote to send a signal that they want to see a Democratic Congress as a check on and balance for Trump.

Sixty-five percent of registered Democrats say they’re very interested in the midterms-- registering either a “9” or “10” on a 10-point scale-- compared with 61 percent of Republicans who say the same thing.

That narrow 4-point advantage for Democrats is down from their leads of 11 points in August (63 percent to 52 percent) and 16 points in July (65 percent to 49 percent).

The groups with the highest level of interest in the election: Seniors (73 percent register either a “9” or “10), Democrats (65 percent), whites (61 percent), Republicans (61 percent) and African Americans (53 percent).

The groups with the lowest level of interest: Independents (37 percent) and those ages 18-34 (35 percent).

Worrying: younger voters are not enthusiastic about voting, nor are independents, two groups many Democratic candidates have been counting on to get them over the finish line, especially in red districts. Democratic candidates have to ask themselves what will help more in the final weeks of campaigning-- appealing to seniors or trying to enthuse younger voters. Where they allocate scarce resources could determine the results in November.

DCCC Moves To Sabotage Progressive Candidates In Minnesota For Two Wealthy New Dems

Jeff Erdmann and Adam Jennings, the 2 Minnesota progressives the DCCC is trying to tank

The Minnesota primary isn't until August 14 this year. But the DCCC isn't waiting. They've already endorsed two conservative candidates from the Republican wing of the Democratic Party, New Dems Angie Craig (MN-02) and Dean Phillips (MN-03). Both have normal Democrats competing in the primary but Pelosi, Hoyer, Crowley and Lujan are insisting on picking their own right-of-center candidates instead of waiting for Minnesota voters to nominate candidates. Jeff Erdmann is the progressive in MN-02 the DCCC is working to sabotage and Adam Jennings is the progressive running in the MN-03 primary. Erdmann and Jennings are both independent-minded progressives advocating Medicare-for-All, while Craig and Phillips are garden variety centrists who speak vaguely about healthcare and will do whatever they are told by party bosses in DC.

MN-02 (south of the Twin Cities) is one of the most evenly matched and competitive districts in the country. The PVI is R+2. Obama won it very narrowly, both times-- and by less than 300 votes out of over 360,000 in 2012-- while Trump squeezed by Hillary by 0.2% in 2016. Incumbent Jason Lewis beat Angie Craig 173,970 (47%) to 167,315 (45.2%).

MN-03 (west of Minneapolis) is bluer. Obama won by bigger margins both times and Hillary beat Trump 50.8% to 41.4%. The PVI is D+1. The DCCC put up a weak, uninspiring EMILY's List candidate, Terri Bonoff, who did miserably-- 169,243 votes (43%) to Erik Paulsen's 223,077 (56.7%). Dean Phillips is just like her, which is the only kind of candidate the DCCC is ever comfortable with-- the reason they've lost dozens and dozens of seats in blue districts over the last decade and the reason they can only win in wave elections.

This week Minnesota Public Radio reported that Minnesota Democrats-- like Democrats in Texas and California are furious that the DCCC is sticking its nose into the state's primaries. Jeff Erdmann and Adam Jennings have raised competitive money and are both complaining that the DCCC has it's fingers-- well, hands and feet-- on the scales for the conservative, establishment candidates. Remember, Minnesota Democrats picked Bernie in both districts. He beat Hillary 58.2% to 41.8% in MN-02 and he beat her 53.3% to 46.7% in MN-03. The DCCC doesn't give a damn that the voters in the two districts want change, not status quo. They insist on two status quo multimillionaire, middle of the road candidates.

"To feel that they need to come in and put their thumb on the scale for the candidate that has all kinds of personal wealth, you know that's frustrating that they're trying to taint the system," Erdmann said.

DCCC officials made it clear money drove their choice to back Craig, he added.

"We didn't talk anything about my background, my success as a teacher, as a coach any of the values that I hold. All they wanted to talk about was where we thought we could get money-wise."

Officials with the DCCC did not respond to numerous interview requests.

In Minnesota's 3rd District in the western suburbs, another wealthy Democrat, Dean Phillips, also won early DCCC backing.

Democrat Adam Jennings is also in the race and hoping for the chance to run against Republican U.S. Rep. Erik Paulsen. Jennings said the DCCC wouldn't even speak with him.

"There is kind of an establishment big-money component to all of this, and the more I think about it the more motivated I get to run."

Jennings said the DCCC's choice to weigh in early has hurt his ability to raise money. He said potential supporters have denied him campaign contributions because national Democrats have decided to back Phillips.

The DCCC has not openly campaigned against the Minnesota Democrats it did not choose to back.

[Minnesota DFL Party Chair Ken Martin:] "Ultimately Minnesotans don't respond very well to being told what to do by folks in Washington, D.C."

The DCCC campaign activity comes after a presidential election where some Democrats accused the Democratic National Committee of favoring Hillary Clinton over Bernie Sanders.

Erdmann argues Washington desperately needs people like him in Congress as income inequality and corporate power are on the rise.

"This is the perfect time to have regular working-class people get elected into office," he said, "so that we can have a seat at the table and stand up for our interests and our values."

The Democrap Establishment Still Doing What They Like Doing Most: Resisting the Resistance

Frank Schaeffer is continuing his roadtrip, meeting progressive congressional candidate and filming them as introductions of the best candidates running. Last we caught up with him was in Lewiston, Maine where he spent a day Jared Golden, the progressive candidate running for the swing district that isn't the Portland coastal area. From there he headed off to Omaha where he met with Kara Eastman. Please watch the video Frank did up top.On his own blog he introduced Kara by noting that she's "a trained social worker who runs Omaha Healthy Kids Alliance (OKHA), a non-profit dedicated to securing healthy home environments for kids and their families. Kara is a political outsider with real leadership experience who knows how to create policy, prepare and stick to a budget, and always puts people first. In addition to OKHA, Kara also led Extra Hands for ALS, whose mission is to fund research for Lou Gehrig’s disease. Kara cares about the environment and is often referred to as a 'climate hawk' by her supporters. Kara is incredibly passionate about her work and here’s something that blew me away when I spoke with her; when I asked her why she was running, she told me plain and simple, 'I am running because I am desperate–not desperate for a job, but desperate for our country–and in particular for our kids…I want to make a difference.' Kara wants to create an environment where people can be themselves and thrive. She wants to create the America that she tells her daughter about; where people care for one another, value innovation and diversity, and you can become what you want to be."

If you've been paying any attention since around 2006 or so, DWT has been blasting away at how the DCCC, and the Democratic establishment in general, rigs primaries against progressives in favor of the Republican wing of the Democratic Party-- Blue Dogs, New Dems, "ex"-Republicans, self-funders, anti-Choice freaks, homophobes... the whole panoply of candidates who make voters scratch their heads and say "what's the difference?" Nothing deflates turnout from the Democratic base like the DCCC and EMILY's List and associated groups offering a lesser-of-two-evils strategy. It doesn't work but the DCCC is incapable of learning the lesson. Sure, their shit candidates can be sometimes swept into office-- as they were in 2006-- but in the next midterm they are invariably swept back out of office (as they were in 2010) when Democratic voters realize they've been tricked-- and stay home in droves.

That's how Kara Eastman's current primary opponent, conservative "ex"-Republican Blue Dog Brad Ashford, wound up a one-termer. I'm usually the only one writing about this. But yesterday two big-time investigative journalists, Ryan Grim and Lee Fang, blew the whistle on the DCCC's primary rigging. "Candidates", they wrote, "who signed up to battle Donald Trump must get past the Democratic Party first."

They started with how the DCCC and the wretched EMILY's List are working to rig the election for some sad sack corporate shill in PA-16 and against the exciting progressive, Jess King. Normally, "the trio of groups that represents the party’s central authority"-- the DCCC, EMILY’s List and End Citizens United (which has nothing whatsoever to do with ending Citizens United and is just a DCCC/DSCC scam operation to vacuum up grassroots money from the unsuspecting). The New Dems and Blue Dogs often join them, in the cases of Angie Craig-- a pathetic candidate in Minnesota not only did the New Dems join in, so did a very confused an undependable Congressional Progressive Caucus.

End Citizens United, an ostensible political reform group, was founded in 2015 by three consultants from Mothership Strategies, all veterans of the DCCC. End Citizens United has since paid Mothership Strategies over $3.5 million in fees, according to Federal Election Commission records. In its first few years, other campaign finance reform groups grew suspicious of the PAC, which they referred to as a “churn and burn” group dedicated to raising money by blanketing email lists with aggressive solicitations, a hallmark of the DCCC’s own email strategy. That reputation began turning around the last two years, as the PAC began putting significant money into important races and working more collaboratively with other groups in the space.

But its pattern of endorsements remains closely aligned with the types of candidates backed by the DCCC, though End Citizens United is often far ahead the party. (In 2016, End Citizens United backed progressive Zephyr Teachout, while the DCCC lined up behind her opponent, one of the few instances of the two diverging.) The PAC’s entry into the Minnesota race is particularly odd, given that Craig, while at the medical device company St. Jude Medical, directed the firm’s political action committee in the 2012 election cycle, after spending the previous six years on its board. The goal of the PAC was to buy influence with Republican and Democratic leaders, as well as members of the tax-writing committees, in pursuit of repealing the medical device tax that was a key funding mechanism of the Affordable Care Act. The effort eventually met with significant success.

While she ran it, the PAC spent heavily on Republican politicians, directing funds in the 2012 cycle to Republican Sens. Mitch McConnell, Finance Committee Chair Orrin Hatch, Scott Brown, Mike Enzi, Richard Burr, Bob Corker, and John Barrasso. Then-Speaker John Boehner and presumed-future-speaker Kevin McCarthy, as well as the chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, all got money from Craig’s PAC.

This, then, was the résumé that earned the support not just of the DCCC and EMILY’s List, but also of a group publicly committed to campaign finance reform. It’s as dissonant as the group’s support for Jason Crow in Colorado, a DCCC-backed candidate who works at a powerful law and lobbying firm.

A DCCC official, asked about Craig’s time running the corporate PAC, said it was unfair to accuse a married lesbian raising a family of being part of the political establishment, and that her business success was an asset, not a liability.

End Citizens United also stands by its endorsements of Craig and Crow. “Angie pledged to fight for reform, advocated for the public funding of elections, and ran a grassroots campaign with the support of many progressive organizations and local elected officials,” said End Citizens United’s Communications Director Adam Bozzi.

“Angie lost in 2016 by a narrow margin of 6,000 votes,” Bozzi added. “Unlike many House challengers in 2016, she was able to match the Democratic performance at the top of the ticket. Angie ran a strong campaign, in a tough district, in a difficult year for Democrats in Minnesota.”

“All Jeff talks about is political reform, so that was a shot to the heart,” said Rosenow, Erdmann’s campaign manager, on losing the endorsement. “If your goal is to get money out of politics, how in the fuck-- I’m sorry, how in the hell are you backing someone who ran a corporate PAC?”

The DCCC still blatantly lies about not getting involved in primary battles. They do it everyday and in everyday. And the whole purpose is the kill progressives in the cradle. Their own Red to Blue website currently lists 18 carp candidates they are backing, almost all of them also backed by the New Dems and/or the Blue Dogs and almost all of them in hot races with progressives. As Grim and Fang reported, "the Democratic Party machinery can effectively shut alternative candidates out before they can even get started. The party only supports viable candidates, but it has much to say about who can become viable." Let's look at 4 of the races the DCCD is fucking up that Grim and Fang singled out:

• AZ-02 (Tucson)

Last year, former Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick, a tough-on-immigration candidate who previously represented a northern Arizona district, bought a house to run for this Tucson-area seat. The DCCC, Emily’s List, End Citizens United, and other PACs coalesced quickly behind her campaign, ignoring a spirited challenge from former Assistant Secretary of the Army Mary Matiella. “A candidate’s viability is judged too quickly and too narrowly,” Matiella, who could be the first Latina to represent Arizona in Congress, told The Intercept. “The ability to immediately post a six-figure quarter isn’t just the primary consideration, it’s the only one. That kind of artificial barrier to political involvement is going to disenfranchise not only qualified candidates like myself, but thousands of new and optimistic voters the party should be engaging.” Matiella is backed by Justice Democrats, Democracy for America, and Project 100.

• KS-04 (Wichita)

In April, the political world turned bug-eye on Wichita, Kansas, as the results of a special election to replace Mike Pompeo came rolling in. For a tense stretch of time, it looked like James Thompson, running on a progressive platform that hewed closely to that of Sanders, might just pull off an upset in the heart of Koch Industries country. He wound up about 7,500 votes short, but immediately announced his plan to run for the same seat, this time against the Republican incumbent Ron Estes, in 2018. Washington Democrats were not particularly enthused about his chances. “I have never heard hide nor hair from the national party about the race,” Thompson said. His primary opponent, Laura Lombard, who moved back to the district from Washington, said she’s been in touch with the DCCC, but the party doesn’t like the odds of winning the district and isn’t helping in the primary.

Thompson is not clamoring for party support. “From what I’ve seen of the DCCC’s help, they want a bunch of promises made you’ll raise X amount of money, and you’ll spend this amount on TV ads.” he said. “At this point I’m not interested in having the DCCC, which has a proven losing record, try to come run my campaign.”

• NE-02 (Omaha)

The Democratic Party has largely lined up behind former Rep. Brad Ashford to take back this Omaha-based seat. The DCCC and other PACs have provided resources and endorsements to Ashford, who compiled one of the most conservative voting records for any Democrat in the House during his time in office. Kara Eastman, another Democrat competing in the primary on a populist campaign of single payer and tuition-free college, said that, after inviting her to candidate week, the party has attempted to shut her out of the campaign. “Well, we have been in contact with people from the DCCC since we started the campaign, and I was told that they would be remaining neutral until after the primary, and now it’s clear that’s obviously not the case,” Eastman, who has raised more than $100,000, told The Intercept. Eastman is backed by Climate Hawks Vote, at least three local unions, and some local party officials. The Progressive Change Campaign Committee, which was founded in 2009 as a small-dollar alternative to the DCCC, is leaning toward planning to endorse her. In 2017, the national Democratic groups shocked Nebraska Democrats by pulling support for mayoral candidate Heath Mello over his past votes for bills to ban abortions after 20 weeks and the requirement that an ultrasound is used on a woman seeking abortion. Ashford, as a state legislator, voted for the same two bills, while Eastman is running on a solidly pro-choice platform. But that hasn’t prevented national Democrats from rallying behind Ashford. Last year, DNC Chair Tom Perez, in the wake of the Mello controversy, drew a line in the sand, saying that “every Democrat, like every American, should support a woman’s right to make her own choices about her body and her health. That is not negotiable and should not change city by city or state by state.” But that hasn’t prevent national Democrats from rallying behind Ashford. An EMILY’s List spokesperson said the group is monitoring the race but has yet to weigh in.

• CO-06 (Denver suburbs)

This suburban seat has long been an elusive Democratic target. One candidate for the district, clean energy expert and entrepreneur Levi Tillemann, charged that Rep. Steny Hoyer, the No. 2 Democrat in the House, pressured him to get out of the race in favor of Jason Crow, a veteran and partner at powerhouse Colorado law and lobbying firm, who is backed by the DCCC, the local Democratic congressional delegation, and End Citizens United. In a response to an inquiry from The Intercept, Hoyer did not deny pressing Tillemann, and said that he is “proud to join countless Coloradans in supporting Jason Crow in Colorado’s 6th District.” Not all Democrats are on board with the party’s strategy, though. State Party Chair Morgan Carroll protested the DCCC’s support for Crow over Tillemann, writing on Facebook, “The DCCC verbally said they would be neutral and in practice just endorsed one of the candidates in CD6.” Tillemann comes from a long line of political heavyweights in Colorado and moved back to the state to run.

Last week, we looked at how slimy corporate whore Steny Hoyer was in Colorado trying to rig the election in the 6th district for one of the DCCC's worst recriuits of 2018, a completely crooked lawyer named Crow, and against progressive reformer Levi Tillemann. Last night, Tillemann read the Grim-Fang story and this is what he told us about primary rigging in his district:

It didn’t have to be this way. After the controversy surrounding our 2016 presidential primary, the Party ought to have remained impartial during all Democratic primaries. Local leaders have, but unaccountable power brokers in DC have decided to try and rig the system and disenfranchise the voters of CD-06. That's wrong.

When political insiders want to rig an election they don’t stuff ballot boxes, instead they rely on backroom deals, super PACs, campaign contributions, pressure and threats. That's what's going on here, and it extends well beyond Colorado’s 6th District to races across the country where the DCCC has decided to try and push out progressives in favor of more 'controllable' Democrats. That is why I am speaking out.

I believe in the power of democracy. Testing ideas and candidates through a hard-fought primary makes us stronger. Making people feel like their vote doesn't matter leads to disengagement. I have always been deeply committed to running a campaign focused on the values and issues. I will fight Trump and the GOP every step of the way as they try to dilute minority influence through gerrymandering, voter ID laws, and voter suppression. But I will also fight the DCCC if they try to turn Democratic primaries into nothing more that a pep-rally for anointed insiders nationwide. The DCCC would do well to remember that voter access, free and fair elections, campaign finance, and good government are Democratic values; calling out violations of Democratic values by people we usually agree with isn’t mudslinging, it’s integrity.

Bob Poe is an old friend, the former chairman of the Florida Democratic Party. When he ran for Congress in Orlando last cycle, the DCCC backed a conservative go-along-to-get-along pointless careerist with no political point of view. He also read Grim's and Fang's piece today, shook his head and said "Some things don’t change. Gutless wonders! [The DCCC] never learns the lesson that if you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you always got."

Democratic party officials are not, by nature, moved to deep reflection by election losses. They have a plan and they’re sticking to it. The bad news for grassroots activists is that the Democratic Party’s leaders cannot be reasoned with. But they can be beaten.

If Democratic leaders are getting the sense that 2018 could be a wave election much like 2006, it’s worth looking at the last time the party swept into the House. The DCCC that year was run by Rahm Emanuel, who institutionalized the practice of only endorsing candidates with a demonstrable ability to either fundraise or pay for their own campaigns. Democrats that year beat 22 Republican incumbents and picked up eight open seats that had previously been held by Republicans. Because winners write history, the strategy has become conventionally accepted as wisdom worth following. But taking a closer look at the races themselves suggests the DCCC was flying blind.

In New Hampshire, for instance, the DCCC backed state House minority leader Jim Craig over local activist Carol Shea-Porter, in a classic establishment-versus-grassroots campaign. The conventional wisdom suggested that Craig’s endorsements, his moderation, and his ability to fundraise were what was needed in the district. Instead, Shea-Porter took a firm stand against the war in Iraq and organized an army of foot soldiers on the ground. Vastly outspent, she smoked Craig by 19 points in the primary.

The DCCC, in its wisdom, wrote her off, declining to spend a dime on what they saw as a lost cause. She spent less than $300,000 and, on the back of progressive enthusiasm, won the general election. She is retiring in 2018.

In California, the DCCC backed Steve Filson, a conservative pilot, against Jerry McNerney, who Emanuel believed was hopelessly liberal. After McNerney beat him in the primary, a peeved Emanuel said the DCCC wouldn’t be helping him in the general. A coalition of environmental groups got behind him instead, and McNerney won anyway.

In upstate New York, Emanuel went with Judy Aydelott, a former Republican who was a tremendous fundraiser. She was crushed by environmentalist and musician John Hall, after which the DCCC shunned the race as unwinnable. Hall won.

...It can be difficult for challengers to go up against the party because it is often hard to tell how or if the party is taking sides. Short of a public statement, candidates are left to quiz donors, consultants, or other operatives who might be in the know.

Steve Cohen, a Democratic representative from Tennessee, learned that lesson in a roundabout way. Much to Emanuel’s displeasure, Cohen ran a far-to-the-left campaign in 2006 and won a Memphis district. A white man in a minority-majority district, he was presumed to be a one-termer and drew a well-funded challenger in 2008, Nikki Tinker. (She won the endorsement of EMILY’s List, which tends not to endorse candidates against incumbents, even anti-choice ones like Dan Lipinski in Illinois.)

Cohen suspected that Emanuel was working against him but had no firm evidence, until one day he was having breakfast at the bar in Bistro Bis, a Washington restaurant, after Tinker had announced her bid. He saw Tinker in the restaurant-- and then he saw Emanuel. “Rahm came in and walked around and saw me and danced around, like doing a pirouette, like he had to pee or something, dancing on his toes,” said Cohen, describing the jittery reaction of the Chicago pol who had famously studied ballet as a young man.

Cohen left the restaurant for about five minutes and then returned to find Emanuel and his opponent dining together. “I caught Rahm,” Cohen said.

Tinker wound up running a campaign widely condemned as anti-Semitic. Cohen is now in his sixth term; Emanuel is the mayor of Chicago.

But the party’s inability to rethink conventional tactics creates an opening for progressive challengers. The party, like the media covering House campaigns, is relentlessly focused on 23 particular House districts where Clinton won, but the seat is still held by a Republican. Those seats, the party believes, belong to Democrats and are theirs for the taking. That was the strategy in 2006, too, as Emanuel dug in on the 18 seats in districts Kerry had won in 2004 but still were represented by Republicans.

Those seats were toss-ups, and despite Emanuel’s vaunted tactical genius, he did barely better than flipping a coin, winning 10. Democrats won 10 more seats in districts George W. Bush had carried with between 50 and 55 percent of the vote. They won seven in races where Bush pulled in 55 to 60 and won three upsets where Bush had won 60 percent or more of the vote just two years earlier. In other words, a third of all the Democratic pick-ups came in races where the party had been crushed two years prior and was paying little attention this time around. “Back in 2006, a strong argument can be made that Rahm was in the right place at the right time with the wrong strategy,” said Podhorzer, the AFL-CIO’s strategist who worked on the ’06 campaign.

The same pattern held in the Virginia House races in November, in which the party focused on a handful of swing districts, only to see stunning upsets across the state-- epitomized by a Democratic Socialists of America-backed nobody unseating the House minority leader, and transgender journalist Danica Roem knocking off a legendary bigot.

Those types of candidates in 2006 were boosted not by the DCCC, but by outside groups like the AFL-CIO and MoveOn.org, which was at the height of its power. This time around, there’s no shortage-- well, there’s always a shortage-- of outside groups that can come into a race and lift a candidate up. The explosion of grassroots energy post-Trump didn’t just create new candidates, it made new groups, too. That means candidates who get shunned by the DCCC still have the possibility of connecting to an organized faction of Democrats who can make their race viable.

...The DCCC, notably, hasn’t yet added any Democratic candidates in California-- where there are multiple crowded primaries for competitive seats-- to its Red to Blue list. Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., the western regional vice chair of the DCCC, has discouraged the party from taking sides in contentious primaries. “We’re not placing our thumb on the scale in these primaries,” said Marc Cevasco, a spokesperson for Lieu.

But the increased party primary meddling in races in other parts of the country has come at a time when the DCCC is increasingly wedded to congressional moderates. In somewhat of a reprisal of the Emanuel strategy, the DCCC is leaning on business-friendly Democrats to take back the House.

For the first time since 2006, the Blue Dog Coalition, the right-leaning Democratic group that prides itself on promoting socially conservative, business-friendly lawmakers, has worked with the DCCC to select the party’s candidates for the 2018 midterms.

The new collaboration is a stunning reversal for a party that has seen a groundswell of support for progressive ideas-- such as a $15 minimum wage and single-payer health care-- that are staunchly opposed by the Blue Dog wing of the party. Operatives from the DCCC meet on a weekly basis with the Blue Dogs to discuss recruitment and how to best steer resources to a growing slate of centrist Democratic candidates, according to Politico.

“The DCCC recognizes that the path to the majority is through the Blue Dogs,” Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., chair of the Blue Dog PAC, told Politico.

For party officials concerned about raising cash, Blue Dogs are a safe bet. Public disclosures with the Federal Election Commission show that the Blue Dog PAC is fueled by the biggest spenders on congressional campaigns on K Street, the term Washingtonians use colloquially to refer to a center of lobbyist shops. PAC money from the National Mining Association, AT&T, McKesson, Comcast, the National Restaurant Association, and other business interests have buoyed Blue Dog PAC coffers, which are spent recruiting and financing moderate Democrats.

But there is more than one way to raise big money. As for Jess King, a DCCC official said that the Pennsylvanian wasn’t invited to candidate week in Washington because her campaign has not been in close touch with the national party, and that party support is a two-way street. But by the party’s favorite metric-- fundraising-- going it alone hasn’t hurt her. In the fourth quarter of 2017, relying on small dollars, King added another $200,000 to her war chest, bringing her above $300,000 for the first year.

Her fundraising broke a record last held by Christina Hartman.

Now is the time when these primaries are going to be won or lost. The DCCC is pouring resources into the races to defeat progressives and advantage their corrupt conservative candidates. As you know, Blue America doesn't support or endorse New Dems or Blue Dogs and, historically, we're usually the ones first backing candidates like Carol Shea-Porter and Jerry McNerney back in 2006. We frequently get behind progressives who find themselves pitted against the worst of the DCCC recruits like Brad Ashford and Ann Kirkpatrick. Please consider contributing what contributing to the progressive candidates on the page that the thermometer on the right will take you to. There's not a single one the DCCC has endorsed, at least not yet. Please help us shove a dozen of them up right up their corrupt asses.

Good Candidates Don't Accept DCCC Endorsements In Primaries

Worth 10 DCCC Red to Blue Endorsements

The DCCC claims to be neutral in primaries but always puts its fingers on the scale for corrupt conservatives from the Republican wing of the Democratic Party, Blue Dogs and New Dems, never for progressives. The DCCC favors wealthy self-funders and "ex"-Republicans. They recruit them and back them and help them disadvantage candidates from working class backgrounds. Is the DCCC anti-union? They probably don't even realize it, but, of course they are. Let's take a look at a DCCC press release masquerading as reporting in yesterday's Roll Call: DCCC Names First 11 Candidates In 'Red To Blue' Program."

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is naming 11 candidates Wednesday to the first round of its Red to Blue program, which highlights strong Democratic recruits.

The list of 11 candidates, obtained first by Roll Call, includes recruits running in 10 competitive GOP-held seats and in one open seat Democrats are hoping to keep blue.

Washington Rep. Denny Heck, the chair of recruitment, and Massachusetts Rep. Katherine Clark, the vice chair of recruitment, will co-chair this cycle's Red to Blue program.

Being named to Red to Blue opens doors for candidates who can tout their inclusion on the list to donors. Candidates also benefit from guidance and staff resources from the DCCC, which has been in contact with all Democratic House candidates who have been willing to collaborate and communicate with the committee this year.

The DCCC evaluates candidates’ fundraising, grassroots engagement, local support, ties to the community and campaign infrastructure when deciding who makes the cut for Red to Blue.

This cycle’s first round is earlier than last cycle’s when the first 16 candidates were named in early February of the on-year. Additional rounds of Red to Blue candidates for 2018 will be rolled out more frequently and in more targeted batches than in previous election cycles.

“The House is in play in 2018 and incredible Democratic challengers are stepping up to run across the largest offensive battlefield in a decade,” DCCC Chairman Ben Ray Luján said in a statement. The DCCC expanded its target list last week, for a total of 91 GOP-held seats.

“These candidates have their own unique experiences rooted in these districts, but what they all have in common are records of service to their communities and our country,” Luján added.

The DCCC on Wednesday is also naming certain districts to two additional lists-- Majority Makers and True Blue.

Then they named the 11 crap candidates along with how much money they ended the third quarter with. They didn't bother to mention that most of the candidate are from the Republican wing of the Democratic Party, either Blue Dog or New Dem recruits-- or in several cases-- both. Another couple are EMILY's List recruits.

• New Dem Ann Kirkpatrick (AZ-02)- $269,000
• Jason Crow (CO-06)- $393,000
• Abby Finkenauer (IA-01)- $169,000
• Blue Dog Brendan Kelly (IL-12)- $305,000
• Blue Dog Paul Davis (KS-02)- $344,000
• New Dem Elissa Slotkin (MI-08)- $377,000
• New Dem Angie Craig (MN-02)- wealthy self-funder
• Blue Dog Dan McCready (NC-09)- $700,000
• Susie Lee (NV-03)- multimillionaire self-funder
• Blue Dog Anthony Brindisi (NY-22)- $399,000
• Chrissy Houlahan (PA-06)- $662,000

Kirkpatrick is a loser and a carpetbagger from up north who the DCCC is trying to shove down the throats of southern Arizonans. She has shown in the past that she can get swept into office in a wave election-- but her GOP voting record always guarantees she's defeated in midterms when Democrats refuse to come out and vote for her. She's an NRA poster child (literally) and an all-around conservative Democrat. The DCCC is always touting fundraising as an indication of viability but two other candidates, Matt Heinz and Mary Matiella are also raising the kind of money that proves viability. We reached Mary yesterday and she told us that ""The DCCC is right about AZ-02 being a great pickup opportunity but they're wrong if they think an establishment/corporate Dem is the way to win. Southern Arizonans are a fiercely independent bunch and ultimately it's the voters, not the establishment who will decide who best represents their values." A week ago she said something similar, namely that "Polls show that voters want an authentic, relatable candidate-- someone who understands them. The DCCC wants a candidate who can raise funds. This disconnect in candidate vetting disenfranchises the voter."



There's a similar dynamic in Colorado's 6th district, where the progressive candidate, Levi Tillemann is also raising 6 figuresand inspiring grassroots woke Democrats while the aggressively UNWOKE DCCC is pushing a the same kind of candidate they see when they look in the mirror, someone who represents rich people.

Wealthy Vegas socialite-- the candidate of the casino magnates-- Susie Lee ran a terrible campaign against Ruben Kihuen last cycle. This time she moved to the open seat on the other side of town, having as little in common with the people there as she did in the 2016 campaign. That's when she spent around a million and a half dollars and got just 6,407 votes, coming in third against two grassroots candidates. But Pelosi just cannot resist those multimillionaire candidates. There are more multimillionaires claiming to be Democrats in Congress than ever before. who would have ever guessed that would be Nancy Pelosi's legacy!

We reached out to Jeff Erdmann, the non-multimillionaire in the Minnesota race where the DCCC is trying to tip the scales for Angie Craig, the candidate supported by Big Pharma lobbyists. "In a time where all the polls tell us that people think the Democratic party is for the ultra-rich," Jeff told us, "it’s disappointing that the DCCC would back an ultra-rich candidate who lobbied to suspend the medical device tax as the medical device company Medtronic was sending its headquarters overseas. This is especially troubling as they are backing a corporate elite in a primary against a teacher who’s lived in the district and south-eastern Minnesota his entire life and is running to lift up the community. It seems as if the Democratic leadership has yet to learn it’s lessons from 2016. We the people need to rise up and take back the party and that starts with supporting candidates that are working class."

Who Wants More Republican-Lite Candidates? The DCCC Has One For Minnesota

There are six counties that make up MN-02 but the vast majority of voters are in the suburbs and small towns just south of Minneapolis and St Paul in Dakota County. Obama took Dakota County both times he ran and won MN-02 both times as well. Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken won those suburbs as well-- and the congressional district. But in 2003 a right-wing crackpot and ideologue, Kohn Kline, won the district and represented the area in Congress until last year, when he finally retired. The Democrats picked a wealthy self-funder Angie Craig as their candidate. She has a somewhat compelling biography and, working with a cadre of loser consultants from DCCC/EMILY's List world, ran an issues-light campaign, depending on Hillary's coattails to sweep her into office-- and a weak campaign about herself but not about the constituents. She had nothing to offer them and their families other than stories about herself and her family. Just what the DCCC and EMILY's List wants from their candidates. She put nearly a million dollars of her own money into it and outspent Republican Jason Lewis $4,012,823 to $1,020,649. But everything went wrong. First of all, Hillary had no coattails in the Twin Cities suburbs. Unlike Obama she lost. She lost to Trump! By over a point-- 46.5% to 45.3%. And Angie did even worse. She lost 173,970 (47%) to 167,315 (45.2%), despite having out-spent him 4 to 1. The DCCC spent $2,174,366 trying to help and Pelosi's PAC threw in another $759,429... all wasted.

So... guess who the DCCC wants to run again next year. Yep, Angie Craig. She sent out another anodyne letter announcing her intention to start campaigning in a few months. The letter, once again, is all about her, not about issues, not about the Minnesotans she wants to represent:

With the strong support of my wife and our four sons, I’m excited to announce that I will seek the Democratic-Farmer-Labor endorsement in Minnesota’s Second Congressional District in 2018.

We deserve a representative who is committed to listening to everyone-- even those we might disagree with-- and then work to create a level playing field for every family. That’s why I’ll spend the upcoming weeks on a listening tour of the district. Following this, I will formally kick off my campaign in the Fall.

As Democrats, we must understand better why we have lost these past elections. As I talk with voters, already it has become clearer that we must talk more about how we are going to bring back jobs to the United States and create economic opportunity for more hard-working Americans. We have to be clearer about how we will fix healthcare and acknowledge the problems with out of control costs for many families. I grew up without healthcare. There is no one who knows better if you can’t afford insurance, healthcare doesn’t exist.

I would not be making this announcement today if not for the strong support from my wife, Cheryl Greene, a former Minnesota teacher who now works with elementary schools around the country on bully prevention efforts. Our four sons, Josh, Jonas, Jacob and Isaac also have been incredibly encouraging. Our oldest three return to college in August and Isaac will be a freshman at Rosemount High School this year. I also have heard from many of you – encouraging me to make a second run. Thank you for your confidence in me. I will need your help to win.

I have been incredibly blessed in this life. I never imagined as a young girl that I would leave the trailer park I grew up in to become first a journalist, and then a healthcare leader-- much less run for the U.S. Congress. I am ready to use my experience to fight to lower health care costs and ensure families have more economic opportunities.

I humbly ask for your support to be the MN-2 DFL candidate for Congress in 2018 to ensure that Jason Lewis and Washington no longer ignore our neighbors. We must be heard. I will fight Washington to make sure this district gets what it deserves.

I would be honored to have your support. Please, follow me on Facebook to stay up to date on the listening tour and the latest news as I prepare to challenge Jason Lewis.

Yours,
Angie

She was a lobbyist for a medical devise corporation and her inspiring story didn't inspire Democrats or independents in 2016. But she's trying again. But this time she may have a problem. High school American Government Teacher and head football coach Jeff Erdmann is running for the DFL endorsement to challenge Jason Lewis. Erdmann grew up in Lewiston, in southeast Minnesota and has lived in this congressional district for the past 17 years. In radio interviews he often says he "believes in people." On his website it says, he was named the Minnesota Vikings High School Football Coach of the year in 2010, and the Marines Semper Fi Coach of the Year in 2015. Though he attributes his success to the culture of respect and valuing of each person that participates, his campaign-- as demonstrated on that website-- is as policy oriented as you'd expect from a former Berniecrat. It's probably worth mentioning that Bernie didn't just win MN-02 in the primaries-- beating Hillary 10,722 (66.3%) to 5,451 (33.7%), but that Bernie got over 3 times more votes that Señor Trumpanzee in the primaries. (Trump came in third with 3,333 votes, behind weak showings by Rubio and Cruz.)

Angie Craig likes to tell people she grew up in Arkansas, in a trailer park. Last cycle, in every chance she got, she claimed that she is an American Dream story. Climbing the corporate ladder was what she did, very successfully. I’m pretty sure the American Dream is owning a house and getting your kids though college. Lobbying for the medical device industry and reaping huge profits, maybe not as much. Craig moved to Minnesota in 2005, then moved into the district just before her run in 2013.

Jeff’s platform is transparent and extremely progressive. A "working voice for working people" is Erdmann’s tag line, as he strives for Medicare for All, Wall Street reform, political reform to get money out of politics, strengthening social security, and lifting wages for hard working Americans. Jeff is working full time during the campaign because he, "needs to put food on the table." The Erdmann campaign tweets that to change the political landscape, real working people need to run for office. Millionaires haven't been and still aren’t the answer to our problems.

Craig… well, she ran last cycle and took down her website with her stances. Now there is a Crowd Pac page where it says, "Remember, more than 53 percent of the district voted for me or the third-party candidate in 2016." Her announcement press release says she is going on a "listening tour." Which seems odd, as she was just campaigning around the district 9 months ago, yet still seems to have no idea what people are going through or need to make their lives better. A listening tour means that the candidate doesn’t have any ideas of their own, and are so removed from what people are going through, they don’t know what issues effect people on a daily basis. Which makes sense, since she admitted to lobbying to get the medical device tax removed from the Affordable Care Act, a tax that is hated by certain corporations and by Wall Street but is critical to offsetting the cost of insurance plans on the individual market.

In a 2016 debate with Jason Lewis, Angie said she supported the repeal of the Medical Device Tax, because she "saw firsthand in Minnesota that it cost Minnesota jobs." That statement about losing jobs-- a Republican Party talking point-- got a 2 Pinocchios rating in the Washington Post, and was proven inaccurate by 3 other studies. But, the DCCC, as always, is most comforttable with a Republican-lite candidate. They should stay out of the primary and let Democrats in MN-02 decide who their nominee should be.

Who Thinks The GOP Has Halted Their War On Women? Let's Visit Southeast Minnesota

Angie Craig should be a shoo-in for Congress

Hate Talk Radio host Jason Lewis, is the leading contender for the Republican nomination to replace retiring GOP reactionary, John Kline in the suburbs and exurbs south of St. Paul (MN-02). It's a swing district that Obama won-- albeit narrowly-- both times, and with a vaguely competent DCCC it would be in Democratic hands today. The Democratic candidate this year is Angie Craig a former health care industry executive and journalist who, when elected, will be the first openly gay member of Congress from Minnesota and the first woman ever elected from Minnesota's Second District.

Keith Ellison, the leader of Minnesota progressives, has enthusiastically endorsed Angie Craig and has been working hard to help elect her and to introduce her to other progressives around the country. This morning he told us that "Jason Lewis' comments on women are not only offensive, they perpetuate a shockingly out of touch world view. I'm proud to support Angie Craig because I know she will fight tirelessly in Congress for all Americans, regardless of their age or gender." Lewis' reputation as a dangerous crackpot comes from his comments on the radio where he delighted sharing his own ugly bigotry with his listeners. Have you ever heard of a congressional candidate saying "You’ve got a vast majority of young single women who couldn’t explain to you what GDP means. You know what they care about?... They care about The View. They are non-thinking." Really? The vast majority? Did he take a survey? Young women are more unaware than young men are about GDP?

I'm surprised the Minnesota Republican Party hasn't officially asked him to withdraw from the race. Well, not that surprised. After all, former crooked congresswoman and extremist nut Michele Bachmann has endorsed Lewis. Despite Bachmann's enthusiasm for Lewis, though, Chris Fields, Deputy Chair of the state GOP and an African-American, was horrified by reports of Lewis' racism. Lewis said the "white population" has been "committing political suicide" and "cultural suicide" by not reproducing at higher levels, and in belittling calls for more income inequality he said that "the median income for blacks in America would make them rich in most African nations, not most-- all." In a crazy screed he calls an audio book, Power Divided is Power Checked: The Argument for States' Rights, he questioned the role of the federal government in outlawing slavery, claimed that President Abraham Lincoln "exploited the issue" of slavery, adding the Civil War-- which he calls "War Between the States"-- had "more to do with secession" than slavery. How would you feel about someone who put this into a "book" being your congressman?

In fact, if you really want to be quite frank about it, how does somebody else owning a slave affect me? It doesn’t. If I don’t think it is right, I won’t own one, and people always say ‘well if you don’t want to marry somebody of the same sex, you don’t have to, but why tell somebody else they can’t.  Uh, you know if you don’t want to own a slave, don’t. But don’t tell other people they can’t.

Angie and her wife live in Eagan with their 4 teenage sons. I kind of feel badly for her since she is enthusiastic about making the election a discussion of serious issues impacting the real lives of working families, and will now be forced to confront this crackpot who wants to relitigate slavery and marriage equality. Brian McClung, Tim Pawlenty's former spokesman seemed aghast at Lewis' attempts to paint himself as a junior Donald Trump just angry about political correctness. (Lewis insists that "liberal reporters and typical politicians may not like the bluntness of the way I’ve framed some issues in my career.") McClung, who is still active in Minnesota GOP politics pointed out that "defending the institution of slavery in any manner is abhorrent and out-of-bounds" and that "this also highlights the fact that Lewis' outrageous and often indefensible statements are a treasure trove of opposition research that would be used by Democrats to destroy him in a general election fight in a closely divided swing district." Really? You think Minnesota women might be upset that Lewis claims they are "simply ignorant of the important issues in life?"

Lewis has said over and over that he stands by his hate-filled comments about blacks and women. Only 3.6% of the district's population is black but, over half the voters are women-- and they vote. In fact, MN-02 is one of the highest-turn-out districts in the country, 79% of eligible voters going to the polls in 2012. (For the sake of comparison the turn out of the state of California was 54.8%, for Texas it was 48.4%, for Idaho it was 58.4%, for Nebraska 59.9% and for neighboring Wisconsin 71.9%.) I bet when women hear this kind of thing even more will vote:

Flipping A District In The Great Northwest: WA-08

This week we were delighted to hear that two truly awful Republican congressmen-- John Kline in Minnesota and Dave Reichert in Washington-- are stepping down. Kline made it final; he's going for sure, which must be a great relief to America's students (and their parents). Reichert, bored with Congress, is still mulling a run for his state's governor's mansion, which polling indicates he'll lose anyway.

Blue America hadn't made a decision to back a candidate in MN-02 yet, although Angie Craig looks like a good replacement for Kline. It's much easier for us in WA-08, where we already have a great, well-vetted candidate in Jason Ritchie.

Washington's 8th Congressional District is the only CD in Washington that is considered flippable. It is the only district in the state-- and one of only 17 nationwide-- that President Obama carried in 2012 but has a sitting Republican congressman, Reichert. If, as is likely, he does leave this seat open, it must be turned blue for Democrats to reclaim a majority in the House of Representatives in 2016. And not just blue, but progressive.

The DCCC hasn't recruited a conservative to run against Jason in a primary-- having looked and failed. But keep in mind, the Republicans aren't giving the district up without a fight. Reichert tried portraying himself as relatively "mainstream" or even "moderate." (He wasn't.) It's likely that whoever the GOP tries replacing him with won't even try. Privatizing Social Security and cutting back on Medicare are as high on the Republican agenda as rounding up millions of undocumented immigrants and shipping them to Mexico. That's a very different agenda from the one Jason is fighting for.

After Reichert's announcement last week that he's looking closely at the gubernatorial race, Jason told us that he's

seeking this seat in 2016, as I did in 2014, as a strong, progressive Democrat who believes that Social Security, Medicare and Disability are not entitlements; they are earned benefits. I will oppose any Republican efforts to degrade, defund, privatize or otherwise take away our earned benefits.

Across the board, Jason is a stalwart Blue America-backed candidate with values and principles that support working families and not wealthy special interests. 

I strongly support and believe in women's health care choices, and I will oppose any Republican effort to limit access to these health care choices, including any efforts to cut funding to essential access points such as Planned Parenthood.

I own and operate a small construction business building wheelchair ramps and installing grab bars for seniors and people with physical challenges. I know that middle class, living wage jobs are the lifeblood of our economy. I know that economic inequality and lack of opportunity are the largest threats to our democracy and our economy. I will fight to create strong, middle class, living wage jobs in our communities by investing into our infrastructure.

I need your support to fight those Republicans who think they can keep this seat red. I need your help to make the case to the voters of the 8th CD that this race is not only winnable, it is essential that we win this seat in 2016.

This is a seat Jason can win-- with our help. He's not a wealthy man, and the DCCC hasn't given him any help at all, although they haven't been sabotaging him this cycle either. I suspect that if he can raise some money this quarter, they may actually even get behind his campaign. If you can afford to, please consider making a contribution here. Washington deserves an upgrade after 12 years of Reichert! We all do.

Minnesota Reactionary John Kline Manages To Reauthorize Hated "No Child Left Behind"

Everybody hates No Child Left Behind, right? (Except Jeb!, whose family has made a fortune off it.) Democrats hate it, and most Republicans say they hate it. But it was reauthorized-- albeit with the narrowest of votes, 218-213-- on Wednesdsay. 

Twenty-seven Republicans bucked their party leadership and voted against the bill introduced and pushed down America's throat by the most anti-education chairman of the Education Committee in American history, John Kline of Minnesota. His misleadingly titled "Student Success Act" drove a diverse segment of Republicans running across the aisle, from libertarians like Justin Amash (R-MI), Thomas Massie (R-KY), and Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) to right-wing extremists like Jody Hice (R-GA), Ron De Santis (R-FL), Ken Buck (R-CO) and Louie Gohmert (R-TX) to mainstream conservatives like Chris Gibson (R-NY) and Frank LoBiondo (R-NJ).

Kline had to call on Speaker Boehner and Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy to help him force Republicans to back this bill, which is hated by parents and teachers everywhere across the country and which they had already failed to pass earlier in the year because of massive GOP opposition. Wednesday's roll call was facing defeat too until McCarthy and Majority Whip Steve Scalise sent out the GOP whip team to twist arms and get weak-minded Republicans to change their votes and betray their constituents. 

Boehner couldn't even deliver a single one of his pet Blue Dogs or New Dems on this, not even Kyrsten Sinema (AZ), Patrick Murphy (FL), Collin Peterson (MN), Henry Cuellar (TX), Sean Patrick Maloney (NY), Gwen Graham (FL), or Brad Ashford (NE), the absolute bottom of the Democratic barrel, all more likely to vote with Boehner than with Pelosi. But not this time.

Conservative lawmakers had pushed for the adoption of several amendments allowing schools to opt out of No Child Left Behind requirements. Only one of those amendments, from Rep. Matt Salmon (R-Ariz.), was adopted, with lawmakers voting 251-178 to allow parents to exempt their children from testing.

“Parents are becoming increasingly fed up with such constant and onerous testing requirements, as well as the teachers,” Salmon said during floor debate.

A separate proposal from Reps. Mark Walker (R-N.C.) and Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) would have allowed states to opt out of No Child Left Behind and still receive federal funding. That amendment failed 195-235, as 49 Republicans aligned with Democrats to defeat it.

...The 2002 No Child Left Behind law, which included a reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), expired in 2007. Congress has not passed legislation to extend it since then.

Since 2011, the Obama administration has been issuing waivers from No Child Left Behind in response to demands from governors and school districts.

Both the House and Senate bills prohibit the Department of Education from exerting control over state academic standards. The provisions would apply to Common Core, which establishes English and math standards for all grade levels through high school.

On the left, civil rights groups are objecting to a provision in the House bill that they fear will deprive schools with low-income populations of adequate funding. The measure would allow federal funds provided to high-poverty localities to “follow” students who transfer to another school, even if they enroll in a wealthier school that doesn’t have as tight a budget.

Democrats said the amendments allowing states to opt out of No Child Left Behind heightened their concerns that disadvantaged students would be shortchanged.

“The amendment would literally let states just take the money and run,” said Rep. Bobby Scott (D-Va.), the top Democrat on the House Education and the Workforce Committee.

The revolt from conservatives and unanimous opposition from Democrats stands in contrast to the original 2002 law, which was hailed as a major bipartisan compromise between Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), then the chairman of the House Education and the Workforce Committee, the late Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.), and President George W. Bush.

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush is the only Republican running for president in 2016 who supports Common Core. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who once endorsed the standards, announced this year that his state would eliminate them.

One of the confused, waffling Republicans who was running around like a chicken without a head during the debate was Antelope Valley sad sack Steve Knight, the only L.A. congressman to vote to reauthorize No Child Left Behind, which is hated in Simi Valley, Santa Clarita and the Antelope Valley. His main opponent for the seat, former U.S. Marine and L.A.P.D. officer Lou Vince was astounded to see Knight betray the community.

I firmly believe that a solid educational foundation is the most important gift we can bestow upon a child. A good public education sets a child up to succeed in the future and live a good life. No Child Left Behind is a flawed piece of legislation that has proven time and time again that it does not further our children's education in a meaningful way. Congressman Knight's vote sets him apart as he is the only member of Los Angeles' congressional delegation who voted in favor of this bad piece of legislation. As the Congressman of the 25th District, I would work tirelessly to prioritize the interests of our families and of our children in order to ensure that every child has a right to good, solid public education. No one deserves better than our children.

Angie Craig is the progressive Democrat taking on Kline in the southeast Minnesota district he's been misrepresenting for so long. She's making genuine education reform a major plank of her platform. Right after Kline's bill eked out its narrow win on Wednesday, she issued this statement:

Everyone agrees that federal education policy is in urgent need of reform and John Kline was tasked with reforming No Child Left Behind with the Student Success Act. Sadly, the bill he wrote, and the House passed today, was less reform and more giveaway to the radical conservative fringes of his party.



The bill not only maintains the excessive focus on standardized tests, but also eliminates much needed accountability and action to lift up struggling schools. Even worse, Kline’s bill included a voucher-lite 'portability' program that could lead the federal government to move millions of dollars in school funding from the neediest schools to the wealthiest. Even as he attempts to move federal funds away from the schools that need them most, Kline’s bill locks in devastating cuts to those same resources for public schools.

If John Kline and the extreme right wing of his party are not going to fund our public schools and invest in students and teachers, the least they could do is to protect the students while they’re in the classroom. Unfortunately, the Student Success Act doesn’t include provisions, such as those introduced by Sen. Al Franken in the Senate, from the Student Non-Discrimination Act, which would codify anti-discrimination protections for LGBT students in to law.



In his attempt to appease radical conservative attempts to cripple federal education policy, John Kline has failed our students, teachers, and families. We can and must do better.

UPDATE: Congress' Education Big Mistake

Los Angeles Congressman Ted Lieu (D-CA) explained his vote a little after the fact-- but it is well worth playing close attention to: "I am a strong believer that every child, no matter their zip code or background, should have an equal opportunity to succeed. Unfortunately, HR 5, the poorly named Student Success Act, does not achieve this goal. The bill cruelly takes away money from students most in need. For instance, the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) would lose around one fourth of its funding under this bill, due to the Title I portability provision, despite the fact that LAUSD has a poverty rate of 70%. I also find the reduction in funding for students with disabilities extremely short-sighted and downright mean."