Vote For A Republican-Lite Democratic Candidate And Don't Complain When You Get Republican-Lite Laws-- Conservative Democrats Defeat Assault Weapons Ban In Virginia

Last Thursday night-- in a post called Scrub From Your Mind: Any Blue Will Do"-- we looked at how the much ballyhooed new Democratic majority in the Virginia legislature failed to repeal the state's venal, anti-union right to work law. Yesterday the state Senate again sided with the GOP, failing to pass a ban on the sale of assault weapons. The House of Delegates had passed the bill 51-48 last week, even though 3 Democrats voted against it (Steve Heretick, Roslyn Tyler and Lee Carter) and one, Kelly Convirs-Fowler of Virginia Beach, abstained. Yesterday, conservative Senate Dem Creigh Deeds-- backed up by fellow Senate conservaDems John Edwards (Judiciary Committee Chair), Chap Petersen and Scott Surovell-- got it tabled in the Senate Judiciary Committee, while the NRA-packed crowd in the visitors bleachers cheered and applauded.

Creigh Deed's name might sound familiar, since he was the Democratic candidate for governor in 2009, when he lost to crooked conservative Republican Bob McDonnell, 58.6% to 41.2%. He is well known as one of Virginia's worst xenophobes in the Democratic Party, having voted to make English the official language of Virgina as well as for bills that would prevent undocumented immigrants from applying for state and local benefits and to prohibit them from paying in-state tuition rates. In 2005 Deeds he had run against McDonnell for Attorney General, losing narrowly, after being endorsed by his pals at the NRA.

He represents a solidly blue Senate district (the 25th) that includes the City of Charlottesville and much of surrounding Albemarle County, stretching to also include all of Alleghany County, Bath County, Highland County, Nelson County, Rockbridge County, and the cities of Buena Vista, Covington, and Lexington. The district gave Obama a 55.5% victory over Romney and gave Hillary a 54.7% win over Trump, who scored only 39.3% there. Kaine and Warner both took the 25th in their Senate runs and Ralph Northam won it in 2017 (59.7- 39.2%) when he was elected governor. The district is way more progressive than its state Senator.

State Senator Louise Lucas, a Judiciary Committee member, said she was "deeply disturbed" by the vote and said Deeds and the 3 other Democrats who voted with the GOP had "wimped out... I want you to count now, start now, and start counting the number of people who would’ve died based on us not passing this legislation. A lot of people are going to die because this body didn’t have the spine to do what two million voters wanted us to do."

The corporate Dem who serves as House Speaker, Eileen Filler-Corn, called the Senate vote "a disappointment... The Democratic platform last fall was very clear. Limiting access to weapons of war used in mass murder was a key part of that platform."

No one should really be surprised though. This is exactly what you can expect by electing Democrats from the Republican wing of the Democratic Party. On the federal level, that would be Blue Dogs and New Dems. And that's why Blue America hosts this ActBlue page, supporting vetted progressives who are running in primaries against the worst Democrats in Congress. I asked some of them what they think about the Virginia Democrats decision to betray the people who voted for them. Michael Owens, the progressive Democrat taking on reactionary Blue Dog David Scott in the suburbs south and southwest of Atlanta, made the right connection: "Blue Dog Democrats and other conservative members of the Democratic Party do their constituents harm each and every time they bow down to a corporation or special interest lobbyist and put their profit-driven greed above the need of the people."

"Today," wrote Rachel Ventura last night, "I had a debate against Corporate Democrat Bill Foster. In it I pointed out that many Democrats are watching how the news media is casting the presidential race and defining it as a fight between progressives and moderates. It's not though. Instead, it is a struggle between the corporate wing filled with politicians who are bought and paid for, versus the people’s wing. Blue Dogs Democrats and Republicans are bought by the same industries. They both have taken money from Big Oil, Big Pharma, Big Banks, and the list continues… my opponent is no different. These corporate politicians make us believe that our tax dollars must continue to go to endless wars and corporate bailouts. But they don’t. We can choose where are dollars are spent by sending a true representative to Congress. Incrementalism has only eroded the middle class and resulted in a president like Donald Trump. Since I first entered the political arena in 2016, my tagline has been 'no strings attached.' I have signed the 'no fossil fuel money' pledge and the 'patients over profit pledge.' My opponent cannot say the same. It is past time to send true representation to Washington D.C. as well as individual local and state reps like in Virginia!"

The McDonnell And Deeds Strategies Could Cleanse The House Democratic Caucus Of Its Worst Elelments

GOP Establishment worried this might not be a good strategy for 2010 elections

Yesterday Politico reported that Republicans believe they've found a way to win elections next year-- the McDonnell strategy.

The shorthand: run on economic policy, downplay divisive cultural issues, present an upbeat tone, target independent voters and focus on Democratic-controlled Washington—all without attacking President Barack Obama personally.

It’s an approach that elected Bob McDonnell to the Virginia governorship earlier this month... McDonnell ran with a smile.

“Winning candidates don’t go chasing down rabbit trails and they’re not shrill and they’re not accusatory,” said the Mississippian and former Republican National Committee chairman.

With the struggling economy on the minds of voters, McDonnell focused his message on fiscal issues from the campaign’s outset, touting a bumper sticker-friendly slogan: “Bob’s for Jobs.”

When his rival, Democrat Creigh Deeds, seized upon McDonnell’s graduate school thesis—a document that appeared hostile to working women and gays—the Republican kept to his economic arguments.

In an interview, McDonnell recounted his strategy.

“I never shied away when I got attacked on pro-life-- I said, ‘Yeah I’m pro-life, I’ve governed myself that way for 18 years [in the political arena] and I’m going to be a pro-life governor,” he said. “Now let’s talk about jobs and the economy. So it was more a matter of focus, not a matter at all of backtracking on things that we believed in.”

We'll see how well that goes over with the now dominant Glenn Beck/Limbaugh/teabagger/Sarah Palin wing of the Republican Party. In fact, I seem to recall that McDonnell went out of his way to keep Palin out of Virginia during the campaign. But what Republicans are missing is that McDonnell's benign smile that hid his extremism alone didn't win them Virginia's governor's mansion. That also took a Democratic candidate as awful as Creigh Deeds with a strategy of his own.

For Republicans to win next year, they need to hide their extremism and they need candidates as bad as Deeds who effectively disincentivize Democratic voters. When Deeds stood up and debated McDonnell and adopted his reactionary promise-- to opt out of the public option-- he ended whatever chance he had to win. He has already gone so far along a conservative path meant to lure Republicans that he didn't have much chance by then anyway. Democrats believe in that "hope" and "change" thing and they're not likely to turn out in big numbers just because some old man spewing reactionary policies has a "D" next to his name.

Republicans with less sterling credentials among the party’s Christian conservative base than McDonnell could have a more difficult time downplaying the issues that animate so many GOP activists.

Nor is it certain that other candidates will enjoy the sort of yawning disparity in energy as hungry and out-of-power Republicans did in Virginia this year.

McDonnell conceded he had better terrain to run on, describing an “enthusiasm gap [that] was 180 degrees different from last year when Republicans were on the short end.”

But he took partial credit for tamping down enthusiasm for his Democratic rival—and in doing so suggested a tactic for how his party could split the opposition in similarly purple states next year.

“We put our opponent in such a box on state issues like taxes and federal issues like [the Employee Free Choice Act] and cap-and-trade that he was kind of out carved out in no man’s land,” McDonnell boasted. “So I think we actually created to some degree the lack of enthusiasm for the other side because he was never really appealing to his base.”

By voting against health care and voting against choice, conservative Democrats are exposing themselves to their newly attentive constituents. Blue Dogs and fellow travelers like Bobby Bright (Blue Dog-AL), Travis Childers (Blue Dog-MS), John Barrow (Blue Dog-GA), Chris Carney (Blue Dog-PA), Parker Griffith (Blue Dog-AL), Artur Davis (D-AL), Ike Skelton (D--MO), Dan Boren (Blue Dog-OK), John Boccieri (D-OH), Bart Gordon (Blue Dog-TN), Lincoln Davis (Blue Dog-TN), John Tanner (Blue Dog-TN), Gene Taylor (Blue Dog-MS), Harry Teague (D-NM), Tim Holden (Blue Dog-PA), Jim Marshall (Blue Dog-GA), Collin Peterson (Blue Dog-MN), Jim Matheson (Blue Dog-UT), Mike Ross (Blue Dog-AR), Heath Shuler (Blue Dog-NC), Mike McIntyre (Blue Dog-NC), Charlie Melancon (Blue Dog-LA) voted both for Stupak's anti-choice amendment and against the healthcare reform bill. They'll all have an especially hard time getting re-elected unless Republicans and teabaggers destroy each other the way they did in NY-23 earlier this month.

Tim Kaine Explains Why The Creigh Deeds Strategy Failed And Warns Blue Dogs That Deeds' Fate Awaits Them

To be kind, Obama's DNC head, Tim Kaine, isn't exactly from the Howard Dean mold and doesn't quite represent the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party. Generally speaking, the outgoing governor of Virginia represents the Establishment or, in Paul Krugman's words about his kind of Democrats, "corporate tools, defending special interests." What he has in common with Dean, though, is that he's smart and he likes to win. There aren't many people better positioned to analyze the spectacular defeat earlier this month of conservative Democrat Creigh Deeds to succeed him in the governor's mansion. Deeds turned Obama's startling 6-point win in Virginia last year into an 18-point ass-whooping this year. How did he do what Republicans haven't been able to accomplish?

Kaine admitted Deeds was "unable to energize his base, falling into a Republican trap that led him to shrink from the president and his policies," exactly what Blue Dogs and cowardly conservative Democrats are doing across the country, where quasi-Democrats like John Barrow (Blue Dog-GA), Parker Griffith (Blue Dog-AL), Travis Childers (Blue Dog-MS), Glenn Nye (Blue Dog-VA), Bobby Bright (Blue Dog-AL), Frank Kratovil (Blue Dog-MD), Ann Kirkpatrick (D-AZ) and John Adler (D-NJ) are preparing to cede their seats to Republicans by re-enacting Deeds' catastrophic campaign strategy.

In a meeting with editors and reporters of the Washington Post, Kaine (D) said Deeds squandered the opportunity to sell his own appealing life story as a guy who had overcome long odds and economic disadvantage. Instead, the rural state senator took the advice of campaign consultants who wrongly assumed Deeds's Democratic support was solid and believed he should instead focus on wooing independents by attacking Republican Robert F. McDonnell.

"After the [June] primary was done, his advisers basically said, distance yourself from the president. We think we have our base locked down, we've got to win independents. And we're going to win by being negative about McDonnell," Kaine said. "That was the basic strategy they pursued, despite some significant urging to the contrary."

Asked about his own advice to Deeds, who lost to McDonnell on Nov. 3 by 17 percentage points, Kaine said: "I'd rather not talk about my personal conversations. But what I will say is that I always believed from the very beginning that the paradigm in Virginia had changed and that the way to win the race was to energize voters who had demonstrated they would vote for Democrats. That I did advise him very, very early. I advised all the candidates, prior to the primary, that was a path to victory."

When Deeds declared he would opt out of the public option-- the public option being a winner nationally and an overwhelming winner among Democrats-- he opted out of any chance for a victory. What Deeds did was completely de-incentivize the Democratic base to turn out-- why bother if he's just going to be the same piece of crap as the Republican?-- and not only doomed his own chances but killed Democrats in state legislative races where a strong turnout from the base was essential.

Now, look at that motley list of supposed Democrats above. Let's start with their overall voting records this session. These are the ProgressivePunch rankings of substantive votes this year:

John Barrow (Blue Dog-GA)- 29.41
Parker Griffith (Blue Dog-AL)- 17.65, worse than 3 conservative Republicans!
Travis Childers (Blue Dog-MS)- 25.29
Glenn Nye (Blue Dog-VA)- 25.49
Bobby Bright (Blue Dog-AL)- 23.53
Frank Kratovil (Blue Dog-MD)- 29.41
Ann Kirkpatrick (D-AZ)- 34.00
John Adler (D-NJ)- 38.00

All of these "Democrats" vote far more frequently with the Republicans than they do with their fellow Democrats-- especially on the important issues that are meaningful to people's lives. Remember Krugman's words. He was talking about this crew: "corporate tools, defending special interests." It describes each and every one of them. On top of that, let's take a look at how they voted on two issues that are of the utmost importance to the Democratic base-- the ones who propelled Obama to victory, gave both houses of Congress to the Democrats, and are essential if any of these galoots hopes to not repeat what happened to Creigh Deeds and last year's most pathetic losers, Don Cazayoux (Blue Dog-LA) and Nick Lampson (Blue Dog-TX). Both votes came up 2 weeks ago on the same extraordinary Saturday session, one to make it more difficult for women to exercise their constitutional right to reproductive choice and the other for the highly popular health care reform bill.

Among the 64 Democrats voting against women were Boehner Boys Barrow, Bright, Childers, and Griffith. And among the 39 Democrats to cross the aisle and vote with Republicans against health care reform were Adler, an egregious Insurance Industry shill, Barrow, Bright, Childers, Griffith, Kratovil, and Nye. Although these corrupt members are already looking forward to their lives as K Street lobbyists, Kaine is hoping more reasonable conservative Democrats-- like himself-- will take the right lesson from Deeds' massacre and "be more supportive of Obama's policies, not less, as they contemplate their reelection efforts next year."

Kaine said the key to victory for Democrats in a highly competitive Virginia is recognizing that party members need not be "apologetic" about their affiliation to find success. He noted that about 200,000 more people voted in the Democratic primary for president on a frigid February day in 2008 than cast ballots for Deeds this year, and said McDonnell successfully spooked Deeds by suggesting that Virginians had grown anxious about the Democratic agenda.

"I think the issue of being nervous about the Virginia electorate was overdone and I think Creigh did exactly what the McDonnell campaign hoped he would do, which was distance himself from the president and national issues," Kaine said.

We are running an ongoing campaign to replace Blue Dogs with real Democrats, and we are already in gear with Regina Thomas and Marcy Winograd, respectively running against John Barrow and Jane Harman. Please take a look at what we're trying to do at the link just above. Are these the kinds of people-- regardless of what party they happen to claim they're in-- you want to see in leadership positions in our country?

The Hill Gets It Wrong-- Real Democrats Embrace Healthcare Reform As Blue Dogs Slink Off To Perfect The Creigh Deeds Strategy

Aaron Blake seems like a decent enough writer at The Hill but sometimes... I just get the idea those headlines come right from the RNC communications department. Like yesterday's: Few Dems In Big Races Jump Headlong Into Backing Health Bill. Unless he meant "Few Blue Dogs," he sure has that wrong, wrong, wrong.

The suicidal Blue Dogs and fellow travelers (like Artur Davis, the cowardly conservative making a hopeless run for the Alabama governor's mansion) are hell bent on following the Creigh Deeds campaign strategy of turning off the Democratic base and hoping Republicans will forget they're Republicans who vote for other Republicans when they get to the ballot box. It didn't work for Deeds-- in fact it didn't work for him spectacularly, as his dumbass remark about opting out of the public option kept Democrats home on Election Day while an Obama 6 point margin over McCain turned into an 18 point deficit for the hapless conservative quasi-Dem. But Democrats from that (home) school-- like John Barrow (Blue Dog-GA), Parker Griffith (Blue Dog-AL), Larry Kissell (D-NC), Travis Childers (Blue Dog-MS), Mike Ross (Blue Dog-AR), Suzanne Kosmas (D-FL), and Charlie Melancon (Blue Dog-LA) seem determined to ride that strategy to political oblivion. They won't be missed-- not even by John Boehner, who has come to count on their perfidy for his own ends.

Blake starts his story by admitting that the only reticence respectable, non-Blue Dog candidates have is the hideous billing-killing anti-Choice amendment that Bart Stupak worked with the U.S. Conference of Roman Catholic Bishops to put into the bill. Within minutes of the House passing the bill, Senate candidates like Jennifer Brunner and Lee Fischer in Ohio, Mike Capuano and Martha Coakley in Massachusetts, and Kirsten Gillibrand and Jonathan Tasini in New York were on the warpath against it, though all three pairs are major supporters of meaningful health care reform.

Blake points to Senate candidates, Robin Carnahan in Missouri, flirting with the Creigh Deeds strategy, and two conservative non-starters in Texas, Bill White and John Sharp, who have fully embraced it.

Among Senate candidates currently serving in the House, four Democrats voted for the bill, while one voted against it.

Rep. Michael Capuano (D-Mass.) voted for the bill last weekend but now says he would oppose a bill with the Stupak language.

Among the other supporters, Reps. Paul Hodes (D-N.H.) and Kendrick Meek (D-Fla.) are both running in swing states, while Rep. Joe Sestak (D-Pa.) is challenging Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.) from the left.

All three proudly cast their votes on the bill, and all three were met with criticism from the GOP opponents.

The lone dissenter, [reactionary Blue Dog] Rep. Charlie Melancon (D-La.), is running against Republican Sen. David Vitter in deep red Louisiana. Melancon was highly critical of the bill, saying: “I can’t support a government-run insurance option that the people of Louisiana don't want.”

...Among House candidates, some running in swing or conservative districts have expressed support for the bill, including physicians Ami Bera and Manan Trivedi, who are running against Rep. Dan Lungren (R-Calif.) and for the seat of Rep. Jim Gerlach (R-Pa.), respectively.

“It’s a good first step that’s starting to move the conversation forward,” Bera told The Hill. “There’s still obviously a lot that needs to be worked through.”

Trivedi said the bill was a “strong step in the right direction,” but that system-wide clinical reform is needed.

Conversely, candidates like Palm Springs, Calif., Mayor Steve Pougnet are hedging their bets and waiting to see what bill comes out of the Senate and conference committee.

Pougnet is challenging Rep. Mary Bono Mack (R-Calif.).

“Mayor Pougnet is committed to reform and, although he believes there are many more questions to be answered, he wants to ensure the process advances and looks forward to seeing what develops in the Senate,” said spokesman Jordan Marks.

Pougnet is a social liberal-- he's an upfront gay man legally married to another man-- but he's a frightened and confused conservative who would be a surefire recruit for the Blue Dog caucus in the extremely unlikely event that he can rescue himself from Creigh Deedsism, a strategy that is tailor-made for him. Meanwhile, I've been barraged with e-mails from dozens and dozens of Democratic incumbents and challengers campaigning for healthcare reform. Blake has to either stop letting the RNC write his headlines... or stop mixing up Blue Dogs with real Democrats.

Learn more about Blue America's plans to rid Congress of as many mangy Blue Dogs as possible.

Another Vision Of America-- In Virginia

We've watched and heard an awful lot of manufactured hatred and deep-seated ugliness in the last few days-- expressed as a function of greedy, selfish corporations who want to suck us all dry-- and a political party desperate for a way to stop its well-deserved free-fall. There will be plenty more in the weeks to come as the GOP/Big Insurance Hate Machine, stoked by the Limbaughs and Hannitys and Becks and Dobbses, gears up for a fight against America. As author Timothy Egan pointed out in the NY Times a few days ago, "America must fail in order for President Obama to fail."

But there's another, more uplifting vision of our country besides the one you're seeing in the blind, angry outbursts from the self-righteous and "a-little-knowledge-can-be-a-dangerous-thing" Ron Paul cadres across the country. I thought this video of a Creigh Deeds rally in Virginia captured it pretty well. This is my America:

Virginia Democratic Primary Today-- Will Voters Drive A Silver Stake Through Terry McAuliffe's Heart?

Virginia's newly resurgent Democratic Party helped win the presidency for Obama. He took Virginia's 13 electoral votes when 1,959,532 (53%) Virginians cast their ballots for him, as opposed to the 1,725,005 (47%) who went for McCain, a stunning reversal of Bush's 54% win in 2004. Since Bush's 2004 win, the Virginia Democratic Party has also won 2 U.S. Senate seats-- first Jim Webb's shocking defeat of George Allen and then Mark Warner's waltz (a 65% win) into an open seat-- and has picked up 3 formerly red House seats (Connolly, Nye and Perriello). Virginia elected Mark Warner governor in 2001 and his Lt Governor, Tim Kaine, won the seat in 2005.

Scratching a little below the surface, it doesn't look quite as wonderful. Kaine is a nearly worthless reactionary hack. Warner and Webb are centrists who are resistant to many progressive positions. And of the 3 new congressman, moderate Gerry Connolly has proven himself a solid supporter of Obama's change agenda, Tom Perriello much less so and Glenn Nye, a Blue Dog, is, well... better than a Republican.

So what can we expect from Virginia's gubernatorial primary today? Democrats are choosing a standard bearer for November 3rd's election against former Attorney General Bob McDonnell, a far right extremist. The three candidates are state Senator Creigh Deeds, former state Delegate Brian Moran, and uber-corruptionist and corporatist swine Terry McAuliffe. The corporate swine, of course, has spent immense sums of money to try to buy the election. Deeds and Moran both seem like solid moderates and each seems like he'd be an improvement over Kaine. McAuliffe represents all the worst that a Democrat could ever be-- someone who poisons the brand and gives people no reason to vote for Democrats over Republicans. He defines sleazy and shouldn't be in politics at all.

Sunday, Public Policy Polling released a new poll that shows Deeds significantly ahead of two rivals with 40% of the vote. McCauliffe (26%) and Moran (24%) trail.

Deeds now leads in every region of the state except Hampton Roads, including a 38-35 lead over Moran in northern Virginia, where just two and a half weeks ago Deeds was polling at only 11%. Deeds is up over 50% in the parts of the state outside Washington DC/Richmond/Hampton Roads.

“Creigh Deeds has come on strong and barring some major event in the final 36 hours of the campaign looks like he will be the Democratic nominee,” said Dean Debnam, President of Public Policy Polling. “The Washington Post endorsement was really a game changer, giving him a card to play with suburban voters that complemented his strong support in the rural parts of the state.”

Deeds leads by ten points with Democrats and has more dominating margins of 27 points with independents and 22 points with Republicans allowing his overall lead of 14.

Deeds also came out comfortably ahead in the last SUSA poll-- with 42%, McAuliffe (30%) and Moran (21%) way behind. Judging by the dynamics of the results, it looks like Deeds will win today. Over the past 6 weeks he's tripled his support in the DC suburbs (from 12% to 40%) and has made similar strides among women (13% to 40%) and among college graduates he went from 21 points behind McAuliffe to 18 points over him. Deeds went from 17 points behind McAuliffe among white voters to 19 points ahead of him. The more independents that vote the larger the margin of victory will be for Deeds. The Post endorsement is effusive:

In 18 years in the General Assembly, Mr. Deeds has time and again supported measures that might be unpopular with his rural constituency but that are the right thing to do, for Northern Virginia and the state as a whole. He has demonstrated an understanding of the problems that matter most, the commitment to solve them and the capacity to get things done. Mr. Deeds may not be the obvious choice in the June 9 primary, but he's the right one.

...Some progressive voters may look past Mr. Deeds, assuming he's too far to the right on social issues. They should look again. Yes, he describes himself as a supporter of the Second Amendment. He's willing, however, to put limits on gun ownership when the stakes are highest, brokering a compromise in an effort to close the state's notorious gun show loophole. His support for abortion rights and for an amendment to prohibit the Confederate flag emblem from being displayed on state license plates are all the more impressive considering the weight of conservative voters in his district.

UPDATE: DEEDS WINS!

With a third of Republicans viewing the GOP unfavorably, the Democratic nomination is very valuable. We were extremely happy to see Deeds win it, not because he's such a wonderful progressive but to keep the slimy McAuliffe out of politics. AP called the race with Deeds at 51% and McAuliffe and Moran trailing at 26 and 23% respectively.