Keep Calm And Fax On

-by Tom Sullivan

The U.S. Senate vote to repeal Obamacare is coming any day. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell appears to have lost (or given a bye to) two votes: Rand Paul (Kentucky) and Susan Collins (Maine). If one more Republican senator goes rogue, a half dozen more will follow and the Better Care Reconciliation Act (BCRA) will be a zombie again. (We should know by now with these bills not to think of dead as dead.) The lobbying targets still tempted to vote no are Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), Rob Portman (Ohio), Dean Heller (Nevada), and Shelley Moore Capito (West Virginia). The trick is to make an impression loud enough to counter McConnell's arm-twisting-- and bribes.

Here's something outside the box.

March 21, 2010 was the day of the make-or-break Affordable Care Act vote in the U.S. House. But it was a Sunday, rendering inoperative the plan to email our large, 2008 Obama volunteer list and ask supporters to call North Carolina Rep. Heath Shuler's Washington office. Outside of regular business hours, no one would pick up and voice mail would be full, wasting volunteers' precious time. So Plan B. We would use the fax machine, an old-school tactic off many millennials' radar. Back in the day, unions called this fax-jamming.

Setting up took only an hour or so. We drafted a letter in support of the ACA and sent it to the list. If people approved us sending a fax on their behalf, they could hit REPLY and add their full name and contact information to the letter (plus any personalized edits). Responses poured in a dozen at a time. Our team bundled the letters into PDFs (sets of five) as they arrived and faxed them to D.C.

There might have been a more elegant way to do this, but we were pressed for time. That day we sent 600 faxes (electronically via an all-in-one fax/printer; no paper our end). A Shuler staffer later told me we trashed their fax machine. No, it didn't change Shuler's vote, but 600 people got their voices heard on a day they otherwise wouldn't.

It might be time to reprise that tactic to target the fence-sitting senators from AK, OH, NV and WV with "HELL NO" (or whatever) letters ahead of the BCRA repeal vote. If nothing else, senate offices will have to physically handle and log a bundle of paperwork. They won't forget it. Shuler's people didn't.

Videotaped and posted online, the team effort might energize new activists. Sure, anyone can do this alone at home 24/7 using a free faxing service, but you won't send hundreds en masse or know how many on your list did. Done centrally, you can track the response rate and feed numbers of faxes sent back to your mailing list volunteers for some positive reinforcement. All you need is a phone line (preferably not a personal one; we used the local party HQ) and an all-in-one machine.

And here are some fax numbers you might be looking for:

• Shelley Moore Capito (WV)- (202) 224-7665
• Rob Portman (OH)- (202) 224-9075
• Dean Heller (NV)- 202-228-6753 or 702-388-6501 in Las Vegas
• Lisa Murkowski (AK)- (202)-224-5301 or (877) 857-0322 in Anchorage

Keep calm and fax on.

Rahm's Greatest Hit Has Done All The Damage He Can As A Congressmember-- Now He's Ambling Off To K Street: Heath Shuler DC's Latest Revolving Door Lobbyist

Sleazy lobbyist Heath Shuler-- the ultimate lame duck

If you're a DWT regular, I don't have to tell you who North Carolina Blue Dog Heath Shuler is. We've been following him with trepidation since Rahm Emanuel plucked him away from Tennessee Republicans to run as a North Carolina "Democrat" in 2006. Since then he racked up a dismal 37.93 critical vote score from ProgressivePunch, even worse than the other two North Carolina Blue Dogs, Mike McIntyre and Larry Kissell. Shuler, an anti-Choice, antigay, anti-immigrant bigot has voted more frequently with Boehner than with Pelosi and has consistently been one of the Blue Dogs allowing Boehner and Cantor to call their extremist right-wing proposals "bipartisan."

But conservative Republicans in the North Carolina state legislature weren't satisfied that Shuler voted like a Republican; they wanted a real Republican. So last year they gerrymandered his district in such a way-- removing most of bright blue Asheville-- to make it very difficult for him to win again. Rather than accept the challenge and go out like a man, Shuler-- who just days earlier had been talking about running for governor and senator-- decided he had had it with politics. He applied for a job as a college gym teacher but wound up announcing this week-- while still serving as a congressman-- that he would be the chief lobbyist for American's biggest utility, Duke Energy. Over the years, he has served their interests slavishly.

“Heath is well known in Washington for working with leaders from both political parties and for bringing people together in his district in Western North Carolina,” said Keith Trent, a vice president with Duke Energy's regulated utilities. Citing ludicrously lax House ethics rules, he chuckled that Shuler would not be “actively lobbying” for a whole year but would jump into the fray right after the cooling off period. Duke's interests lie in coal, natural gas and nuclear energy and in undermining the EPA-- all things that come naturally to Shuler.

When Shuler first ran in 2006, Duke's PAC gave his opponent, crooked banker/incumbent Charles Taylor, $7,000. But when Shuler managed to beat him in a Democratic wave election, Duke was more than happy to buy the easily bribed Shuler off immediately. In the very next election cycle, Shuler got a $5,000 check from Duke's PAC and the following year he got another $3,000. This year, before he announced he wouldn't be running again, they had already given him $1,000. Shuler is Big Energy's kind of congressman, consistently putting their predatory, anti-family agenda above the interests of his own constituents. His career in Congress may have been short but he had already scooped up $70,000 in legalistic bribes from energy companies by the time he signed on as a Duke lobbyist.

Yesterday, investigative journalist Lee Fang, looked into the scandal of Shuler accepting the Duke lobbyist job right in the midst of his attempts to defund social programs for working families. Here's the video of him and Zaid Jilani interviewing Shuler when he was still kind of trying to keep the negotiations secret about his lobbying job:

Though Shuler has already accepted the position with Duke Energy, he is still helping to lead a bipartisan coalition, along with Representative Mike Simpson (R-ID), to deal with the “fiscal cliff.” Shuler has promised an “all options” approach, one that will undoubtedly affect his soon to be employer. Duke Energy benefits from a host of tax subsidies, so much so that Citizens for Tax Justice found that the company paid an effective tax rate of negative 3.9 percent from 2008–10 while making over $5.5 billion in profit.

...Thousands of former congressmen, federal regulators and staff regularly head to K Street to collect high-paying salaries, often from businesses that have benefited from their actions in government. There are dozens of high-profile examples of this form of corruption, from former Senator Tom Daschle to former Representative Billy Tauzin, all securing multimillion-dollar paydays from industries they cultivated while in office. A new report shows how military contractors routinely court retired generals, some with wide sway over weapon purchases, with lavish paydays.

The sum of this dynamic is that people in government have much bigger incentives to sell out to industry, even when doing so hurts the public interest. While it seems likely in some cases, behind the scene job negotiations for officeholders become little more than bribery; we haven’t seen federal prosecutors too eager to prosecute this type of corruption. Part of the problem is actually cultural. In Washington, the sell-outs, the men and women who make the most money as industry hacks, are the winners. From high society tabloids like Washington Life to the Beltway media, those who spin through the revolving door are adulated and celebrated.

Maybe that’s why Shuler seemed so certain of a gleaming post-congressional career path.

Hayden Rogers Represents Everything That's Wrong In Washington DC

If you contribute to Cecil Bothwell's campaign today, the money will go right up to expand TV coverage with the ad above. Bothwell's scrappy grassroots campaign is up against the full weight and power of The Machine. After incumbent Heath Shuler saw polling that indicated he couldn't win another term, he announced his retirement and has spent all his time setting himself up as a corporate lobbyist, a practice that should be illegal. Shuler and the Blue Dog Caucus put tens of thousands of dollars into starting a campaign for Shuler's closest crony and chief-of-staff, reactionary insider Hayden Rogers. The Blue Dogs were able to get their corrupt allies inside the DC Democratic Establishment to pony up as well and to signal the K Street corruption community-- i.e., the lobbyists-- that everyone had to chip in for Rogers.

Meanwhile, despite Hayden Rogers' virulently anti-Choice positions-- he promises to be a loyal soldier in the "Republican" War Against Women (for Boehner and Cantor)-- and despite being one of the only Democrats in the state of North Carolina backing the heinous Amendment One that the North Carolina Democratic Party is battling against, Steve Israel, chair of the DCCC, who admires corruption over and above all other qualities, endorsed Rogers. So how corrupt is Hayden Rogers? Tuesday we touched on his relation to the payday loan industry-- which is banned from North Carolina. Today Cecil Bothwell's campaign has a press release explaining it more fully. Bothwell doesn't accept contributions from corporate lobbyists or from PACs. Rogers' entire campaign is practically based on a gusher of cash from these sleazy sources. "The most questionable sources," they assert, "are payday lenders."

Rogers has accepted $17,500 from individuals, lobbyists and special interest groups associated with the Payday Loan Industry. All of these donors are from outside of North Carolina, hailing from places such as Las Vegas, Miami, and South Carolina.

They are all from out-of-state because North Carolina banned the Payday Loan Industry in 2001.

It took until 2006 to fully shut down the industry (which played a cat and mouse game exploiting loopholes, changing names, etc.). In a 2006 press release NC Attorney General Roy Cooper said: “We’ve fought payday lending at every turn and now we’re putting this industry out of business here in North Carolina. These payday lenders thought they’d found a way around North Carolina law. Now we’re showing them the way out of our state.”

With over 23,000 lending stores in the U.S. (more than Starbucks and McDonalds combined), payday loans represent a $59 billion a year industry. Its critics argue that it is a form of predatory lending that targets young and low-income workers. People in need of quick cash-- usually a few hundred dollars-- bring in their pay-stub, fill out paperwork and turn over a personal check post-dated two weeks later and written for the amount plus the "loan fee." What many people don't understand is that the fee is actually the annual interest rate. According to the North Carolina Department of Justice "payday loans may seem like a quick solution to a cash crunch, they’ll cost you a lot more in the long run. A payday loan of $100 to $500 can carry an annual interest rate of 390 to 780 percent. Payday loans are due in full on your next payday, typically in two weeks. If you aren’t able to repay the loan that fast, as most borrowers aren’t, you can get stuck on a debt treadmill. This happens when borrowers, unable to repay the loan, take out new loans or rollover the old one. You pay the fees on your loans over and over again, without ever being able to pay off the loan."

New York, Georgia and 11 other states followed North Carolina and also banned them. Undeterred, the biggest players simply shifted operations and went online. Any attempt at meaningful Federal legislation from Congress was met with fierce lobbying efforts from groups such as the "Community Financial Services Association" and the "Online Lenders Alliance." Both groups represent the payday loan industry.

To date, Rogers has taken corporate/PAC donations (which are reported separately from individual/personal donations) from:

Community Financial Services Association-- Alexandria, VA-- $5,000 Advance America Cash Advance Centers, Inc.-- Spartanburg, SC-- $2,500. Advance America is the largest chain of payday lenders in the U.S.

Rogers also took donations from the following individuals:

Lindsay Webster-- Owner, Advance America, Spartanburg, SC-- $1,250 William Webster IV-- Chairman and Director, Advance America, Spartanburg-- $1,250 Vincent K. Ney-- CEO of GECC, Bergheim, TX-- $2,500...

Mark E. Curry gave $2,500. FEC law requires candidate to report a donor's name, address and occupation for anything above $50. Rogers reports Curry lives in Las Vegas, but for Curry's occupation Roger's states "Information Requested." However, our research has found a Mark E. Curry in Vegas who owns a collection agency (Smith, Haynes and Watson, LLC) that works for several payday loan shops. In 2011 Curry and his collection agency were in litigation with the AG of Maryland.

Tim Rupli-- "Executive" at T.R. Rupli & Associates, McClean VA--$1,000... Rupli runs a boutique lobbying firm that apparently only represents one client: The Community Financial Services Association. According to U.S. Senate records from 2008 Rupli spent $230,000 lobbying on behalf of CFSA.

Joshua S. Landy-- $1,500 -- No employer listed-- Miami FL ... Watchdog groups that track campaign financing show he donates to a lot of campaigns across the country. Some of these candidates' FEC reports list his occupation differently, but include: U.S. Money Shops, National Processing Centers, and "President" of ACA (American Cash Advance).

Why is a candidate from NC attracting and accepting so much money from an industry banned in NC?

Democratic primary voters in westernmost North Carolina need to ask themselves that when they head for the polls on Tuesday. And Democrats across the country should be asking themselves why do Steve Israel, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Joe Crowley and Steny Hoyer encourage, support and reward this kind of behavior? Why have they turned the DCCC into a cesspool of corruption almost as immersed in slime as the NRCC, their Republican counterparts? Last week Democrats put their collective feet down to this and resoundingly defeated corrupt conservative Blue Dog Tim Holden in Pennsylvania and replaced him with Matt Cartwright. Next Tuesday North Carolina Democrats can drive home the message by backing Cecil Bothwell over Hayden Rogers.

May 8th In North Carolina-- Patsy Keever (NC-10) And Cecil Bothwell (NC-11)

Rep. Patsy Keever is the first Democrat with a real chance to beat North Carolina's rotten little right-wing hypocrite, Patrick McHenry. But first she has to beat a conservative Democrat, Asheville Mayor Terry Bellamy (anti-Choice, anti-gay, etc.) in the primary May 8. A good sign that she's on the way to doing just that came over the weekend at the 10th Congressional District Democratic straw poll in Catawba County and including Democrats from across the district. Patsy, who had just been endorsed by DFA, won.

“I am delighted to have won the 10th District straw poll. This is a clear indication that voters want to work together to resolve the issues that confront us. From early education funding to clean air and water to caring for our neighbors, we must always put people first. When I get to Congress, that will be my guiding principle.”

The most recent polling in the district also shows Patsy winning the race, although most voters are still unfamiliar with the candidates.

While just about half of the voters are undecided in our poll, Keever more than doubles the support of Bellamy (28 percent compared to 12 percent) across the  district. When we include voters who lean toward one candidate over another, Keever increases her level of support by five points while Bellamy’s level of support increases by just one.

Not surprisingly, both candidates are well known in Buncombe  County, where they both hold elected office, and both are relatively unknown in  the other  areas  of  the  district. While this general lack of name recognition for both candidates was to be expected, the big surprise is that Keever is not only leading Bellamy in the areas of Buncombe outside of the City of Asheville (55 percent to 22 percent), Keever has an even bigger lead in the city itself. The fact that Keever is leading 61 percent to 24 percent in the City that Bellamy currently represents as Mayor speaks volumes to the connection voters have with Keever. Given  the low knowledge of both candidates, the majority of voters outside of Buncombe are undecided (56 percent) however, Keever leads in this area of the district as well with 16 percent support versus 6 percent for Bellamy.

Regardless of  where in the district voters reside, it is clear that Patsy Keever enjoys three distinct  advantages  over her opponent: 1) she is leading by a significant margin,  2) as voters get to know both candidates, Keever’s advantage grows. Indeed, 55  percent of voters who are familiar with both candidates support Keever while just 25 percent would support Bellamy; and finally  3) undecided Democratic voters in his district are very much aligned with Patsy Keever’s views on the importance of fixing Washington, standing up for women’s rights and focusing not just on protecting our air and water and bringing jobs t  North Carolina but working to make sure both happen. With the right level of  funding, Keever will be able to continue introducing herself to voters in the eastern part of the district and put herself in a very strong position to win

If you'd like to make sure that voters in NC-10 have a progressive alternative to McHenry in November-- and are not just forced to choose between the lesser of two conservative evils-- you might consider contributing to Patsy Keever's campaign on the Blue America ActBlue page. And on that same page you'll also find the other progressive in North Carolina Blue America is supporting, Cecil Bothwell, who's facing Heath Shuler clone Hayden Rogers, also May 8. Earlier today, as expected, Steve Israel forced the DCCC to endorse Rogers, his fellow Blue Dog and someone who personifies all of the reasons Democratic voters stayed away from the polls in 2010 and allowed the GOP to retake control of the House. Below is a comparison between the two candidates on the issues-- the Blue America type Democrat and the DCCC type "Democrat." As you read Hayden's positions, keep in mind that DCCC Chair and "ex"-Blue Dog Steve Israel personally recruited him to run against Cecil. First Cecil's positions and then we'll follow with Rogers':

ECONOMY

• Jobs: Believes the federal government can and must put people back to work.
 
• Medicare & Social Security: Must be strengthened
 
• Taxes: Would raise taxes on corporations, capital gains, the rich.
 
• Cost of Living: Knows we need to raise incomes, supports increase in minimum wage, help those in school and those in need.

SOCIAL ISSUES 

• Women: Should control their own bodies, pro-choice, supports Planned Parenthood.

• Health care reform: Would have voted for ACA, but will push for public option.

• Civil Liberties: Opposes Amendment One which is a very bad law
 
THE DEMOCRATIC PROCESS

• Out of five debates, he participated in every one.
 
• Held Town Hall meetings in 15 counties in the District and will continue to do so.
 
• Tries to personally answer every phone call and e-mail from constituents and reporters

CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTIONS
 
• Grassroots support from over 1,000 people
 
• Will not accept corporate PAC campaign contributions.

• Average donation is $55.

POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY

• Environmental advocate for more than 30 years.
 
• Created the grassroots Rolling Thunder event in Asheville, 2003
 
• Elected to Asheville City Council, 2009
 
• Represents the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party

Cecil Bothwell, from the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party

Hayden Rogers

THE ECONOMY

• Jobs: Does not believe government should create jobs.
 
• Medicare & Social Security: Told Dems in Haywood they are both "on the table"
 
• Taxes: Would cut taxes on corporations.
 
• Cost of living: Never talks about the rising cost of gas, groceries, college tuition, would cut government spending.

SOCIAL ISSUES
 
• Women: Should not control their own bodies, anti-choice, Blue Dogs voted to defund Planned Parenthood.
 
• Health care reform: Would have voted against Affordable Care Act
 
• Civil Liberties: Supports Amendment One, which is a very bad law
 
THE DEMOCRATIC PROCESS

• Out of five debates, he participated in only one.
 
• Doesn't return reporters' phone calls.
 
CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTIONS
 
• Accepts corporate PAC campaign contributions.
 
• Top two dozen donors represent major corporations and lobbyists
 
• Average donation is $848
 
POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY

• A Washington insider
 
• Never elected to public office
 
• Spent five years as Chief of Staff for Congressman Heath Shuler
 
• Represents the Blue Dog faction of the Democratic Party (Republican-lite)

Gov. Bev Perdue (D-NC) Will Vote Against Amendment One, But...

"Our constitution," exhorts North Carolina Governor Bev Perdue, "was written to guarantee rights, not to take them away." She urges all North Carolinians to vote against the homophobic travesty known as Amendment One in the video above. Unwilling to just come out and say "don't fuck with our gay citizens," she, like many conservatives of both parties, says "This proposed amendment could harm women, children, families and businesses across North Carolina." Great; we'll take it. Thanks for holding your nose and giving our existence a backhanded ok. Better than nothing-- and better than what Democrats in Asheville are getting from homophobic fanatic running for Congress, Hayden Rogers, who is urging his supporters to vote for Amendment One, one of North Carolina's few Democrats to be doing that. He wants to go to Congress to continue the hateful, bigoted career of his boss, Heath Shuler.

Guided by the hypocrites among DC Dems-- who urge their Blue Dogs candidates to never include policy positions on their website, but just some sappy non-controversial pabulum, Rogers has run a stealth campaign. He refuses to participate in any debates and has been counting on high profile endorsements from conservatives who fear a real populist like Cecil Bothwell. Rogers' anti-gay stance didn't keep Governor Perdue, for example, from headlining a fundraiser for him in Raleigh, which was also attended by Lt. Gov Walter Dalton, who is running for governor, former Congressman Bob Etheridge (also running for governor), state Senator Martin Nesbitt of Asheville, and Rep. Mel Watt, shamefully, a Congressional Progressive Caucus member. Steny Hoyer has given Rogers $5,000 and Heath Shuler's sleazy 3rd and Long PAC has transferred $10,000.


Because Rogers is being cagey about his positions and only brags about being a Blue Dog it's been difficult for NC-11 voters to be able to compare him and Cecil. But it would probably be fair to assume he's a Shuler doppelgänger and that their policy agendas are exactly or almost exactly identical. Here's a convenient comparison between Bothwell and Shuler on the issues:

• Jobs

Bothwell: Fully supports the American Jobs Act. We need to rebuild America and the economy and people need jobs, now.

Shuler: Opposes putting people to work now, instead prefers to cut spending and preserve tax breaks for the rich.

• Education

Bothwell: High quality education is essential for our economic future and for effective civic participation. Informed voters make better decisions. As the richest nation in the world, we can’t afford not to educate every student up to the limits of their ability.

Shuler: Repeated votes to cut federal spending, including education. Says GOP position is too liberal, wants to triple their proposed cuts in federal spending. Prefers tax breaks for the rich.

• Social Safety

Bothwell: We must preserve earned benefit programs including Social Security and Medicare, while providing Medicaid for those in need. Medicare should be available to everyone as the “public option” missing from the Affordable Care Act.

Shuler: Repeated votes for GOP plans which demand steep cuts in Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. Supported “Cut, Cap and Balance,” which would have drastically reduced such programs, then supported the GOP deficit ceiling deal, which will automatically slash such programs if Congress doesn’t do it first. Voted against the Affordable Care Act.

• Campaign Finance

Bothwell: Will not accept corporate or corporate PAC money. Over 1,000 individual donations as of March 20. Holds $15 and $25 per ticket events.

Shuler: Solicits corporate PAC money. Accepted $24,000 from AT&T, then became congressional cheerleader for job-killing AT&T/T-Mobile merger. Has few, big dollar donors, averaged $714 apiece in 3rd quarter 2011. Holds $2,500 and $5,000 per ticket events.

• Abortion

Bothwell: Abortion should be rare, safe and legal. Federal health care funds should underwrite Planned Parenthood and other organizations that provide women’s health care, sex education and abortion services.

Shuler: Abortion should be illegal. Federal funds should not be spent on Planned Parenthood or abortions. Rape should be
redefined to only include forcible rape.

• Afghanistan

Bothwell: Out of Afghanistan yesterday. Opposed wars in both Afghanistan and Iraq, starting in the weeks after 911. Wants to end military involvement overseas.

Shuler: Cast one vote to speed exit, but no votes to defund the wars. Voted to extend U.S. military presence in mideast.

• Alternative energy projects

Bothwell: They should receive high priority. We can’t drill our way out of the end of easy oil. We need to address global climate change.

Shuler: Alternative energy takes second seat to more drilling, including the North Carolina coast. Drill baby, drill! No action on climate change.

• Civil liberties

Bothwell: Oppose government surveillance of U.S. citizens not suspected of crimes. Oppose USAPATRIOT Act.

Shuler: voted to permit telecom companies to participate in government surveillance of U.S. citizens. Voted against videotaping of military interrogations. Voted to extend USAPATRIOT Act.

• Faith

Bothwell: Subscribes to Jefferson’s view that ethics are at the core of belief, in particular attempting to live life by the Golden Rule. Active member of his church. “A person’s beliefs ought to be private as an essential part of freedom of religion.”

Shuler: A member of The Family, a group which believes that normal rules don’t apply to “chosen” leaders, co-chair of the National Prayer Breakfast.

• Family Values

Bothwell: Actually valuing families is more important than touting illusory “values,” -- usually a code word for “people like us.”
Universal single payer health insurance, raising the minimum wage, and paid maternal leave all truly value families.

Shuler: “Strong families, blessed with hope and opportunity, filled with ambition and dreams, and guided by faith and principle are the heart of America.” Voted against health care, against Planned Parenthood, against extension of unemployment benefits, against expansion of hate crimes act.

• Free trade

Bothwell: Vocally opposed free trade since 1990. Wants to cancel or substantially revamp NAFTA, CAFTA, WTO and GATT. Level playing field with tariffs.

Shuler: Has offered some support for renegotiation of free trade rules. Voted against Korea, Columbia, Panama deals, but has not pushed for revision of NAFTA or CAFTA.

• Guns

Bothwell: Supports ban on assault weapons, a ban on 30 bullet clips, background checks. Supports the 2nd Amendment and hunters’ rights. Learned gun safety as a child and supports safety education. Will not carry a gun.

Shuler: Supports the NRA, opposed extension of the ban on assault weapons. Carries a concealed weapon.

• Health Care

Bothwell: Supports single-payer, universal health insurance, via extension of Medicare system.

Shuler: Voted against the health care bill, opposes universal single-payer plan. Voted against funding Planned Parenthood, against stem-cell research. Voted for Stupak amendment.

• LGBT

Bothwell: Human rights are human rights regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, gender orientation, religion, or any other qualifier. Marriage should be a religious choice, not a government function. Supports ENDA. Helped institute domestic partner benefitsfor City of Asheville employees.

Shuler: Opposes ENDA. Believes marriage is only between a man and a woman. Hadn’t heard of DOMA before a group of constituents explained it to him during an office visit this year. Stated that gender orientation is like having a favorite sports team.

• National Debt

Bothwell: “There’s no reason to worry about the national debt during a recession. We need to spend federal money to refurbish our infrastructure-- roads, bridges, water systems NOW.” Repayment for those projects will come later, with inflationary dollars, and as in the past, we’ll all be better for that investment. Debt Limit: Supported the 95 Dems who voted against the recent bad bargain.

Shuler: As a leader of the Blue Dog Coalition, he is committed to reducing the national deficit. “It is essential to the long-term viability of our economy that we reign in out-of-control spending.” Debt Limit: Voted with the 95 Dems who supported the recent bad bargain.

• Stimulus plan

Bothwell: It should have been bigger.

Shuler: voted against it.

• Taxes

Bothwell: Tax the rich. Tax imports. Tax stock and derivatives transactions.

Shuler: Voted to extend tax cuts for the rich.

If Cecil Bothwell is the kind of man you would like to see serving in Congress instead of another Republican-lite Blue Dog, please consider giving him a hand here at the Blue America page. Please watch his latest video and think about what you can afford to give.

What Happens When A Democrat Savagely Attacks LGBT Equality? Steve Israel Recruits Him To Run For Congress

Later this month early voting starts on North Carolina's proposed homophobic Amendment One. And May 8 is election day, the same day that North Carolina goes to the polls to select candidates in primaries across the state. Democratic candidates, of course, are opposing the amendment. Republicans are mixed. Last week a couple of big-name Republicans, Richard Vinroot and Robert Orr, joined Tea Party Congresswoman Renee Ellmers in publicly denouncing the amendment.

In an interview with the Charlotte Observer, Vinroot, the former mayor of Charlotte and Republican nominee for governor, reinforced his opposition to Amendment One in his response to comments made by amendment proponent and House Speaker Thom Tillis (R-Mecklenburg), who told North Carolina State University students this week that the amendment would likely be repealed.

“My reaction, was, ‘My gosh, the legislature wants us to put something in the Constitution that the leader of our party-- the speaker of the House-- doesn’t think will stand the test of time for more than a decade,’ ” Vinroot told the Observer. “I can’t imagine amending the Constitution for something he believes is that tenuous.”

Orr, a former North Carolina Supreme Court Justice, expressed his own concerns to the Observer about the necessity for Amendment One's constitutional rewrite, saying “Any provision that has to be put into the ‘miscellaneous’ section of the constitution immediately raises questions about whether it should be in the state constitution,” he said. “It’s probably not a provision that ought to be in."

Earlier I mentioned that Democrats are opposing the amendment. I should have qualified that. In the most western part of the state, NC-11, there's a dedicated homophobe and bully running who is telling audiences to vote for it. That's Heath Shuler's chief-of-staff, Hayden Rogers. When Shuler looked at polling and realized he would lose this time, he announced his retirement and started negotiating for a job with some of K Street's most corrupt and sleaziest lobbyist firms. "Ex"-Blue Dog Steve Israel immediately recruited Rogers, a Shuler doppelgänger. Like Shuler he's fanatically anti-Choice, promises to vote with the Republicans in their War Against Women (and on most substantive issues facing Congress) and is virulently anti-LGBT. He's opposing progressive icon Cecil Bothwell-- but, being a typical conservative coward, refuses to debate him. Read Cecil's stand on Amendment One and you'll understand why a simpering Blue Dog like Hayden Rogers has avoided the first two debates and has already announced he's "unavailable" for the next four. (Do North Carolina Democrats want to elect a coward who doesn't have the balls to stand up like a man and defend and explain his own positions?)

"Republicans in the North Carolina General Assembly have decided to put one of their favorite wedge issues on the state primary ballot, May 8. The proposed amendment to our state constitution is wrong on multiple levels. It denies equal rights under the law, a mainstay of America's democracy since the beginning. It is so poorly worded that it is likely to cause real harm to women, to unmarried couples with children, to seniors living together, in addition to its stated goal of preventing same sex marriage.

"Such an amendment will very likely impede our state's business recruitment, since forward-looking companies across the country are changing with the times and need to be able to recruit the best and brightest employees regardless of gender or sexual orientation. It will undo the efforts we have made in Asheville and other cities across the state to provide health care benefits to all of our employees. And it would add to our state constitution a provision that is almost certain to be overturned in the U.S. Supreme Court, as other lawsuits already underway work up through our federal court system. It would therefore demand expensive litigation at a time when our financial troubles are forcing cuts in schools, environmental protection, public safety and more.

"Let's not permit the GOP to divert our attention from the real issues facing our community, our state and our nation. We need a jobs program that puts people to work now, meaningful support for education, and legislation that protects Medicare and Social Security. I urge my fellow citizens to step up, get out the vote, and turn back the tide of divisiveness and fear mongering unleashed by the GOP. It is time to stand up for freedom and love."

Cecil Bothwell is on Blue America's slate of homophobe extinguishers this cycle, and if you can, please consider helping him beat Shuler and Shuler II. Last week civil liberties attorney Glenn Greenwald explained why he's backing three congressional candidates, one of whom is Cecil Bothwell:

As a City Councilman, Bothwell has been pushing for the de-militarization of the local police force, and “proposed a sweeping civil-liberties resolution that would include clauses against racial profiling, surveillance of political advocacy groups and helping federal officials in immigration enforcement.” He also advocates subjecting America’s political and military leaders to the International Criminal Court’s jurisdiction.

He unequivocally supports an “end to the war on drugs,” arguing right on his campaign website: “Prohibition has failed and failed again for more than a century. Our drug war has destroyed lives, destroyed families, wrecked communities, increased crime and increased the quantity and availability of the drugs it supposedly intends to eliminate. I concur with the international panel on drug policy which has just submitted a report to the United Nations recommending an end to the global war on drugs.”

His views on Israel are as brave and commendable as any Congressional candidate in a long time who has a real chance of winning. Again, right on his own website, he vows that he “will not accept donations from AIPAC or any other organization lobbying for any other nation’s interest.” Then again, it’s highly unlikely he would receive any such donations, given his stated position on U.S. policy toward Israel:

We need to make our aid to Israel contingent on ending expansion of Israeli settlements in occupied territory, recognition of Palestine as a nation, and provision of adequate water to the Palestinian state. (The Six-Day War was principally a water grab.) We must sharply curb our military support for Israel as well. As I mentioned in an answer above, “the peace process” is a meaningless euphemism. As long as Israel is heavily dependent on U.S. aid, we have the leverage and the right to demand a swift resolution of Israeli/Palestinian issues. Obviously, we have not done so to date, or this question would be irrelevant.

He advocates that “we could do with far fewer bases for actual defense”; argues that “mostly we maintain foreign bases to project our influence, i.e. to impose our will on others”; and predicts an imperial collapse for the U.S. similar to the Roman and British empires if we do not significantly curtail our imperial aggression. The top of his website features a moving clock counting the cost of U.S. wars since 2001.

...Bothwell has been a leader in advocating for the rights of same-sex couples, but an anti-gay-marriage referendum placed on the ballot in North Carolina, on the day the Democratic primary will be held, threatens to bring out many social conservatives who would vote against him. That, along with the fact that Bothwell refuses to “accept corporate or corporate PAC donations,” means his campaign needs as much support as possible. He can win, and I am confident that his record and positions speak for themselves and will lead many readers here to want to support him.

Please help Bothwell win this one here at the Blue America page or at that special anti-homophobe page.

DC Blue Dogs Show Their Hand In North Carolina

Few Democrats-- and none from North Carolina-- voted more frequently with the GOP since the 2010 elections than fumbling Blue Dog Heath Shuler. It made him so unpopular among Democrats in his western North Carolina district that polls showed that he would be defeated by progressive Asheville City Councilman Cecil Bothwell. So, Shuler, a bigot and religious fanatic who voted with Republicans against equality for women and against equality for the LGBT community, decided to scale back on his plans to become Speaker or senator or governor or something big. Instead he'll settle for something rich-- as he trundles over to K Street to take up the mantle of a sleazy lobbyist. Lee Fang wondered yesterday if Shuler is engaging in bribery by negotiating for a lobbying job with the corporate shills at the Majority Group while he's still in Congress. It's one of several Blue Dog-oriented lobbying firms that launders corporate cash into political campaigns for Democrats who will get in bed with anti-family interests-- perfect for Shuler.

One way corporations and special interests rule Washington is by promising lucrative salaries to lawmakers and their staff members. Once a public official makes a deal to go to work for a lobbying firm or corporation after leaving office, often with the promise of a million dollars or more in salary, he or she becomes loyal to the future employer. Thus, a special interest can essentially buy out the lawmaker, gaining not only access but the ability to influence votes and other policymaking power while the lawmaker is still in office.

...Congressman Heath Shuler (D-NC) is a prime example. Shuler, a leader of the Blue Dog caucus of big business-friendly Democrats, announced that this term will be his last a few short months ago. As Politico notes, he is already talking to lobbying firms that may want to hire him as an influence peddler:

Shuler, for one, isn’t wasting any time assessing his options. The conservative North Carolina Democrat has met with several groups with Washington offices in an effort to see if he might be a good fit. [...]

One of the organizations taking a serious look at Shuler is The Majority Group, a lobby shop founded by former Rep. Walt Minnick (D-Idaho), according to sources. Rob Ellsworth, a former legislative assistant of Shuler’s, is a co-founder of the boutique lobbying firm.

The Majority Group, one of the lobbying firms courting Shuler, currently represents the beef industry, a foreclosure servicing company called FCI Lender Services, as well as bank holding companies with business in health, life, and real estate insurance.

And while Shuler meets with lobbying firms openly interested in hiring him, the congressman continues to play a pivotal role in shaping the laws we all live under.

At least he's out of Congress-- or soon will be. Shuler's ProgressivePunch score this session is 38.55. That means crucial votes during 2011 and 2012 he voted with Cantor and Boehner over 60% of the time. And he has a chief of staff he wants to leave in his place to continue his work against the middle class and working class families who live in the district-- and, of course, to be available for all the lobbying he plans to do.

Shuler endorsed his staffer, Hayden Rogers, and last week the Blue Dog caucus came right in after him. That means the countdown for a check from Steny Hoyer and the nod from the DCCC can't be far behind. The flawed theory behind conservative Democratic support for Rogers is that the district is very conservative and that Rogers will have the best chance to beat the Republican. The problem, of course, is that conservatives in the district will support the Republican and that the only way for a Democrat to win in the newly gerrymandered district is to offer a vigorous alternative to the toxic, failed Republican agenda. But conservatives would rather lose with Rogers than win with Bothwell.

Democratic voters showed their regard for the Blue Dogs in 2010 when more than half of them were either defeated at the polls or forced to retire rather than be defeated. Since then, many of the most extreme right members of the Blue Dog caucus have announced their departure from electoral politics-- like Shuler. Rogers was Shuler's campaign manager before he was his chief of staff. Before that he was roommates-- at Princeton-- with Lyle Menendez, who was convicted with brother Eric in the 1989 shotgun slayings of their parents in Beverly Hills, Calif. Rogers worked for Lyle Menendez at the restaurant he bought after getting his parents’ life insurance money. Rogers hasn't been indicted for being part of the murder plot and he refuses to discuss his relationship with the Menedndez brothers.

Rogers may not be a murderer but he's a typical corrupt conservative careerist hack. The Democrat likely to beat him in the primary is Cecil Bothwell, who has been endorsed by Blue America . They couldn't be further apart on issues or approach. Last week Bothwell addressed women's health issues, issues where Rogers finds himself in bed with the Republicans (of course). Bothwell:

I am the only candidate for congress in North Carolina’s 11th Congressional District, in either party, who has taken strong positions in favor of women, women’s rights and women’s health.

I entered the primary race in March of 2011, when the incumbent Blue Dog Democrat Heath Shuler voted to defund Planned Parenthood. Though I had taken exception to many of Shuler’s votes against our President’s proposals (and continue to be disappointed), his vote against an organization that provides essential health care services to tens of thousands of women in North Carolina alone, and to their families, was my last straw. To add insult to injury, during that same week I learned that Rep. Shuler was co-sponsor of an amendment that would have redefined rape under our health care laws to only include violent rape by a stranger. Date rape, marital rape and incest would no longer qualify.

I had to wonder what planet he came from.

(Note: In September I was honored to serve as the volunteer auctioneer for an art auction to benefit Planned Parenthood here in WNC.)

In a larger sense, my view is that human beings have a right to make their own health care decisions, and only a woman has a right to make reproductive choices for herself. It is a wonderful thing when two parents make those decisions together and the man involved elects to stick around and share responsibilities, but we all know that model fails over and over again.

More than half of the babies born to women under age 30 find themselves in single parent households. And the biological truth is that a man’s involvement in baby-making is very brief. It is the mother who endures nine months of pregnancy with its attendant risks. It is the mother who is almost universally the principal caregiver and nurturer, and often the nutrition source as breast feeding has come back into general popularity. It is the mother to whom courts have historically assigned custody in the event of divorce. (Though the law has swung toward shared custody, in no small part because many men prefer not to pay child support.)

Women must be accorded the full right to determine their future plans. Men should attend to their own responsibilities around baby making and then sit down and shut up. The all-male panel of experts convened by Republican legislators, to testify concerning contraceptives would be laughable if it weren’t so frightening. Old men seem ever eager to tell young women what they can or cannot do. And as a woman I met in Bryson City observed, “If they can prevent you from having an abortion today, they can just as easily force you to have an abortion tomorrow.”

Another of my proposals goes further in the area of valuing families. I believe we should provide a stipend to a mother for the first three years of her first two children’s lives. The parents would be required to participate in self-organized parenting groups (somewhat like current baby-sitting co-ops) in which one of the parents and the children would participate on a regular basis-- to share ideas, information and skills. The intent is to permit more time devoted to nurture and interaction during those critical formative years when much of our socialization occurs.

To those who’d argue that this is too expensive, my reply is that it would let one parent step out of the work force, thus opening up employment for the unemployed who are currently receiving benefits. Better socialized children are better students, less likely to disrupt the education of others in their classes, more likely to finish school, and less likely to end up in prison. My argument is that we are shifting the expense to where it actually does some good, instead of simply paying people who are out of work, or paying to imprison people later.

Sunday Cecil Bothwell's younger brother died suddenly and Cecil is spending some time with their 90 year old mother trying to comfort her. Please help Blue America keep the small donations coming in for his campaign while he's grieving and off the trail. Last week the Bothwell campaign held a Family Fun Night Funder in a small town in District 11, with three bands, jugglers, face painting, balloon animals, pizza and beer with a suggested $15 donation at the door (kids free). One farm couple showed up with empty pockets, but offered two dozen eggs in lieu of admission which the campaign happily accepted. Meanwhile, Hayden Rogers was hosting a $2,500 a plate steak dinner, 250 miles east in Raleigh, the state capital. Bothwell quipped, "I guess with WNC ranking #3 in hunger in the United States, we both felt a need to feed our constituents."

Cecil! Cecil! Cecil!-- Taking Back The Democratic Party From The Corporate Whores

Today we're kicking off a new day for our Blue America chats. Same time as always-- 11am (PT) but on Tuesday's from now on. And what better way than to start with a populist icon whose grassroots congressional just paid off with gigantic dividends a few days ago. Cecil Bothwell will be joining us over at Crooks and Liars at 2pm (ET). Last week, his classic grassroots organizing and door-to-door activist campaign astounded the political establishment with polling results that showed him knocking off entrenched conservative incumbent, Blue Dog Heath Shuler in the upcoming May 8th primary. Shuler saw the same results and beat a hasty retreat to, suddenly, "spend more time with my family." He actually said that. The 11th CD will never be the same.

Cecil is the Asheville City Council Member who "everyone" said was "too radical" to be elected. But when the at-large primary came around he wasn't just elected-- he got more votes than anyone else in the race. He seemed buoyed when we talked with him after Shuler-- who just months ago tried to rally reactionary Democrats against Nancy Pelosi in a race for House Democratic leader-- hoisted the white flag. "We were confident that we were going to win the primary, based on informal polling across the District. We learned from recipients that someone hired a firm in Raleigh to poll voters here, so my bet is that he was seeing the same results. Now it appears that he has tapped another Blue Dog, his Legislative Director Hayden Rogers, to step into the race. So game on!" Rogers isn't well known in the district but he is on K Street and Inside-the-Beltway. The DCCC would love to talk him into running. Cecil feels confident he could beat him just as he always predicted he would beat his boss.

Cecil is a decidedly progressive Democrat-- a movement progressive-- who has staked out populist positions in favor of federal job creation, single-payer health care and protection of the social safety net, as well as strong support for education. A participant in October's Rebuild the American Dream conference, he endorses "Jobs, Not Cuts!" as a battle cry for middle- and working-class citizens who have been hammered by the Bush recession. Coming from a career in sustainable building and environmental journalism, with more than 20 years spent in a photovoltaic-powered home, he knows the coming green economy from the inside out, and he was one of the thousands of activists who surrounded the White House in November to protest the KeystoneXL pipeline. Although North Carolina is a right-to-work state, he is a member of the National Writer's Union (AFL-CIO) and is unafraid to tell his constituents that unions are essential to introduce democracy into the work place. He is a strong advocate for fair trade instead of our current badly concocted free trade rules, and believes we need to get tough with China over its currency manipulation. Because he believes that black markets always create systemic problems in society he demands immigration reform that facilitates work-permits and a clear path to citizenship, and opposes the catastrophic failure known as the "war on drugs." He has endorsed the Move to Amend and believes that we need to adopt public financing for all elections ASAP.

"We can do better," he tells voters. "And you deserve better. I aim to represent the real people of this District, and I won't take a penny from corporations or corporate PACs." Blue America could hardly hope for a better candidate to back, anywhere. Please consider contributing to a people-to-people campaign that is already paying dividends for progressives in North Carolina. You can do that here at the Blue America ActBlue page.




UPDATE: Best Answer By A Candidate On ObamaCare Ever

Howie: "Many pundits say the presidential election-- which looms especially large in swingin' North Carolina-- will be decided by which side can best persuade voters of their approach to health care. I know you've been a longtime advocate of single payer. Will you now be stuck defending Obamacare? How is this playing out among voters, especially among voters outside Buncombe County?

Cecil: "I'm getting applause every time I talk about single-payer. I defend Obamacare because I believe it has put us on a track to single-payer, and was probably about the best Obama could accomplish, given the Congress he had to work with, Big Pharma, Big Insurance, Big Medical, and so on. It was a huge hurdle to move us to covering most people, and once most people have coverage that will be the new normal. Meanwhile, changes mandated by the plan will begin to squeeze private insurers-- like the mandate to actually spend 85 percent of premiums paid on medical care for the insured (75 percent is more typical now), keeping young adults on their parents policies and forbidding exclusion due to preexisting conditions. If we can keep the GOP from killing the plan, I believe most Americans are going to look back ten years from now and be very happy with what was started during this administration. Even Tea Partiers love Medicare today, and it was originally opposed from the right as a socialist plot."

The End of The Blue Dogs?

Democrats should only be so lucky! Later today we'll be talking with lifelong progressive icon, Asheville's populist city council member, Cecil Bothwell, who was at least partially responsible for driving virulent conservative Blue Dog Heath Shuler into early retirement. Last year Shuler was talking about one day rising to the Speakership and two weeks ago he was plotting to run for governor. His speakership was undermined when his Democratic colleagues rejected his attempted coup against Nancy Pelosi. In the end he wound up with the votes of just 10 ragged right-wingers plus himself-- Jason Altmire (Blue Dog-PA), Dan Boren (Blue Dog-OK), Jim Cooper (Blue Dog-TN), Joe Donnelly (Blue Dog-IN), Tim Holden (Blue Dog-PA), Larry Kissell (NC), Jim Matheson (Blue Dog--UT), Mike McIntyre (Blue Dog-NC), Mike Michaud (Blue Dog-ME) and Mike Ross (Blue Dog-AR). Pelosi got 173 votes. Boren and Ross have since announced their retirements; Donnelly's is leaving Congress in a fireball as a hopeless senatorial candidate and Tim Holden is likely to be defeated by progressive Matt Cartwright in a primary. The Blue Dog caucus, bolstered by a conservative-oriented DCCC leadership-- chairman Israel is an "ex" member of the reactionary caucus and still votes with them frequently-- looks like its falling apart. Their ranks were decimated in the 2010 elections when their membership went from 54 to 26. Shuler is the seventh member this year to announce early retirement.

It certainly isn't going to be clear sailing for Cecil Bothwell-- who was shown in a recent poll to be about the replace the increasingly unpopular Shuler as the Democratic nominee. First of all the Blue Dog/DCCC machine is already moving to insert Shuler staffer Hayden Rogers as the nominee. That will probably fail but the Art Pope-owned North Carolina legislature has added a lot of Republicans to the 11th CD and taken out a lot of Democrats (endangering diminutive fascist Patrick McHenry in the process, but more about that another time). Later today when we talk live with Cecil Bothwell as Crooks and Liars (2pm, ET) we can ask him his strategy for winning in a newly Republicanized district.

But the idea of ridding the Democratic House caucus of a "rising star" who was voting with the Republicans as a default position and who was constantly working to force Democrats to give up on progressive solutions and adopt conservative positions is already a huge win for progressives. It was because of reactionaries like Shuler that single-payer was never seriously pushed in the run-up to the health care bill and it was because of reactionaries like Shuler that the public option was abandoned and we wound up with a hard to defend mediocre health care bill in place of something that would have actually solved the country's pressing health care needs. Shuler did his work and now he'll get a cushy job on K Street working as a lobbyist for the corporations he's been serving in Congress.

As for the Blue Dogs as a caucus... they'll probably put their white sheets and hoods into a chest and morph with the like-minded, if less bigoted, New Dems, another execrable batch of conservatives inside the Democratic Party. Seven of the remaining Blue Dogs have already joined. And Shuler's retirement means that only one of the current Blue Dog leaders, the weakest and least effective-- John Barrow (GA)-- has even a chance to be in Congress next year. Barrow's district was also severely gerrymandered and it;s unlikely he will survive a Republican push against him in November. The new Blue Dog recruits the DCCC is pumping resources into are probably all going to lose in November. None of them are attractive candidates.

Cook says Republicans have a chance to pick up a lot of the seats of the retiring Blue Dogs-- and even if that isn't the case in Arizona and California, where Cook, as usual, has it wrong, at least half the remaining Blue Dogs face dim reelection prospects.

“One of the main reasons they’re not running-- and I’m sure it’s true with Heath-- is that Republicans have managed to use redistricting to carve up their districts,” said Norm Ornstein, a congressional expert at the American Enterprise Institute. “You’ve still got a lot of people who enjoy serving and would like to serve, but if you don’t have a district, it’s going to make it harder.”

Walton Robinson, spokesman for the North Carolina Democratic Party, said Republicans in the state legislature targeted Blue Dogs more than other Democrats in the redistricting process.

...Ornstein said it’s not just district lines that have become less friendly to moderates-- the entire political system has moved toward partisan extremes.

Blue Dogs “used to be in an enviable position,” he said. “They were the center in a system where you needed to move to the center. Now they’re all there in the center in a system that has no interest in moving there.”

When it still had more than 50 members, Blue Dogs formed an influential voting bloc in the last Congress.

Their power waned after the 2010 elections and will probably decrease further next year, experts say, unless Democrats manage to gain a narrow majority this year and need to court Blue Dog votes.

Last cycle, Blue America concentrated on helping defeat Alabama Blue Dog Bobby Bright, who had voted most frequently with the GOP and who was advertising he wouldn't vote for Nancy Pelosi as Speaker. With him out of the way, we've been focusing on Shuler and Tim Holden. Today we'll be officially endorsing Cecil Bothwell. The Blue America Bad Dog page is now geared up in a Tim Holden direction. You can help Cecil replace Shuler here.

Aside from Shuler staffer Hayden Rogers, the Blue Dogs have been using their war chest filled with corporate cash to push lame conservatives like Leonard Bembry (FL), Rob Wallace (OK), Brendan Mullen (IN), Marty Chavez (NM), Ted Vick (SC), Clark Hall (AR), Brad Schneider (IL), and Terry Bellamy (NC). The DCCC has already endorsed Mullen, Hall, Bembry, and Wallace (as well as former Blue Dog Nick Lampson).

This Could Be A Real Shakeup Election Year-- Even In The Conservative South

Progressive congressional candidate Cecil Bothwell (NC-11)

The new Gallup poll may be bad news for corrupt congressional careerists but it's really heartening for average American families. Like the heroes at OccupyWallStreet, Americans have HAD it with Congress.

About three-quarters of registered voters (76%) say most members of Congress do not deserve re-election, the highest such percentage Gallup has measured in its 19-year history of asking this question. The 20% who say most members deserve to be re-elected is also a record low, by one percentage point.

...A substantial majority of Republican (75%), independent (82%), and Democratic (68%) voters agree that most members of Congress do not deserve re-election -- a sign of rare consensus about the legislative body in which both parties currently hold a leadership stake.

The caveat is that, as always, voters are much more positive about their own congresscritter-- the only one they can vote against-- than they are about "most members of Congress," with 53% saying their representative deserves to be re-elected, while 39% hold the opposite view. But even this 39% is one of Gallup's highest ever numbers indicating actionable dissatisfaction with voters' own representatives.

How this antipathy toward Congress plays out in next year's congressional elections remains to be seen. Americans were not as negative last October, before the 2010 midterm elections, yet voters flipped 63 seats from Democratic to Republican control and gave the House to the GOP in the process. This was the largest seat gain by any party since 1948. If voters' current sentiments toward Congress prevail through next November's election, it is possible that control of the House would flip back to the Democrats, although such a conclusion is far from certain.

A whole pack of, mostly ultra conservative, Democrats was defeated-- or forced by reality into retirement-- in the South last year. Good riddance! This year some of those southern districts could well elect progressives or actual moderates. (Don't mix up raving right wing corporate whores like the Blue Dogs with actual moderates, though the raving right wing corporate whores always call themselves "moderates" and the press always obliges.)

Depending on which of a half dozen or more gerrymandered maps Florida voters go to the polls under-- and how toxic a role Steve Israel and the DCCC play in sabotaging progressives in primary races against right-wing faux-Dems-- Congress could wind up with a bumper crop of progressive freshmen from the Sunshine State next year. Not just progressive, but fighting progressives: Alan Grayson, Nick Ruiz, Dave Lutrin, Lois Frankel... And hopefully a progressive will get into the race against very vulnerable David Rivera as well and not cede the nomination to conservaDem DCCC plant Luis Garcia.

And, of course, it goes beyond Florida. The judiciary has taken district-drawing powers away from Texas' corrupt Republican legislature and drawn it's own, much fairer maps. (UPDATE... oops, as they always seem to say in Texas.) The result is at least one likely progressive freshman from Ft Worth in Congress next year: state Rep. Marc Veasey. And in Arkansas, the second district-- centered around Little Rock-- is a natural home for a progressive or moderate Democrat but is now being occupied by extreme right Karl Rove clone, Tim Griffin. General Wes Clark is thinking about jumping into the race .

Clark brings to the table a ton of positives and no real negatives that I can think of.  There’s the top military profile, the record of heroism going back to Vietnam, the name recognition from his presidential run, he’s someone progressives can get behind and he’d still have broad appeal to more conservative voters, he’d have a huge fundraising list and a national profile, plus he’s got charm and personality.  Clark is in his sixties but is still physically fit and active by all accounts.  In short, he’s the kind of first rate candidate that could take out Tim Felon.

And North Carolina could turn out to be more interesting yet. First and foremost-- however the court battle against the blatant gerrymandering by the GOP legislature turns out-- is the fight to oust reactionary Blue Dog Heath Shuler. There are, literally, half a dozen kooks and nuts (Republicans and teabaggers) fighting it out amongst themselves to challenge Shuler, whose district may or may not-- depending on the court case-- become a much, much redder district (and the expense of little Patrick McHenry, who would have a much bluer district-- and a great progressive opponent in state Rep. Patsy Keever). But can Shuler, a rabid Blue Dog, even make it to the general election? Blue America's interest is in the primary, where Shuler is being challenged by legendary Asheville City Councilman Cecil Bothwell. And Bothwell is lining up the kind of grassroots support it will take to dump one of John Boehner's most persistent allies inside the Democratic Party.

Last election, however, a relatively unknown candidate from Asheville pulled down nearly 40 percent of the vote in the Democratic primary and carried Buncombe County, the most liberal county in the region.

Shuler’s conservative stance helps him during the general election but drags down his primary numbers. Democratic voters punished Shuler during the last primary for not being liberal enough.

...While Bothwell has already started his campaign for the Democratic nomination, Shuler said he does not expect to spend much time or money running a primary race.

“Campaign mode does not kick in til August,” Shuler said.

Perfect for Bothwell, who is concentrating on the March primary. And the May primary will be a big deal in North Carolina because of the marriage equality amendment. Conservatives oppose it but most North Carolina voters-- and a really large majority of Democratic primary voters-- favor marriage equality. Bothwell is a lifelong champion of equal rights for all people, including gays and lesbians. Shuler is a raging homophobic bigot who crosses the aisle to vote with the Republicans against equality at every opportunity. In the current Congress, ProgressivePunch only rates 5 Democrats a zero on gay quality and Shuler is one of those 5 zeroes. Along with dozens and dozens of Republicans, the 5 Democrats who scored zero on gay equality issues were Shuler, of course, plus McIntyre (NC), Kissell (NC), Critz (PA) and Ross (AR), 5 vicious bigots who don't deserve to be considered Democrats.

Most recently anti-gay fanatic Virginia Foxx, also from North Carolina, but a Jesse Helms Republican, introduced an amendment to the Pentagon's budget that would require the Pentagon to back the GOP's anti-gay agenda. Even 6 Republicans found it too extreme to support but the 19 worst homophobic bigots among the Democrats, Shuler in the lead as usual, crossed the aisle and backed Foxx. Even more outrageously, when the Democrats voted on Patrick Murphy's amendment in 2010 to end Don't Ask Don't Tell it passed 234-194. Five Republicans crossed the aisle to vote in favor but Shuler led 26 conservative bigots into Boehner's arms. Most of those 26 have either retired or been defeated or have announced they're retiring next year. It's up to the Democratic primary voters in western North Carolina to hold Shuler accountable-- for this and all his other Republican votes.

In the middle of writing this post, examining Shuler's horrendous record, I realized we needed to get Bothwell up on our page dedicated to defeating Congress' worst homophobes. I'd say a zero qualifies Shuler for that.

Did Cantor & Boehner Allow NRA Fanatic Cliff Stearns To Cost The GOP A Dozen House Seats?

Last week Florida psychopath Cliff Stearns' off the rails National Right-to-Carry Reciprocity Act of 2011 (H.R. 822) passed the House 272-154. It's one of the most extreme gun bills ever passed by Congress and it trampled on the rights of states to regulate their own gun control laws. Three Republicans from New York state broke with Boehner and Cantor to vote against it-- Peter King (Long Island), Bob Turner (Brooklyn/Queens) and Michael Grimm (Staten Island/Brooklyn)-- but that was more than made up for by NRA-fearing Democrats (43 of them) who rushed to join the parade of madmen.

Before passing the bill, the House rejected (150-276) Memphis Democrat Steve Cohen's amendment to allow states to bar citizens of other states who were under 21 years old from carrying concealed handguns and David Cicciline's amendment would have kept guns out of the hands of terrorists and child sex predators. Republicans and their Blue Dog allies voted that down by even greater numbers, 146-277.

Blue Dog extremist Heath Shuler, who co-sponsored the bill, joined Stearns in writing a deranged and misleading editorial in the Washington Moonie Times pimping the legislation. It was very different from the NY Times editorial that pointed out the gross hypocrisy of the legislation's intent.

House Republicans usually claim to be champions of both small government and states’ rights, which makes it hypocritical, and downright reckless, that they are obsessed with taking away the authority of states to decide who is allowed to carry a concealed and loaded handgun.

At least 36 states now set a minimum age of 21 for carrying concealed guns, and 35 states require some sort of gun-safety training. Thirty-eight states prohibit people convicted of certain violent crimes like misdemeanor assault or sex crimes from carrying concealed weapons.

The act would override those rules, requiring states with tight restrictions, like New York and California, to allow people with permits from states with lax laws to tote concealed and loaded guns in their jurisdiction. Wording added by the committee exempts people with a concealed-carry permit from one state from having to meet eligibility standards set by the state they are visiting.

The measure, pushed by the National Rifle Association, would undermine legitimate states’ rights by nationalizing lenient gun rules most states have rejected for themselves. It would increase the chance for gun violence and make it harder to combat illegal gun trafficking.

Connecticut, according to their Attorney General, George Jepsen, "has one of the lowest per-capita rates of death due to firearms in the country, due in large part to our sensible gun-control laws that keep guns out of the hands of dangerous individuals." He's urging the Senate to oppose the Stearns/Shuler bill the House just passed.

Suburban Republicans outside of the Deep South are worried that their votes for this extreme measure will hurt them in their reelection bids next year. Leonard Lance, a New Jersey congressman who once worked hard to pass himself off as a mainstream conservative has now gone all extreme right-- on this and everything else. The mask is off and Lance voted for the crazed gun bill last week. His Democratic opponent, Ed Potosnak-- a candidate endorsed by Blue America-- chastised him for ignoring serious work on job creation and opting for these kinds of crackpot social engineering projects Lance has embraced in the past two years.

Instead of creating jobs and improving the economy, the Republican Congress continues to stagnant America's recovery by focusing on legislation that is not putting people back to work.

Last Wednesday, the GOP passed the National Right-to-Carry Reciprocity Act (H.R. 822). A bill allowing gun owners, which also includes those with a criminal record, to carry hidden weapons across state lines.

How does this bill get people back to work? It doesn't. Republicans are failing to address the needs of our families and businesses. Instead, they are expanding the role of the Federal Government to create federal mandates onto States that put New Jerseyans lives at risk. This bill does not create a single job and is an affront to the tough gun laws of our state by allowing a person to register to carry a concealed weapon in another state with lax rules and then carry it with them in New Jersey to the mall, sporting events, restaurants, and bars. It drags New Jersey's gun laws down to the lowest common dominator of state laws. 

The disregard of the Republican Congress for our safety and state laws, coupled with their inaction on job creation measures proves once AGAIN that Congress is broken.

We need NEW representation and that begins with me. When elected to Congress, I will fight every day to stop the radical Tea Party Republicans from holding our nation hostage to their extremist agenda. I will ensure America's future is strong with a vibrant economy, high quality education, clean air, and water and ensure that bills like these do not get passed.

Even more extreme and off the rails than Lance are Republican congressmembers in Ohio who actually represent congested urban areas-- like Mean Jean Schmidt (Cincinnati), Steve Chabot (Cincinnati), Jim Renacci (Canton), Mike Turner (Dayton), and Steve Stivers (Columbus). Mary Jo Kilroy, running for her old Columbus-based seat, has a strong record for working with law enforcement on sane gun legislation that will keep the public safe as a real priority. And she has a strong understanding for the problem Boehner and Cantor have created for the few mainstream Republicans left.

"House Republicans who represent urban or suburban districts often claim the title of "moderate." Yet moderate voters in urban areas tend to support sensible gun laws. So it is hard to see how they are voting their districts, or living up to the image they projected when elected as a so-called "moderate" by sponsoring or voting for the "National Right to Carry Reciprocity Act."

"Looking at it another way, Republicans who have campaigned against "big government," decrying what they see as the federal government forcing its will on the states, are shown to be hypocrites. These former "states' rights" champions have no hesitation in voting for federal laws that effectively overrule a concealed carry law a state legislature may have enacted with some level of restriction, (such as age, no history of crimes of violence, no history of drug or alcohol abuse, evidence of having completed training) by mandating that those states must allow someone with a permit from a state like Utah, with virtually no restrictions, not even residency, to carry a concealed weapon. The laws of New York or California, for example, would be subject to this back door veto.

"I find this another example of the power of the NRA to scare Members of Congress. It is incredible to me that in the 10 months following the attack on Rep. Gabriel Giffords, including the deaths of 6 people in Tucson, that no progress has been made on closing the gun show background check loophole, or prohibiting high capacity magazines that allow for a mass slaughter to occur in seconds. Instead, federal law is being used to make it easier to carry a concealed weapon, no matter what the laws of your state would require."

Ed Potosnak and Mary Jo Kilroy are both on the same page-- when it comes to gun control and when it comes to Blue America. If you can, please consider helping these two win seats in Congress, seats that will be part of the solution to the country's problems, not seats that are held by people exacerbating those problems with extreme ideological mania.

It's Getting Harder And Harder To Differentiate Between The DCCC And The Shriveled Blue Dog Carcass

I had a feeling that when Nancy Pelosi appointed "ex"-Blue Dog Steve Israel to head the DCCC, we would be heading for trouble. And, sure enough, Israel has been a giant step backwards from the mediocre Chris Van Hollen. I hear he's actually proud of the sobriquet people in DC gave him: "Rahm Emanuel without the potty mouth." Nevermind the House Democrats are an impotent and pathetic minority because of Emanuel's DCCC policies. And nevermind that Israel is following-- religiously-- all his disastrous, corporatist policies that do nothing but alienate the base from the party.

Friday we talked about how 15 Democrats-- all fanatic conservatives who vote with the GOP on important measures and almost all Blue Dogs-- betrayed women by voting for Cantor's extreme right anti-Choice bill. But the DCCC doesn't care. They're inviting candidates to come to DCCC to meet the friendly-- albeit depleted-- Blue Dog Caucus, up close and personal. Repulsive!

CREDO sent it's members this note, entitled Stop the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee from using pro-choice donations to support anti-choice candidates Friday evening:

On Thursday, the House of Representatives voted to let women die by passing a bill that would make it legal for hospitals to refuse to perform a life-saving abortion on a woman as an emergency procedure.

In response to that vote, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) sent out a fundraising email asking supporters to donate to help protect the health of women.

But three out of fifteen of the DCCC's top candidates who would receive that money voted to let women die.

Tell the DCCC: You can't have it both ways. Either stop fundraising off attacks on women's health or stop fundraising for anti-choice Democrats who vote to let women die. [Mark Critz, Mike McIntyre and Jim Matheson]

It is shameful that the DCCC is using these horrible attacks on women's lives as a chance to fill their own coffers with the money of supporters who are genuinely angry about the war extremists in Congress are waging against women.

Not only is it hypocritical for the DCCC not to mention that the money raised for their women's health fund will be going directly to three anti-choice candidates, but it is simply wrong that they are funding candidates who are so anti-choice that they voted for a bill that would let women die in a hospital without any intervention.

The DCCC's two-faced messaging must stop. If they care about protecting women's health, then they need to stop funding extreme anti-choice candidates-- and if they want to fund those anti-woman candidates, then they need to stop running fundraising campaigns that use attacks on women's health to solicit contributions from pro-choice activists.

Tell the DCCC: You can't have it both ways. Either stop fundraising off attacks on women's health or stop fundraising for anti-choice Democrats who want to let women die.

Blue America has a page set up specifically to target Blue Dogs who vote with the Republican Party against the values and principles of New Deal Democrats. Last year we were instrumental in ending the political career of the worst Blue Dog, Bobby Bright (AL). This year, we're targeting failed football player/worse congressman Health Shuler (NC), who voted with Boehner and Cantor against women's choice-- and always does. In fact, Shuler votes with Boehner and Cantor on almost everything important. I hope you'll help us replace him with progressive icon Cecil Bothwell. You can do it here.
And as David Dayan sadly pointed out earlier today, in regard to the CREDO action, "The silence from women’s groups, incidentally, is deafening."