Figuring Out Who To Vote For Down-Ballot-- Let's Look at PA-01, Bucks County

The New Dems don't just endorse anyone who asks them for an endorsement and they don't sell endorsements as part of a protection racket the way certain other caucuses do. They vet their candidates very carefully and if they detect any fiscal progressive streak-- BOOM!-- it's over. The New Dems are the dominant part of Congress' Republican wing of the Democratic Party. They're not as bad as Republicans but they are corporately financed and tend to vote with Republicans on economic issues. In other words-- if 2 gays want to get married, it doesn't bother them any more than a woman getting an abortion does, when when it comes to making the rich pay their fair share of taxes or regulating the banksters... that's where we have a little problem. Actually, a big problem-- of the 10 Democrats with the worst voting records in Congress, 8 of them-- all Blue Dogs Collin Peterson (MN) and Jared Golden (ME)-- are New Dems. Most of them are also Blue Dogs. Almost every Blue Dog has joined the New Dems-- makes it easier to access Wall Street bribes.

There are currently 104 New Dems in the House, making it the biggest Democratic caucus in the House. Of the 104 New Dems, only 21 do not have "F"-graded voting records-- an even dozen with "D" scores (like Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Greg Schiff, Darren Soto and Juan Vargas), 5 with "C" scores, although that includes Eliot Engel who was recently dispatched by his constituents and replaced by a Democrat with real progressive values, Jamaal Bowman, and 3 with B scores and just one with an A, Lori Trahan (who is also a member of the Progressive Caucus).

When I was looking for information about Christina Finello, the hand-picked DCCC/EMILY's List candidate for the Bucks County congressional district (PA-01), I went to her website first and saw her proudly displaying the New Dems endorsement meme. She's one of the 27 candidates conservative and amenable to corruption enough to make the grade. But there was no AFL-CIO endorsement; which went to the pro-union Republican incumbent Brian Fitzpatrick.

She's running in Pennsylvania's penultimate swing district with a PVI of R+1, but with a record of having voted for Obama both times he ran and even having given a 2 point win to Hillary over Trump-- 49.1% to 47.1%. The so-called "Blue Wave"-- and an attempt to buy the seat by a wealthy Democrat who put an obscene and offensive $12,756,892 of his own money in-- didn't take out Fitzpatrick in 2018, when he beat Scott Wallace 169,053 (51.3%) to 160,745 (48.7%). Bucks County (90% of the district) performed very strongly for Fitzpatrick, while voting even more strongly for progressive Democratic gubernatorial candidate Tom Wolf (58.5%) and for Democratic Senate incumbent Bob Casey (56.2%), both of whom were running against crackpot Trumpists.

As of the June 30 FEC reporting deadline, Fitzpatrick had raised $2,741,797, spent $1,029,695 and had $1,828,737 cash on hand. Finello raised $501,826, spent $205,703 and had $296,123 cash on hand. There hasn't been a lot of outside spending yet, but I expect there will be, for both candidates. Looks bad for the New Dem, Finello. Maybe. Why maybe? Trump. Trump may pull all down-ballot Republicans down with him. Finello is just a nothing careerist candidate with nothing to offer but she's in the right place at the right time. 92,308 Democrats voted in the primary, 71,571 of them for Finello. And just 75,895 Republicans voted on the same day-- and just 48,017 of them for Fitzpatrick. Fighting the Trump anti-red headwinds, it's going to be very hard for Fitzpatrick to stave off a defeat, although he'll easily beat Finello in a 2022 rematch when the Democrats have spent 2 years accomplishing nothing important to anyone, primarily because of status quo candidates like Finello (and Biden) getting swept into office.

Fitzpatrick's lifetime ProgressivePunch crucial vote score in 27.35. Only one Republican, Thomas Massie-- and by less than one percentage point-- has voted more frequently for progressive legislation. In fact, Fitzpatrick is basically tied with Utah Blue Dog Ben McAdams and has a more progressive voting record than two Blue Dog/New Dems, the detestable Anthony Brindisi (NY) and Joe Cunningham (SC). Fitzpatrick uses his score to insist he's a "moderate" and "independent," his biggest selling points back home. Will voters hear his pleas over the Trump din though? Last week, Philadelphia Inquirer reporters Andrew Seidman and Chris Brennan asked if Fitzpatrick really is a moderate, which isn't how either party paints him. The right wing of the GOP dismisses him as a RINO and Democrats desperately try to tie him to the despised Trump. Fitzpatrick has a tightrope because if he is seen as too close to Trump he will lose independent voters who are the ones who decide elections in Bucks County. But if he's too unsupportive of Trump, he'll hemorrhage the Republicans who are devoted to Trump and Trumpism.

Seidman and Brennan wrote that "Democrats narrowly outnumber Republicans in the district, a solidly middle-class swath of suburbia that includes part of Montgomery County. And heated debate over whether a Fitzpatrick deserves the moderate tag is familiar ground for local voters, dating back to when his late brother, Mike Fitzpatrick, represented the district. Whether Brian Fitzpatrick survives what’s likely to be a challenging reelection campaign while Trump continues to repel suburban voters will offer clues about if and how Republicans can hold on to power in the suburbs.

“Anybody that claims I’m not a moderate and not an independent thinker is living on another planet,” Fitzpatrick said in an interview Thursday, touting his involvement with the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus.

Rick Bloomingdale, president of the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO, said the success of moderate politicians in the region dates back to the late 1970s. Pete Kostmayer, a Democrat, served seven terms in the House, followed for six terms by Republican Jim Greenwood. They weren’t ideological warriors. The district didn’t expect-- or want-- them to be. The same could be said for the men who followed: Mike Fitzpatrick and Democrat Patrick Murphy.

The AFL-CIO this month endorsed Fitzpatrick, the only Republican the labor group backed for U.S. House in Pennsylvania and just one of eight GOP endorsements out of 189 overall. Bloomingdale cited Fitzpatrick’s support for unionized federal employees’ rights, dredging jobs on the Delaware River, and protections for union organizing.

All that made it “pretty easy to endorse” Fitzpatrick, Bloomingdale said. To do otherwise would be the act of a “fair-weather friend,” he said.

Fitzpatrick’s moderate bona fides have been a source of frustration among progressive groups eager to retake a seat held by Republicans for a decade. Fitzpatrick withstood the 2018 Democratic wave that washed out Republicans in the Philadelphia suburbs.

In an interview, Finello rattled off positions taken by Fitzpatrick that she said show he’s no moderate, starting with his support for Trump’s 2017 tax cuts-- which disproportionately benefited wealthy Americans and swelled the federal budget deficit.

She condemned Fitzpatrick for voting against the Heroes Act, a second coronavirus economic relief package the House passed in May. The Republican-controlled Senate didn’t advance the bill, and negotiations between the White House and congressional Democrats have gone nowhere.

Finello said Fitzpatrick’s vote means he opposed oversight of federal aid to make sure it “went to struggling small businesses rather than corporations.” The bill also included money for state and local governments, continuing supplemental unemployment benefits, and extending moratoriums on evictions and foreclosures.

“We’re talking right now in August, the fourth straight month where roughly a third of Americans have missed a housing payment, voting against things people need,” she said.

Fitzpatrick noted that 14 Democrats voted against the bill. He said he supports more funding for state and local governments, the Postal Service, small businesses, and unemployment benefits. But he opposed a provision in the bill that aimed to reduce the prison population to fight the spread of the virus.

He also opposes Trump’s call for a payroll tax cut, saying it would “jeopardize Social Security and Medicare.” And on a day when Trump openly admitted that by withholding funding for the Postal Service, it would be unable to handle an anticipated surge of mail voting, Fitzpatrick said the USPS should be “fully funded.”

And Fitzpatrick noted that he backed “major policy initiatives” advanced by Democrats after they retook the House, including Democratic priorities like strengthening protections for voting rights, closing the gender pay gap, and expanding antidiscrimination protections for LGBTQ people.

“That’s union rights, environmental rights, gun safety, LGBT rights,” Fitzpatrick said. “These are major, major initiatives.”

In June, he was one of just three Republicans who voted for the police reform measure passed by the House after the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

It all adds up to a record the Lugar Center and Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public Policy rank as the most bipartisan of any member of the House. The center’s index is based on “how often a member of Congress introduces bills that succeed in attracting cosponsors from members of the other party, and how often they in turn cosponsor a bill introduced from across the aisle.”

Fitzpatrick has voted with Trump 64% of the time on legislation on which the president has a clear position, according to the website FiveThirtyEight. Just two House Republicans have voted with Trump less frequently, according to the analysis.

Democrats counter that Fitzpatrick, a former FBI agent, has failed to deliver on a defining issue: standing up to Trump.

“You can’t deny the fact he’s been complicit with Donald Trump on his most important initiatives, and has been silent as a lamb when his own FBI directors have been attacked, when our military leaders have been attacked by this president,” said Murphy, who unseated Mike Fitzpatrick in 2006 but lost the seat back to him in 2010. (Mike Fitzpatrick died in January.)

Murphy, asked if he thought there were any moderate Republicans in Congress, pointed to Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah, the only one who voted to convict Trump at his impeachment trial.

“Where was he on that vote?” Murphy said of Fitzpatrick.

Fitzpatrick said he will wait until the election to decide whether to vote for Trump or presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden.

The debate over Fitzpatrick’s independence is something of a redux of his 2018 campaign against Democrat Scott Wallace.

Progressives were incensed then when Everytown for Gun Safety, the antigun violence group cofounded by Mike Bloomberg, endorsed Fitzpatrick. Everytown cited Fitzpatrick’s vote against a bill backed by the National Rifle Association that would require states to recognize concealed carry permits from other states-- but progressives questioned his commitment to the issue.

The Bucks County branch of Moms Demand Action, an arm of Everytown, dissolved in protest.

Ali Glickman, of Solebury Township, cofounded Orange Wave for Gun Safety along with other former Moms Demand Action volunteers. She said that Fitzpatrick is no moderate, and that regardless, voting for Republicans won’t help on issues like gun violence. The only way to advance the cause is to elect Democrats like Finello, she said.

“If we don’t have the majority, it doesn’t really matter, period,” Glickman said.

While Finello’s campaign frequently mocks Fitzpatrick’s claims of independence, Finello said she doesn’t focus on labels.

“I’m focusing on what people are talking about right at this moment,” she said. “People are concerned right now about how they’re going to pay their rent when they’ve lost their job. They’re worried about what’s happening when they have to send their kids back to school.”

That ad didn't work-- at least not enough to flip the district-- in 2018, but that's basically the campaign again this cycle. It's all a matter of how skilled Fitzpatrick is in walking his tightrope-- distancing himself from Trump, but not so much as to offend Trump supporters enough to watch them decide to skip the vote-- or vote for the Libertarian on the ballot in November..

Still, Finello may win. If she does, her voting record will be slightly better than Fitzpatrick's. She's not for Medicare-for-All and She doesn't back a Green New Deal. Her website issues page is basically DCCC pablum-- sounds good/means nothing. Is she better than Fitzpatrick? Yes, a bit. Can she hold the seat in a bad wave year for Dems? No way. Incumbents like her always lose the seats. This is the kind of thing-- made by Republicans-- that will sweep Finello into Congress:

PA-01 Should Be A Smoking Hot Electoral Battleground, Not This

Andrew Meehan is running as a proud Trumpist against Brian Fitzpatrick (R) in an anti-Trump district

On paper, PA-01 looks like the most likely Democratic congressional pickup of the 2020 cycle. PA-01 is, basically, the old 8th district-- all of Bucks County and a small piece of Montgomery County-- suburbs north of Philly and west of Trenton. It's a wealthy suburban district with a PVI of R+1 that doesn't reflect the disdain in the district for Trump. In 2016, Hillary won the district by 2 points-- 49.1% to 47.1%. Trump did worse than Romney had but Hillary didn't do as well as Obama.

Republican incumbent Brian Fitzpatrick makes a point out of telling his constituents he didn't vote for Trump in 2016 and has opposed him far more than most Republicans. His Trump adhesion score in the current session of Congress is 36.2% and he's voted against Trump more than with him. His ProgressivePunch lifetime crucial vote score is the highest of any Republican on the House-- 29.10... more progressive than 4 cowardly Blue Dog Democrap careerists-- Kendra Horn (OK- 28.89), Anthony Brindisi (NY-20.0), Joe Cunningham (SC-20.0) and Jeff Van Drew (NJ-20.0).

In 2018 Fitzpatrick was massively outspent by Democrat Scott Wallace $13,535,808 to $3,412,246. Fitzpatrick beat Wallace 169.053 (51.3%) to 160,745 (48.7%). Wallace won in the 10% of the district that is made up of Montgomery County neighborhoods but lost Bucks County-- 90% of the district. PA-01 will be a battleground again this cycle.

First, Fitzpatrick has to face a crazy right-wing Trumpist who calls him a RINO, Andrew Meehan. If Fitzpatrick beats Meehan, he'll have whichever of the 3 Democrats wins the primary. None of them look great to me from afar, but none have returned my calls. They appear to be 3 garden variety, nothing-to-offer centrist Dems looking for a career, fame and glory-- Bucks County prothonotary Judith Reiss, Pennsbury School Board member and Lower Bucks Indivisible co-founder Debbie Wachspress campaigning on Zionism, and Christina Finello, an Ivyland Borough Council member. Every word I've read from each of them sounds like canned DCCC schpiel. They all seem to think the election is about them, not about the residents of the district.

At this point, only a huge anti-red wave would sweep any of them into office. Finello's campaign web site doesn't have an issues page, which usually indicates she's a DCCC and/or EMILY"s List candidate. Debbie Wachspress does have an issues page-- which could easily be anyone's issues page except that it ends with this:

Judi Reiss also has an issues page. It's not bad. It's just a little bit of this and a little bit of that, but no real stands on anything. She sounds like she might be a progressive... but is playing it coy and leaving you to guess. This is her video, exactly what a campaign intro shouldn't look like:





Ms. Finello has a video too-- the only one on her campaign video channel. Sad. Maybe good candidates are so sickened by government that they don't even want to run for Congress, at least not in Bucks County.

Crucial Primaries Mañana In Georgia, Kentucky And Pennsylvania

Let me save Pennsylvania for the end, since that's the one with Democrats. Georgia and Kentucky are Republican affairs, although who the GOP voters pick in each state may influence the outcome of the November elections-- and the control of the U.S. Senate. We'll start with Georgia's 7 dwarves running for the open red Senate seat that conservative Democrat, Sam Nunn's daughter, thinks she has a chance to win. She doesn't really have a chance-- although flawed and irrelevant polling consistently predicts she does. Greg Bluestein in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: "Michelle Nunn, the Democratic front-runner in the Senate race, has built leads against each of the five top GOP Senate contenders in a potential November matchup, though her lead against businessman David Perdue is particularly narrow… But it’s important to note that GOP candidates have yet to unleash the brunt of their considerable resources at Democratic rivals. Deal’s campaign has so far ignored Carter in its feel-good ad campaign, and Republican Senate candidates are busy battering each other ahead of the May 20 primary."

The most recent primary polling from Fox shows certain nuts and crackpots beating other nuts and crackpots:

• David Perdue 26%
• Karen Handel 18%
• Jack Kingston: 17%
• Paul Broun: 12%
• Phil Gingrey: 11%
• Other: 3%
• Undecided: 13%

The only real chance Nunn's daughter really has-- despite a lot of wasted energy from delusional Democrats-- would be if dangerous fascist/Bircher Paul Broun won tomorrow. But he won't. And neither will she. Her excruciatingly tepid, conservative campaign not going to motive enough Democratic base voters to bother turning out in November, despite the millions the DSCC and their allied organizations waste on the election. Lots of ugly Republican Civil War ads like this one up this week:



The video way up top shows the two front-runners flatly stating-- probably dishonestly-- that they will not vote for the repulsive GOP leader, Mitch McConnell if he's reelected and wants to be GOP Leader again. And, in all likelihood, McConnell will win his primary tomorrow. The most recent polling shows him beating teabagger Matt Bevin 55-35%.

Heading into the final weekend before the 05/20/14 Kentucky primary, incumbent GOP Senator Mitch McConnell soundly defeats more conservative Republican challenger Matt Bevin, according to the latest Bluegrass Poll, conducted by SurveyUSA for the Louisville Courier-Journal, WHAS-TV, The Lexington Herald Leader, and WKYT-TV. It's McConnell 55%, Bevin 35%.

50% of Republicans say Matt Bevin is too inexperienced and would harm KY's ability to get things from DC, compared to 38% who say that Matt Bevin is the fresh face needed to shake things up in Washington. 38% of Republicans say McConnell has been in office too long and it's time for him to go, compared to 55% of Republicans who say that McConnell's expertise and seniority are important for Kentucky to have in Washington DC. 51% of Republicans say McConnell has done too little to stop federal spending, 33% say he has done the right amount. 54% of Republicans say McConnell has done too little to stop the Affordable Care Act, 31% say he has done the right amount.

Assuming McConnell emerges triumphant from Tuesday's primary, and looking ahead to the 11/04/14 general election, the forecast is cloudy for the Senate Minority Leader, who stands to become Majority Leader should he hold his seat and should Republicans capture control of the Upper Chamber.

Today, it's even-steven, McConnell 42% vs 43% for his lesser known but well-financed Democratic challenger, Alison Lundergan Grimes. These results are a nominal 3 points more favorable to McConnell than the most recent Bluegrass Poll, released 02/04/14. That poll was conducted of registered voters; this poll is of likely voters. Today, Grimes has built a narrow coalition of Democrats (74% support) and moderates (60%). The rest of her support is below 50% (women 45%, greater Louisville 48%). McConnell holds on because he is backed by conservatives (68%), Republicans (69%), and because where he trails, it is narrowly, and by single digits, such as among Independents, where McConnell is down 38% to 32%. 6-months till votes are counted, even in the face of these poll numbers, McConnell cannot be underestimated. The national Republican Party is not prepared to lose his seat; every last dollar will be spent to keep it.

Among all registered voters:


• Grimes has a Plus 14 Job Approval as KY Secretary of State: 46% approve of the job she's doing, 32% disapprove.


• McConnell has a Minus 22 Job Approval as KY's senior Senator: 34% approve of the job he's doing, 56% disapprove.


• Grimes favorability is Plus 8 (35% view her favorably, 27% view her unfavorably).


• McConnell's favorability is Minus 20 (29% favorable, 49% unfavorable).


• Bevin's favorability is Minus 3 (22% favorable, 25% unfavorable).

So far, McConnell has spent $11,379,032 on this race and Bevin has spent $3,340,522. This week, the NRA spent $$99,073 bolstering McConnell. The Credit Union National Association, one of the nation's most corrupt Big Bucks players spent over $350,000 last week to push two slimy candidates who have proven records of selling out their constituents in favor of the banksters, McConnell ($156,394) and fake Democrat Pete Aguilar ($197,189). Americans for Tax Reform kicked in another $37,500 this week for McConnell. In contrast the Freedomworks fire-breathers spent $2,154 trying to prop up Bevin's disintegrating campaign. McConnell and his allies have unlimited millions to start deploying against Grimes on Wednesday.

Democratic voters in Pennsylvania seem well on the way to nominating Tom Wolf for governor tomorrow, the progressive alternative to EMILY's List's horribly flawed conservative shill Allyson Schwartz, despite the Beltway pundits having practically declared her the winner even before she declared her candidacy. The punditocracy also heavily backed Marjorie Margolies-Mezvinsky (the outrageously corrupt Clinton in-law) in PA-13 and Steve Israel's CIA spy/pro-fracker Kevin Strouse in PA-08. Both are poised to lose tomorrow, although both races are too close to call and will depend on robust progressive turnout.

DWT recommendations for tomorrow:

• PA-13- Daylin Leach
• PA-08- Shaughnessy Naughton
• PA Gov- Tom Wolf
• PA Lt. Gov- Mark Smith

Would Republicans String Up The Koch Brothers If Oklahoma Disappears Into A Giant Sink Hole?

In the video above, the relationship between swarms of Oklahoma earthquakes and fracking, seems obvious. Koch brothers-protected fracking is starting to devastate a wide swathe of the middle of the country-- and Republicans are willfully oblivious to the dangers their ideological policy agenda is causing in red states like Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas and Kansas.

Whether those stresses are natural or triggered by human activity is currently being studied.

“You can't not ever connect an individual earthquake to an act of drilling or waste water injection. However, I think it's counter intuitive to think there's not some relation,” said Lewchuk.

Monday, the governor of Kansas named a task force to study if oil and gas activities can cause earthquakes, calling it "a matter of public safety." Some of the quakes picked up by seismographs in Oklahoma are centered near the Kansas border. The Kansas task force will present its findings to the governor in April.

Texas is also now investigating its quakes. In the past few months, dozens of quakes have rattled cities in the Dallas-Fort Worth and north to the Red River. Texas' Railroad Commission is working with the USGS to find the cause.

Oklahoma City-based Chesapeake Energy is being taken to court for allegedly causing earthquakes. Twenty-eight homeowners from Arkansas claim the company's injection wells caused thousands of earthquakes. As a result, they claim their homes have been significantly damaged.

I'd like to introduce Tom Steyer to Tom Guild. But I only know the latter Tom. This morning that latter Tom-- Time Guild, a candidate for congress in a district that has been wracked with earthquakes this week-- told me that "There is growing concern in Central Oklahoma over the increasing frequency and strength of earthquakes. This is historically unusual for this part of the country, and seems to parallel increased horizontal drilling in the state. We need to get to the bottom of the cause(s) for this disconcerting phenomenon and do whatever is reasonable and necessary to protect the people of Oklahoma. If this is scientifically confirmed to be manmade in whole or in part, we need to put in place any reasonable and necessary regulations to ensure the safety and well being of our people."

As the NY Times explained this morning, the former Tom, is "a billionaire retired investor is forging plans to spend as much as $100 million during the 2014 election, seeking to pressure federal and state officials to enact climate change measures through a hard-edge campaign of attack ads against governors and lawmakers." So far, a great deal of his political war chest-- $11 million-- has been spent to elect astounding corrupt corporate whore Terry McAuliffe governor of Virginia. Let's hope he'll let Tom Steyer call the shots on issues of climate change. According to reporter Nick Confessore, Steyer "is rallying other deep-pocketed donors, seeking to build a war chest that would make his political organization, NextGen Climate Action, among the largest outside groups in the country, similar in scale to the conservative political network overseen by Charles and David Koch." He put up $50 million of his own money and asked other super-rich folks concerned with the destruction of the earth by the bad rich people to pony up a matching $50 million. In the battle between well-meaning and evil billionaires… well I'd rather see Citizens United struck down and public financing of elections enacted.

“A small number of the richest individuals in America are attempting to use their enormous wealth to purchase government decisions to advance their own personal interests,” said Fred Wertheimer, president of Democracy 21, a group that favors tighter limits on money in politics. “This is about as far away as we can get from ‘representative government.’ ” Mr. Steyer poured tens of millions of dollars into a successful 2012 ballot initiative in California that eliminated a loophole in the state’s corporate income tax and dedicated some of the resulting revenue to clean-energy projects. He also has helped finance opposition to the Keystone XL pipeline, appearing in a series of self-funded 90-second ads seeking to stop the project.

Targets include the governor’s race in Florida, where the incumbent, Rick Scott, a first-term Republican, has said he does not believe that science has established that climate change is man-made. Mr. Steyer’s group is also looking at the Senate race in Iowa, in the hope that a win for the Democratic candidate, Representative Bruce Braley, an outspoken proponent of measures to limit climate change, could help shape the 2016 presidential nominating contests.

…This month, NextGen asked supporters to pick one congressional candidate, from five running this year, for the group to target in its next ads. Four of the five candidates were Republicans, including Senator Marco Rubio of Florida. But the fifth was a vulnerable Democratic incumbent, Senator Mary L. Landrieu of Louisiana, who has close ties to the oil and gas industries and has been an outspoken supporter of the Keystone pipeline.

It is unclear how aggressively his group will move against other Senate Democrats: Asked whether Democratic control of the Senate was necessary to advance his climate agenda, Mr. Steyer said, “As long as we have this partisan divide on energy and climate, it’s got to be important.”

But he is also seeking to upend the partisan split that has come to infuse the climate debate. In their advertising and research, Mr. Steyer and his aides have sought to craft appeals that would reach beyond affluent white liberals on the coasts. Ads in California were tailored to Hispanic voters by emphasizing the negative health impacts of power plant emissions. In the Virginia governor’s race, NextGen sought to show that a Democrat could win with a message emphasizing “green” job creation over one emphasizing threats to the state’s coal industry.

David Topper, a New York private equity investor who attended the meeting at Mr. Steyer’s ranch, said: “You need to be agnostic as to party. If I find someone who has the right position on climate change, do I care if he owns six guns? Not at all.”

Unlike some on the left, Mr. Steyer has embraced the political toolbox that was opened to wealthy donors and other interests in the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision, which made it easier for businesses, unions and rich individuals to pour unlimited money into elections.

Meanwhile, the "imperial presidency" the Republicans never stop whining about lately, is taking some baby steps-- even as they prepare to green-light the Keystone XL Pipeline and destroy President Obama's legacy the way the War in Vietnam destroyed Lyndon Johnson's. This is the Good News Bears/finger in the dike story the White House sent out this morning:

In his State of the Union address, the President outlined a comprehensive agenda to make America a magnet for middle class jobs and business investment. The President highlighted the autoworker, who, implementing the Administration’s historic fuel economy standards, “fine-tuned some of the best, most fuel-efficient cars in the world, and did his part to help America wean itself off foreign oil.” And the President pledged, “in the coming months” to “build on that success by setting new standards for our trucks, so we can keep driving down oil imports and what we pay at the pump.” The President also called on Congress to do its part “by putting people to work building fueling stations that shift more cars and trucks from foreign oil to American natural gas.” Today, the President laid out additional details for his plan to improve the fuel efficiency of American trucks-- bolstering energy security, cutting carbon pollution, and spurring manufacturing innovation.

  •         Directing the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Transportation (DOT) to Set the Next Round of Fuel Efficiency Standards for Medium- and Heavy-Duty Vehicles. Today, the President is directing the EPA and the DOT’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to develop and issue the next phase of medium- and heavy-duty vehicle fuel efficiency and greenhouse gas standards by March 2016. Under this timeline, the agencies are expected to issue a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) by March 2015. This second round of fuel efficiency standards will build on the first-ever standards for medium- and heavy-duty vehicles (model years 2014 through 2018), which were proposed and finalized by this Administration and will save vehicle owners and operators an estimated $50 billion in fuel costs and save a projected 530 million barrels of oil.

  •         Partnering with Private-Sector Leaders to Deploy Advanced Vehicles. In addition, the President highlighted the success of the National Clean Fleets Partnership that he launched to speed the deployment of clean, energy-efficient vehicles and the infrastructure to support their use. This public- private partnership helps the nation’s largest fleet operators reduce diesel and gasoline use in their fleets by incorporating alternative fuels, electric vehicles and fuel-saving measures. To date, 23 major national companies, such as ARAMARK, Coca-Cola, Staples, UPS, AT&T, Enterprise Holdings, and Waste Management have joined the National Clean Fleets Partnership. Collectively, the National Clean Fleets Partners operate more than one million commercial vehicles nationwide. The President has directed his Department of Energy to provide each company that wants to partner with specialized resources, technical expertise and support in developing a comprehensive strategy to reduce fuel use and achieve greater efficiency and cost savings.

  •         Expanding Fuel Choices for American Drivers. In addition to taking executive action to make America more energy independent and cut carbon pollution, the President is also renewing his call for Congress to end subsidies to oil and gas companies and create an Energy Security Trust Fund to fund research and development for advanced vehicle technologies. And he is proposing to support investment in advanced vehicles and infrastructure through a new tax credit and an extension of tax credits to support cellulosic biofuels.

Let's hope Landrieu is at least a warning to Democrats that people take this crap seriously. But just in case Steyer's $100 million goes to a bunch of corporatist whores like McAuliffe, which is what I expect-- and not into any actual progressives like Tom Guild-- you can contribute $5 or $10 to his grassroots effort here. What Steyer is doing in amazing and noble. If we expect billionaires to save us, we might as well discard our democracy altogether. And, by the way, at a debate in Bucks County Monday night, the independent Democrat, Shaughnessy Naughton, went after the garden variety ex-CIA agent the DCCC recruited, Kevin Strouse, on the fracking issue.

"The 8th district needs a leader who understands the value of the Delaware," Naughton added. "Mike Fitzpatrick has a 25% rating from the League of Conservation Voters and Kevin Strouse wants to let the frackers decide if they should frack. I am the only candidate in this race who has been willing to stand up and say, 'Not on my watch.'"

In August of last year, Strouse was quoted in a local newspaper as supporting natural gas drilling. [Midweek Wire 8/28/13] At the debate, Strouse changed his position and said that while he supports the current moratorium on fracking, which is set to expire in 2018, he is willing to “let the experts decide” on whether or not fracking would have environmental consequences.

Strouse’s campaign has received at least $10,400 from Energy Capital Partners, a private equity firm that invests heavily in fracking projects across the country.

"The 8th District deserves a strong, progressive voice that won't be influenced by whichever special interest group can write the biggest check," said Josh Morrow, Naughton's campaign manager. "The Delaware River is one of the region's most important resources, and Shaughnessy is the only candidate in this race who will fight to keep it clean."

"The Delaware River is one of Bucks County’s-- and Pennsylvania’s-- most valuable resources and provides drinking water to more than 15 million people," Naughton said. "The general public still doesn't know what chemicals are used in fracking, and I’m not willing to take that gamble with the purity of our drinking water."

Republican Cowards' Appeasement Policy: Hope Yes/Vote No

Mica & Lankford: 2 ugly right-wing faces of GOP nihilism & cowardice

While unreconstructed Confederate nihilists like Louisiana's John Fleming were boasting this morning that they're ready to force another government shutdown in January and another default crisis in February, many Republicans from normal parts of America were breathing a sigh of relief after last night's Pelosi-led 285-144 vote to reopen the government and step back from the brink of default. Charlie Dent (R-PA) explained the cowardly strategy of most Republicans in this nifty aphorism floating around Capitol Hill: "Hope Yes/Vote No."

Most people recognize that for what it is: grotesque political appeasement to the Tea Party Confederates-- and it will come back to hurt Republicans who voted NO while representing districts where independent voters are needed for reelection. In the House, 16 who may have wrecked their chances for reelection by going along with the Hope Yes/Vote No strategy:

• Justin Amash (MI)
• Kerry Bentivolio (MI)
• Jeff Denham (CA)
• Sean Duffy (WI)
• Scott Garrett (NJ)
• Steve King (IA)
• John Mica (FL)
• Stevan Pearce (NM)
• Joe Pitts (PA)
• Tom Reed (NY)
• Dana Rohrabacher (CA)
• Ed Royce (CA)
• Paul Ryan (WI)
• Steve Southerland (FL)
• Mike Turner (OH)
• Tim Walberg (MI)

Problem here, of course, is that the DCCC hasn't bothered finding candidates to run in many of these races or isn't backing the grassroots local candidate who is running or is putting up some less-of-two evils hack who many voters won't bother going to the polls to support.

Let's take John Mica. His central Florida district, FL-07, stretches from the suburbs just north of Orlando, like Winter Park and Altamonte Springs and then up through Longwood, Geneva, Deltona and Orange City. The district has a PVI of R+4 but Obama nearly beat McCain in 2008 (50-49%) and held Romney to 52% last year. There's a growing Hispanic community-- 20% now-- and voters are getting tired of Mica's sleazy dishonesty and cowardice. Wednesday night he voted with the minority of Congress to send the country into default and keep the government shut down. That isn't what central Florida residents wanted to see. The DCCC isn't supporting Mica's progressive and independent-minded Democratic opponent, Nick Ruiz. Blue America is. This morning, Nick wasn't feeling all that charitable towards Mica and said flat out that he "has no business being in representative government. He doesn't want government, clearly evinced by his repeated votes to shut it down. Rep. Mica doesn't want to cooperate and represent the district and the nation. What Mr. Mica wants is total control of the lives and circumstances of the district and the nation. There's a word for this, but it isn't 'representation.' It's megalomania."

Another Blue America-endorsed candidate, Tom Guild, is in a much tougher district. Oklahoma has been a conservative Republican bastion for decades. And Tom is a progressive Democrat, not a Blue Dog or New Dem type. The DCCC is ignoring his race but Oklahoma City may not be as set against change as many Inside the Beltway assume it is. After the vote last night, Tom drew a clear distinction between where he stands and how his Tea Party-oriented opponent, Jim Lankford, voted:

The good news is that the our long national nightmare is temporarily over. The government will reopen, and the country won't default, at least until February. However, radical Rep. James Lankford recklessly voted against reopening the government, and irresponsibly voted against the bill that kept the country from defaulting on our obligations. Once again, he proved that he is totally disconnected from reality. He had already cost us 900,000 jobs, and $24 billion in economic activity by his penchant for repeating failed policies and approaches. He proves Sen. Manchin's view that the biggest threat to the American economy is the American Congress, particularly the radical and completely out of touch GOP House.

If we wait for action from the DCCC, we'll never get rid of barnacles like Lankford or Mica. If you'd like to help Nick Ruiz and Tom Guild bring their cases to the voters, you can do so at this link.


UPDATE: Not Waiting For The DCCC

Grassroots progressive, Leslie Endean-Singh, the Democrat running against GOP right-wing extremist Stevan Pearce, told us this morning that last night her opponent "affirmed his reckless and selfish policies that continue to hurt Southern New Mexico families. He voted to continue a government shutdown that was costing the US economy over $1.5 billion per day and voted to let the United States default on its national debt, all the while keeping our national parks closed and postponing crucial border guard training here in New Mexico. It's time for new leadership in Southern New Mexico! While Steve Pearce is focused on shutting down the federal government, I am focused on shutting down Steve Pearce."

And on the other side of the country, Shaughnessy Naughton, the grassroots candidate opposing Mike Fitzpatrick in Pennsylvania's Bucks County, exposed the strategy of Republicans like Fitzpatrick who helped cause and prolong the shutdown but then voted against continuing it last night.

“Mike Fitzpatrick stood around doing nothing effective or proactive for sixteen days. During that time, the U.S. economy lost 100,000 jobs and, according to Standard and Poor’s, we cut about 0.6 percent off of our gross domestic product. That’s equivalent to $24 billion in lost productivity.

“I’m sure Congressman Fitzpatrick would like to be welcomed home a hero, but I refuse to applaud someone for putting out a fire he started.

“The shutdown was a malicious, self-destructive act designed to undermine a law that was passed by Congress, signed by the president, and approved by the Supreme Court. And Congressman Fitzpatrick was complicit in its execution. He ought to be ashamed of himself. He owes the entire Eighth Congressional District an apology.

“Not once did he hold a town hall meeting or explain himself to his constituents. Not once did he take a principled stand on behalf of the people he represents. He timidly stood on the sidelines, doing what Tea Party leaders in the house told him to do, never once thinking about the impact he was having back home.

“If ever there was a reason to evict Congressman Fitzpatrick, this was it. People have had it with his brand of do-nothing politics. Leadership is needed and it’s time for him to go.”

When will Mike get to unpack his costume?

Although Fitzpatrick didn't attend his own planned fundraiser last night-- and will have to save his Stevie Nicks drag costume for a future event-- his campaign was raising money in New Hope by portraying him as a non-teabagger, even if he did vote with them every time he could while this mess unfolded. The ridiculous $250/head fundraiser featured entertainers dressed up as Cher and Lady Gaga. Joshua Morrow, Naughton’s campaign manager, said, “Everything that went on last night was fake. Entertainers in New Hope pretended to be real celebrities, and Fitzpatrick was pretending to be a real leader. It was the night of the living impersonators.”

Will Steve Israel Muck Up Democratic Chances To Take Back PA-08 Again?

Shaughnessy Naughton

Although southeast Pennsylvania's 8th congressional district has a small chunk of northern Montgomery County, it is basically the Bucks County district. Along with the neighboring 7th CD, it is the wealthiest party of Pennsylvania, those two districts being the only two in the state with medium household incomes over $70,000. PA-08 is a genuine swing district with a PVI of R+1. Obama beat McCain, 53-46% in 2008 and he and Romney tied 49-49% last year, Romney edging him by a few votes. The incumbent, Mike Fitzpatrick, was elected in 2004, was defeated after one term by Patrick Murphy, who joined the Blue Dog caucus and was defeated-- in a rematch with Fitzpatrick-- in 2010 as part of the Great Blue Dog Apocalypse. Last year the DCCC refused to support the Democratic nominee, Kathy Boockvar and Fitzpatrick outspent her $2,586,004 to $1,443,331 and won 57-43%.

This year, Steve Israel rushed to recruit a more conservative and malleable Democrat for the DCCC, former CIA analyst Kevin Strouse. They failed to contend with the fact that a popular local businesswoman, Shaughnessy Naughton, is also running, breaking a Democratic rule about not interfering in viable primaries. She's a research scientist who has done breast cancer and infectious disease research, as well as drug discovery and is the owner and CEO of a small business, a publishing company located in the district. She tells people, reminiscent of congressional neighbor Rush Holt, that one of the main reasons she's running is because she thinks we need more scientists in politics. "As a chemist, it is incredibly important to me that our national policy is based on credible evidence-based research." I asked her to introduce herself to DWT readers with a guest post about one specific-- and very salient-- issue for her area of Pennsylvania: fracking.

Fitzpatrick hasn't been as conservative on environmental issues as most of his GOP colleagues. At one point he was even endorsed by the Sierra Club. That's good politics because Bucks County is a very environmentally sensitive area. Fracking is a big issue there but the DCCC candidate, Strouse finds himself the odd-man out, backing fracking. In his Master's Thesis, "Russian Natural Gas: Enabler Of Uncooperative Foreign Policy" he supports fracking and in particular the so-called Halliburton loophole technology in Cheney's highly controversial 2005 Energy Bill.

 

Basing National Policy On Credible Evidence-Based Research
-by Shaughnessy Naughton

When it comes to fracking, our policies on drilling ignore its potential public health and environmental risks. To me, that’s crazy! We should not be risking our community’s health just to make a profit. It’s simply wrong. There’s so much we don’t know, including whether or not gas and brine can make a path to the surface and what kind of seismic activity fracking causes.

This issue is particularly potent in my district, which has the Delaware River running along it. The River contributes to the entire region: at 330 miles it is the longest American river east of the Mississippi, providing drinking water for more than 15 million people, as well as water needed for industry, and irrigation for Pennsylvania’s important farming regions. Moreover, the Delaware River basin is prone to severe floods, so chemical storage near the source of so much drinking water is a serious hazard.

Fracking uses a toxic chemical cocktail called fracking fluid, but companies refuse to say what exact contaminants are in the fluid, claiming that the contents are proprietary information. The Marcellus Shale, Pennsylvania’s largest drilling site, has unknown levels of radon, a radioactive gas that causes lung cancer. Rather than allowing fracking companies to hide behind the cloak of “trade secrets,” I support full disclosure and transparency of the chemicals that drillers inject underground.

My primary opponent, who moved to Pennsylvania from DC earlier this year, doesn’t seem too concerned about fracking. When asked about his views on climate change, he recently told a local newspaper “I support natural gas drilling.”

Well, I don’t agree. It would be irresponsible to frack locally and even remotely threaten a source of drinking water for 15 million people. In fact, we already have a moratorium on fracking in Pennsylvania’s Bucks and Montgomery counties passed in 2012. The fracking ban in the two counties operates as both a state and federal moratorium; the federal moratorium came in 2009, when the administrators of the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) determined they needed to ban fracking along the length of the River until guidelines were drawn up.

We need to keep the federal ban in place, and make sure that Obama doesn't succumb to the energy lobby's pressure to lift the moratorium. In fact, I support making the moratorium a permanent ban. My opponent, on the other hand, clearly seems to think that there is a “right way” to risk our public health.

We as a country need to stop taking short-term gains in exchange for long-term losses. We need to start investing seriously in research on clean energy alternatives like wind, solar, and rain energy.  Most importantly, we need to start basing our policies on scientific facts.

I contacted Strouse's campaign for this article as well and a friendly staffer promised to have him call back with his perspective. That hasn't happened. If you'd like to contribute to the candidate who will protect Bucks County from fracking, Shaughnessy's Act Blue page is here. In a district like PA-08, where independents, not base voters, determine who will win, a Democrat supporting fracking will never beat a Republican who opposes it. If Democrats hope to take back the district Shaughnessy Naughton is the candidate who can beat Fitzpatrick. Steve Israel should let district Democrats decide, not try to make that decision based on his own prejudices and preferences for conservative-leaning Democrats.

UPDATE: Israel Sends A Poison Pen Letter

Today Steve Israel, doubling down on parachuting into competitive primaries on behalf of more conservative candidates, sent out a fundraising letter for his handpicked patsy, Kevin Strouse:

As Chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, it’s my job to find the best candidates to run for Congress.

One of our top races is Kevin Strouse in Pennsylvania’s 8th district-- this seat is CRITICAL to winning a Democratic majority.

National Republicans know it too. That’s why shady special interest groups will be targeting Kevin, ready to spend HUGE amounts of cash to buy this seat.

If we are going to win a Democratic majority against the right-wing establishment and all the cash that goes with it, Kevin needs to have a huge showing for Monday’s big FEC fundraising deadline. Will you help him do it?

Please help Kevin have a strong grassroots showing by giving $3 or more before Monday’s critical fundraising deadline.

Every dollar counts, so we need every one of you to step up and give whatever you can.

An outaged friend of mine in Doylestown, a significant (now former) DCCC contributor who got that letter, sent me a steely-eyed e-mail: "Not only are they fundraising for someone who isn't from here and is against the common-sense moratorium on fracking on the Delaware River, but the DCCC is campaigning against the only woman in the race. It's concerning that they are trying to hand pick another male candidate at a time when issues facing women and families are on the chopping block in our nation's capital. I'm convinced. I promise to contribute through Blue America from now on. I can't believe it took so long."