Forget About The Romney-Newt-Santorum Clown Show; Tuesday Is Primary Day For Illinois Democrats

The House Democrats' chief corporate whore, Steny Hoyer, seems to think Ilya Sheyman (D-IL) is too progressive or grassroots or independent-minded or incorruptible or young or something Insiders hate. So he's funneling cash into the campaign of the conservative shill, Brad Schneider. Yesterday some delusional crank who writes nasty notes to Digby was whining about Ilya and sent us a critique from Corrente about him being an Obama supporter (sin of sins) and how he's to hijacking the Occupy brand. The combination of these two mentalities sure is what makes the Democrats the Democrats!

Earlier today we referred to the article in Mother Jones extolling the 99% Movement. Ilya Sheyman was one of the candidates they picked, a theme the author, Josh Harkinson, had developed earlier when writing about Ilya. "A victory for Sheyman would send a clear, early message to all Democrats running for office," he quote PCCC's Neil Sroka saying. "If you stand up and fight for the progressive values that matter to voters, you'll win your primary and build the enthusiastic grassroots base of donors and volunteers that all Democrats will need to win in November."

Yesterday the gigantic grassroots enthusiasm for Sheyman continued to build-- thwarting the plans the slimy DC Insiders had for the 10th district. The National Organization for Women, Democratic National Committee Hispanic Caucus Chair State Sen. Iris Martinez and National Nurses United all endorsed Ilya's surging campaign, adding themselves to an impressive list of progressive leaders and non-Beltway organizations, from Howard Dean, Russ Feingold, Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ), Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. (D-IL), Rep. Donna Edwards (D-MD), Rep. Danny Davis (D-IL), Peter Welch (D-VT), Keith Ellison (D-MN), to DFA, PCCC, AFSCME, MoveOn, the Sierra Club, the Illinois Federation of Teachers, the United Steelworkers and another dozen unions and, of course, Blue America.

Friday I participated in a meeting with a self-proclaimed "progressive" bunch of organizations. Perhaps some of them hadn't read Katrina vanden Heuvel's piece in The Nation about the need to elect not garden variety Democrats, but progressives.

Former Senator Russ Feingold recognizes that need and was moved to make his first endorsement in a Democratic primary since leaving the Senate. On Tuesday, Feingold pledged his support and that of Progressives United-- his recently formed group focused on opposing corporate power-- to Ilya Sheyman, a 25-year-old community organizer running in Illinois 10th District for a shot at the incumbent, Republican Representative Robert Dold.

While some Democratic candidates might look to co-opt the spirit and convictions of the Occupy movement, Sheyman is authentically of, by and for the 99 percent, ready to go to Washington and work with a strong grassroots to rebuild economic opportunity and fairness.

One of the groups, a gigantic national organization with hundreds of thousands of members announced they planned to support the Republican incumbent against Ilya in the general election. And no one asked them to leave the room. Washington is such a weird place. I avoid it at all costs.

Schneider, a wealthy businessman who has given thousands of dollars to extreme right wing Republicans running on platforms to end Medicare and Social Security, can read polls. He sees himself being crushed Tuesday and groused to The Hill that he knew “it would get ugly when I entered this race. But I expected it from the Tea Party, not our own party,” blaming his troubles on MoveOn and other progressive groups. While Schneider was whining about his moribund campaign, Sheyman told The Hill that "This campaign has really come down to economic issues, people who will get up and fight for middle-class families. There is the sense that economic mobility is slipping away, the American Dream is slipping away… This is one of the few districts in this country where we can not only turn a red seat blue but actually send a true progressive to Congress.”

But there is another one. South and east of IL-10 we find IL-13, a district that was always deeply red and is now purple-- and winnable by a Democrat. The primary has the same dynamic as the 10th-- a dynamic working family-oriented progressive (Dr. David Gill) being challenged by a Democrat who sounds suspiciously like a Republican (Matt Goetten). Last night, after Goetten had studiously avoided all debate challenges from Dr. Gill, the two finally met face to face-- and it became clear why he had avoided debates. This guy can't possibly go up against a Republican incumbent and hope to win. A vote for Goetten is a vote for another 2 years of Republican representation! After the debate Dr. Gill sent an e-mail to his supporters:

The debate tonight was refreshing for me because it allowed both candidates to speak unfiltered to the Democratic voters of this district.

It was interesting tonight to stand across from Matt Goetten. I had a strange sense of deja vu. It reminded me of standing across from Republican Tim Johnson.

The same parsing. The same hollow rhetoric. The same Washington buzz words. The same double-talk.

My primary opponent is just a younger, newer version of Tim Johnson's brand of insider deal-cutting and corporate politics. The Democrats of Illinois' 13th District deserve better than that. The people of the United States deserve better than that.

I called my opponent out for his complete and utter lack of leadership on protecting women's health and the right to choose. Matt had nothing to say. He stood there silently.

But that's nothing new for Matt Goetten. He's tried to duck questions and avoid the hard issues ever since he entered the race.

The key question now is can Democrats really trust Matt Goetten to fight for women on this issue and to fight for our progressive values on so many other issues.

Let me be as clear as I was in tonight's debate about where I stand: 

• I am 100% pro-choice, without restrictions. 

• I am 100% for access to birth control for all American women under every health care plan without restrictions. 

• I fully support Planned Parenthood and its work in clinics around this nation and government partnerships with that outstanding organization to make women healthier. 

• I support access to emergency contraception in every health care facility in our country without exception.

My opponent Matt Goetten is conflicted and confused on this issue. America's women cannot afford to be.

We have only 5 days left. The politicians backing Goetten have started a "Rapid Response" fund to come after me for telling the truth.

I won't be intimidated. I won't back down.

This is what I'll be watching Tuesday, not which GOP clown beats up the other. And if you'd like to donate directly to Dr. Gill's get-out-the-vote effort, you can do it here.

What The Hell Is Wrong With Steny Hoyer?

The Illinois primary is in a couple weeks, March 20. There are several high-profile races pitting progressives against conservative corporate shills. Last week we focused on progressive David Gill's struggle against Establishment patsy Matt Goetten. Yesterday, the race in IL-10 came into clearer focus with the release of a straw poll showing stalwart progressive Ilya Sheyman with 73% in the 4-way race and with the announcement of Sheyman's latest high-profile endorser, Russ Feingold. That follows close on the heals of high profile endorsements by state Rep. Rita Mayfield, revered former state Sen. Miguel del Valle, Howard Dean, the Illinois Federation of Teachers, AFSCME, Congressmen Jesse Jackson, Jr. and Danny Davis, the co-chairs of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, Keith Ellison and Raul Grijalva, and progressive constituency groups like MoveOn, DFA, PCCC, and, of course, Blue America. So who hasn't endorsed Ilya? Ah... glad you asked because that's what this post is really about: Steny Hoyer.

Hoyer, in the hope of grabbing the speakership has been promising conservative figures all over the country he will back them if they agree to vote for him. From racist Blue Dog Clark Hall in Arkansas to failing Blue Dog Tim Holden in Pennsylvania Hoyer is putting big money behind the forces of reaction and corruption inside the Democratic Party. And in IL-10, predictably enough, he's the odd man out who has endorsed corporate shill Brad Schneider against Ilya-- and given him a PAC check for $5,000.

Of course, trying to elect conservative Democrats who will help him win the speakership isn't the only rotten endeavor Hoyer has been up to lately. He's also been working to undermine the New Deal underpinings of the Democratic Party with an offer to the Republicans to weaken Medicare and Social Security in return for some irrelevant and temporary tax fixes. On Monday, Greg Sargent reported how CREDO caught him and how they plan to fight him.

If there’s one thing that puts the recovery at risk, it’s the possibility that Congress-- Democrats included-- will pivot back to austerity and again prioritize deficit reduction at a time when the focus should remain on jobs.

With this in mind, a progressive group is seeking to make an example of Steny Hoyer, the number two in the House Democratic leadership. The group, CREDO Action, is hammering Hoyer for pledging recently to get behind a new bipartisan effort to reach another “grand bargain” on the deficit.

Liberals worry that Hoyer’s effort-- which he unveiled in front of the “centrist” group Third Way-- signals the possibility that Dems could support significant cuts to Medicare and Social Security, which could undermine the social safety net and weaken the Dems’ ability to take back the House, since a sharp contrast on Medicare will be central to the Dem message.

I’m told CREDO Action will call on members today to deluge Hoyer’s office with phone calls, the latest effort to pressure Hoyer into pledging that he will not agree to any cuts to entitlements as part of further “grand bargain” talks.

The latest move comes in response to a statement released last week by Hoyer, which vaguely pledged he would try to avoid “crippling effects” on programs like Medicare. In an email set to go out today, CREDO will argue that this isn’t good enough:

Working with Republicans on a deal which will preemptively cave on cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid is not acceptable from the second most powerful Democratic Leader in the House of Representatives. Rep. Hoyer clearly doesn’t want press about his behind the scenes maneuverings to cut a back room deal to cut Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. If Rep. Hoyer wants to cut the deficit he should be working on rolling back the Bush tax cuts on the wealthiest Americans and bringing our troops home from the disastrous and costly occupation of Afghanistan.

We need you to help us hold Rep. Hoyer accountable by asking him to make an unequivocal commitment not to strike any backroom deal behind closed doors to cut Social Security, Medicare Medicaid or benefits. If we can turn up the pressure now and expose Rep. Hoyer’s efforts, we may be able to stop a bad deal well before it comes to the floor of the House for a vote.

Hoyer’s office points out that his original speech promised to ensure “that the most vulnerable among us are protected.”

The brewing battle also highlights something of a divide among Dems. While Hoyer appears eager to telegraph a willingness to work with Republicans on some kind of deficit reduction plan involving Medicare, Nancy Pelosi has argued that the focus should be put squarely on Republicans.

In an interview with me last week, Pelosi said the Dem message should be simple-- Republicans, via the Ryan-Wyden plan, want to end the Medicare guarantee, and Democrats don’t. She warned that Dems should not get lured too deeply into deficit-reduction negotiating over Medicare, lest it muddle the contrast between the two parties. Yet liberals fear that Hoyer may be doing just that. Keep an eye on this one, it will get interesting.

Hoyer, of course, has made sure his stooges in Maryland drew him an unassailable district. He can't be beaten. Democracy... thwarted again by a conservative corporate shill, power mad and obsessed with tragic careerism. Let's end this post with a quote from Russ Feingold, the kind of quote that sends shivers down Steny Hoyer's spine:

“Ilya knows that being a true progressive is more than a slogan. His campaign has mobilized and united hundreds of volunteers demanding a fresh, strong voice in Congress. This is exactly the type of candidate we as progressives must support, and with the primary almost here, now is exactly the time to step up and take action.”

Oh... and who remembers this from the Best of Blue America?

Hard To Understand Why Big Business Is So Committed To The Republicans?

The stock market is way up again and many economic indicators are pointing upwards as well. Any rational judge would say that Obama's fiscal and economic policies-- despite concerted, persistent and even vicious Republican Party obstructionism every step of the way-- are working. And, on the Dark Side, Obama hasn't exactly been an enemy of Business. Just as George H.W. Bush failed in delivering NAFTA for corporate America, leaving it for craven Democrats Bill Clinton and Rahm Emanuel to do the foul deed, Obama has sucked up to corporate America in a way he could only get away with when the threat from the GOP towards the country is "so much worse" than from the Democrats. Now we even hear that Obama is pushing to cut the corporate tax rate from 35 to 28 percent. And it isn't just Obama. Senate Democrats are overwhelmingly pro-Business (which means, anti-family, anti-worker, anti-consumer). Blue America only endorsed one Senate incumbent up for reelection this year and technically he isn't even a Democrat! And the House is split down the middle. The DCCC works hand and hand with the conservative/reactionary Blue Dog caucus to torpedo progressive working class candidates for Congress and to elect millionaires and "business-friendly" corporate shills and corrupt careerists (like themselves).

This morning when the Communications Workers of America joined AFSCME, Illinois Federation of Teachers, Transport Workers Union of America, the International Longshoreman's Association and a dozen other unions to endorse Ilya Sheyman for Congress in the Illinois suburbs north of Chicago, it's important to remember that Steny Hoyer and the conservative New Dems are backing-- and financing-- his Republican-lite opponent, a corporate shill who has consistently contributed money to the campaigns of right-wing, anti-worker Republicans.

Ron Honse, Illinois Legislative-Political Director of Communications Workers of America, hit on something important when he said "Ilya is exactly the kind of candidate the labor movement needs to rally behind in 2012. Working families of Illinois need a proven progressive champion like Ilya Sheyman to go to Congress and fight to create jobs, reinvest in the economy, and rebuild the middle class. The Communications Workers of America is proud to endorse Ilya Sheyman and confident his massive, people-powered campaign will be the one to turn the 10th blue this November."

This isn't what the one percenters who are backing Romney and a Republican Congress want to hear. They may be happy with Obama and with the Blue Dogs but this kind of talk makes them want to... write million dollar checks to finance a right-wing take-over. And it isn't only labor unions behind Ilya's campaign. Blue America endorsed him as soon as he declared and progressive champions like Alan Grayson, Raul Grijalva, Donna Edwards, Keith Elison and Jesse Jackson, Jr. did as well. And so have MoveOn, DFA, PCCC, Council for a Livable World, and dozens of civic and good government groups, local, statewide and national.

Joshua Holland, in his book The 15 Biggest Lies About The Economy, delves into what makes Big Business and the one percent finance conservatives, even when conservative solutions are proven over and over to be bad for the economy and bad for society.

In early 2010, the American people got some rare insight into what conservatives’ vision of “economic freedom” really means, in specific terms, when Representative Paul Ryan (R-WI) released a remarkable document that quickly became a political hot potato in Washington, D.C.

...Many Republicans, however-- all but those furthest to the Right-- sought to distance themselves from Ryan’s proposals. House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) told reporters, “It’s his,” and added, “I know the Democrats are trying to say that it’s the Republican leadership. But they know that’s not the case.” Yet when he was asked which parts of the Roadmap he didn’t favor, Boehner responded, “Off the top of my head, I couldn’t tell you.”

The reason many Republicans were cautious about embracing Ryan’s Roadmap-- and Democrats eager to tout its supposed virtues-- is that it was not only the embodiment of modern conservative thinking about the roles of private enterprise and government but, as Pete Wehner, a senior fellow at the conservative Ethics and Public Policy Center, put it, the plan represents an “intellectually honest document,” and, as such, “has real numbers and it puts forward real proposals.”

That’s problematic for conservatives-- a much harder sell than some ideologically spun notion of preserving our “freedom.” In a nutshell, the proposal would further the economic trends that have prevailed since the Reagan Revolution. It slashes and burns most of the bedrock social security programs on which Americans have come to rely, shifting ever-greater quantities of risk onto the backs of the middle class; it would offer deep tax cuts to businesses and the country’s wealthiest individuals and eliminate taxes on investment gains altogether.

According to an analysis of the plan by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, “The Roadmap’s tax provisions would be highly regressive compared with the current tax system.” If the Roadmap were enacted, the bottom 80 percent of the economic ladder would see their after-tax incomes remain about the same, those in the top 1 percent of the economic heap would see theirs shoot up by 26 percent, and the incomes of those in the top tenth of the top 1 percent would increase by 36 percent. The result? According to the Tax Policy Center’s figures, “The share of total taxes paid by the bottom 80 percent would rise from 35 percent to 42 percent, while the share paid by the top 1 percent would fall by nearly half from 25 percent to 13.5 percent.”

Ryan’s proposal would replace the surety of Social Security with privatized accounts held by Wall Street brokerage firms (these firms, in turn, would gain a fat new stream of fees and have lobbied for the scheme for years). The idea is that by harnessing the “magic of compound interest,” working people would be able to put away enough acorns for a comfortable retirement.

The Cato Institute, the Heritage Foundation, and others have touted the 7 percent annual returns the S&P 500 delivered on average since the mid-1920s. Yet that number is itself a lie. According to an analysis of historical stock market gains conducted by Steven Johnson, the director of the SimCivic organization, two-thirds of those long-term “returns” were from dividends being reinvested in additional purchases of stock. The actual rate of capital growth over that time averaged only 2.3 percent per year, comparable to the 1.8 percent returns on the Treasury bills sitting in the Social Security Trust Fund.

The stock market is significantly riskier than T-bills, and more risk does bring a higher rate of return, which is fine for some investors but a bad idea for a guaranteed retirement program. Americans forcefully rejected a similar proposal during George W. Bush’s term in office, and it was a good thing that they did-- U.S. families lost $7 trillion in stock wealth during the recession that followed. Those nearing retirement age face frightening prospects as it stands, with the value of their homes and IRAs in the tank, but they would have been truly screwed if not for the modest but guaranteed income afforded by Social Security.

Yet the 0.5 percent difference doesn’t tell the whole story. If Social Security were privatized, its insurance provisions would be eliminated (sorry, no more aid to needy widows and orphans or the severely disabled). If adopted, the conservative Roadmap would also eliminate Medicare, Medicaid, and the S-chip program that offers free health care to children living in poverty. It would eliminate the tax deductions that employers receive for providing their workers with health insurance.

In their stead, Ryan’s Roadmap” would create a system of vouchers for those kicked off our existing public health programs. They would theoretically allow people to purchase private insurance policies. At first. But the value of the vouchers would be indexed to inflation, and health-care costs are rising much faster than that. From 1998 to 2008, insurance premiums increased by 131 percent, while inflation during that same period amounted to only a little less than 30 percent.

According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Ryan’s Roadmap “calls for radical policy changes that would result in a massive transfer of resources from the broad majority of Americans to the nation’s wealthiest individuals.” But here’s the rub: Ryan and those who advocate his economic approach justify these “radical” transfers of wealth as a hard solution to a pressing problem-- the so-called entitlement crisis and the supposedly crushing deficits it’s causing. Yet the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities found that under Ryan’s scheme, “The [national] debt would continue to grow in relation to the size of the economy for at least 40 more years-- reaching over 175 percent of GDP by 2050.”

Small wonder that conservatives stick to lofty rhetoric about “liberty” and “economic freedom”-- they certainly can’t honestly sell policies like these to the American public on their merits.

In the end... it's all about the Greed, the Greed and Selfishness. That's why a few dozen hedge fund managers and speculators are trying to buy Romney-- one of their own-- the presidency and are willing to foot the bill to make sure the Republicans win the Senate and retain the House. A reminder, Ilya Sheyman and the progressive Democrat running against Paul Ryan, Rob Zerban, are on the same page.

A Republican In “Progressive” Clothing Tries To Hoodwink Voters In Illinois

Ilya Sheyman is the actual progressive running for Congress from IL-10

The Blue Dog/New Dem-type “Democrat” Brad Schneider’s campaign in the Illinois 10th District released a memo Thursday claiming to have a poll that shows him with a dramatic lead over progressive fighter and Blue America endorsee Ilya Sheyman with just over a month to go before the primary election. As we saw in Massachusetts with a phony poll Scott Brown pushed out showing him ahead of Elizabeth Warren, conservatives often resort to trying to game credulous media sources with fake polls.

Predictably, no journalist has seen Schneider's poll, or has any information about what questions were asked or who specifically was in the sample. Why no reporter thought it would be within the normal bounds of due diligence to review the specifics of the poll before reporting it exactly as characterized in the Schneider camp’s press release is beyond me.

So we don’t know what the poll looked like. What we do know is that Brad Schneider has sent a dozen or so mailers to Democratic voters in the past month attempting to brand him as a “progressive,” presumably to inoculate himself against the news, which ultimately will come out, that our buddy Brad has a dirty little secret.

Brad Schneider has spent the past decade pouring cash into the coffers of some of the worst anti-choice, homophobic, war-mongering Republicans Washington has to offer. Yesterday, Sheyman Campaign Manager Annie Weinberg gave the following quote to Chicago Sun-Times’ Lynn Sweet:

"Brad can try to mislead Democrats into thinking he's a progressive because his conservative ideas can't win. But whatever his poll says, the real number you need to know is 79.

"That's the percentage of voters who said in a recent Lake Research poll that Brad Schneider's history of funding far right-wing, anti-choice Republicans raised serious doubts about his candidacy.

"We've just launched an aggressive television and mail program, we've outraised Brad over the past two quarters, and with 12,000 individual donors, 500 volunteers, and a true progressive as our candidate, we've built a campaign to win that Brad can only dream of."

So why isn’t the Sheyman campaign spending it’s significant cash on hand to spread the word about Brad’s love affair with right wing Republicans?

Weinberg says the campaign is “really focused on spreading a positive message about Ilya, since he’s the only candidate in the race with a proven track record of standing up and fighting for the progressive values and policies that built the middle class in this country.”

But, when pushed, she conceded that the Lake Research poll did indicate that "Brad’s most damaging negative is not just his numerous donations to Republican Mark Kirk over the course of several election cycles, but his long history of funding far-right Republicans year after year. These are politicians who want to privatize Social Security, defund Planned Parenthood, and end Medicare as we know it. We know that when voters hear about Brad's history of donations to these people it gives them serious reservations about voting for him. I mean, wouldn't you question the sincerity of someone who claims to be progressive but donated thousands of dollars to help Republicans take back Congress?”

Yeah, I have a funny feeling Brad’s little poll last week didn’t ask the voters that question.

Meanwhile, Ilya is pumped up as they go into the last month of campaigning. "We’re still waiting for the final count from our finance director, Erica, but it looks like we’ve just wrapped up our strongest week of fundraising yet-- with an amazing $100,000 raised in just 10 days, and have now crossed 12,000 individual contributors!" That's what a successful grassroots campaign looks like. Schneider is running around digging up endorsements from corrupt corporate shills like defeated ex-Congressmember Melissa Bean, while Ilya engages with the community. "We're proving again and again," he wrote, "that ours is the only campaign with the broad, energized base of support it'll take to carry our progressive message through the primary election and on to defeat Republican Bob Dold. Being a community organizer, I know that elections come down to numbers, so here are a couple more I wanted to share about the unstoppable people-powered campaign we've built together:

52,000 Voters

We’ve already reached an amazing 52,000 voters at their doors, on the phones, and in their living rooms-- through dozens of coffees, meet-and-greets, and community service days-- discussing the hopes, fears, aspirations and demands for your next member of Congress.

550 Volunteers

With 31 days before our March 20th primary, we have not only launched an aggressive mail and television voter contact strategy, but we’re hitting the ground with our 550-strong team of volunteers to talk to tens of thousands of voters and get them to the polls.

His purpose has been the same since he first declared for the seat-- to "put the American people back to work, restore fairness to our economy, and invest in America again." If you'd like to help Ilya win the primary next month and go on to beat Dold in November, please consider contributing to his grassroots campaign here at the Blue America ActBlue page.

Real Democrats... And The Other Kind

Click on the image so you can see who's paying for it.

I was speaking to a friend in Montana today who was aghast that two of the top Democratic contenders for the Democratic congressional nomination, Kim Gillan and Diane Smith, are battling it out with each other about which one is more of a stooge for Big Business (although neither uses the word "stooge" and might not even understand why I would). Can you imagine a Republican primary where two of the contenders argue about which one is friendlier to the labor movement? No, neither could I. Gillan and Smith aren't "real Democrats," not in terms of Democratic values. They're both careerists looking for a step on a ladder. Fortunately, Montana Democrats do have a real Democrat-- state Rep. Franke Wilmer-- in that race, and she makes no bones about it; her interests are the interests of ordinary working families, not Big Business.

And the day before that, I was on the phone with a trustworthy DC consultant who was talking with me about another of the Blue America races-- the one in the suburbs just north of Chicago, IL-10, where GOP nebbish Bob Dold is likely to lose his seat to a Democrat. The good news in this race is that a movement progressive leader from the district, Ilya Sheyman, jumped in early and established a lead that has continued to grow. Recent polling shows him ahead of either of the two business candidates, Brad Schneider or John Tree. Unlike the two business Dems in Montana, though. Schneider and Tree have come to understand that IL-10 voters are looking for a real Democrat and each has, publicly at least, toned down the pro-Big Business rhetoric and tried parroting what they hear Ilya saying. It's not coming off very authentic in either case.

The DCCC-- or at least the Israel part of the operation (there are genuinely good people there too)-- has been panic-stricken at the thought of genuine independent-minded progressive leaders getting into Congress. "Ex"-Blue Dog Steve Israel would rather see a Republican win than a real Democrat. And the problem with that is that Steve Israel is the head of the DCCC, which is, after all, the organization charged with electing Democrats. He isn't being helpful to non-Blue Dogs. Last week word got out that he was personally calling big Democratic donors and telling them to not give money to progressive leader (and polling front-runner) Darcy Burner in WA-1. The DCCC has a "moderate" non-leader and, more important, multimillionaire self-funder, Suzan DelBene, who they'd rather see win the nomination. Darcy has a mind of her own-- the last thing machine hacks like Israel want around.

There has been talk in Illinois politics that Israel encouraged Schneider, also a self-funder, to get into the IL-10 race for similar reasons, and then when Schneider turned out to be a complete dud Israel encouraged Tree, for the same reasons. Let's take a look at who John Tree, who describes himself as a "successful business leader," really is-- and what qualifies him to be the apple of Steve Israel's eye.

While Ilya has been working on a grassroots level to preserve Social Security and work for policies that will bring good jobs back into the economy, Tree has spent the last five years reaping the profits from a pyramid scheme that he created and ran as the "CEO," registered from the very same office that his campaign is using as a headquarters right now. The scheme is Quattro Corporation, an unaccredited for-profit "university," widely considered to be a scam. It charges tens of thousands of dollars to unsuspecting "students" seeking to learn entrepreneurship skills. Quattro's co-founder was even sued in 2009 by Nouveau Riche University, another so-called "multi-level marketing" scheme, for stealing their business model.


In 2010, Quattro was involuntarily dissolved by Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White's office, although it continues, under the leadership of Tree's sister, to operate and take advantage of vulnerable consumers in other states. Does this guy sound like a perfect little Republican? Where does Steve Israel find these characters? And why does he bother? Here are the salient parts of the latest polling from IL-10. Isn't Steve Israel paying any attention? Or is he just that consumed with destroying progressives and independent-minded real Democrats?

A new survey of likely Democratic voters in Illinois' 10th Congressional District reveals Ilya Sheyman strongly positioned for victory in the primary, the only Democrat who can emerge with his party's nomination and win in November. Not only is Sheyman's profile and message of progressive leadership uniquely compelling-- he dramatically expands his initial lead in an informed trial heat-- but his main opponents have serious vulnerabilities, which complement each other and raise grave concerns for voters. In contrast, opponents attacks on Sheyman fall flat.

The other candidates lack appeal in part because they are ill-suited to the values and principles of this primary electorate. In a year and in a district where a solid majority of Democratic primary voters (53%) would prefer a progressive candidate over a moderate (28%), Schneider and Tree find themselves competing for an extremely narrow slice of the pie.

We already discussed Tree's severe ethics problems above. 79% of Democrats polled find that to raise doubts, 52% "serious doubts." And Schneider upsets primary voters because he's been contributing substantial amounts of money to far right extremist Republicans since 2002. Steve Israel is seriously out of touch if he thinks this is what today's voters are looking for in political leaders. In case you're wondering... you can find real Democrats, like Ilya, Darcy and Franke, here at the Blue America ActBlue page. For the other kind... just follow the DCCC.

Sleazy Steny Hoyer Up To No Good Again

Friday the Republicans will bring up their balanced budget amendment. It's the favoritest thing ever-- a Grover Norquist wet dream. But it takes a two-thirds vote in each chamber to be able to send it on to the states for ratification. We'll look at it more closely tomorrow morning. I'm just bringing it up tonight because I wanted to mention that it wasn't only the Blue Dogs who supported it last time it came up-- in 1995-- but all kinds of corporate whores and servants of the 1%. In fact, in 1995 the considerable Democratic support for this stunningly bad idea came from the absolute worst corporate shill in the Democratic caucus, Steny Hoyer. Hoyer is promising to be better behaved Friday. He sure isn't being well-behaved in the race to win the Democratic-leaning seat in the northern Chicago suburbs currently held by Robert Dold. Although Ilya Sheyman is the frontrunner, Hoyer is throwing his considerable weight behind conservative businessman Brad Schneider.

Sheyman, who was one of the first candidates endorsed by Blue America this cycle, is being backed by Keith Ellison, Raul Grijalva, neighbor Danny Davis and Howard Dean. Ilya is a progressive activist with roots firmly in the 99%. Schneider, like Hoyer, is just some transactional politician looking to make a good deal, advance his own career and feather his nest. In the last 4 election cycles before this one he donated considerable money to Republican Congressman Mark Kirk (who represented the district before Dold). He's exactly the kind of politician the Democrats would be better off without. Which explains why he's so appealing to someone like Steny Hoyer, someone who voted with Boehner and Cantor to destroy working families with a toxic balanced budget amendment.

Are Schneider and Hoyer as bad as Boehner and Cantor? Not exactly but... isn't it time we got some real tribunes of working families into Congress instead of more corporate whores willing to constantly bend over for the 1%? This is a time for leaders like Ilya Sheyman, not fric and frac. Please consider giving him a hand here.

Several years ago Steny Hoyer and Rahm Emanuel came into West Palm and told Democrats there not to support union activist and school teacher Dave Lutrin, who was running against Republican incumbent and sex predator Mark Foley. Instead they had another "business-friendly" candidate with a history of donating to Republicans, Tim Mahoney. In fact, Mahoney was a Republican himself and Steny and Rahm got him to switch parties at the last minute. They starved Lutrin's campaign and forced him out of the race. Rahm leaked the story about Foley preying on young male pages and Mahoney won, joined the Blue Dogs and proceeded to vote with Republicans most of the time. He then got into his own sex scandal and lost the seat. That's a Steny Hoyer candidate! I asked Dave-- who's running again next year-- to comment on what Hoyer is trying to do to Ilya's campaign now. He was too much of a gentleman to bring up Hoyer's perfidy. Here's what he told me today though:

"For us to facilitate meaningful change for America, we need to not just replace the obstructionist Republican House members with Democrats, but to replace them with more Democrats like Keith Ellison and Raul Grijalva. When I hear that a candidate has business background, I cringe and think how Republicans have put this country’s economy on the path of disaster by trying to run it like a business. Business experience is not required to serve the people; however, strong moral values and convictions should be.

"I think that Ilya Sheyman’s core progressive beliefs can make a great difference in Congress. I like his beliefs so much, I just contributed to his campaign on ActBlue. I hope that I have the opportunity to work with him in Washington."

Does Obama Have A Base Problem-- And Why His Camapign's Understanding of That Matters

It's childish to say that there's no difference between the two parties. There are very real, very significant differences, differences that make thoughtful people hold their noses while they pull the lever on election day for Democrats they know will disappoint them. As badly as Bush? As badly as Jim DeMint? As badly as John Boehner or Eric Cantor or Paul Ryan? Of course not. The Democrats aren't as bad as Genghis Khan, Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin or Richard Nixon either. But it's 2011 and when will it be time to raise that exceedingly low bar?

Inside the Beltway types-- regardless of Party-- are in another world from the world Americans are in. And it's a very, very bad world. And it's a world they crafted; carefully. "Bad" was the wrong word. The word is evil. Or pernicious. Inside-the-Beltway Democrats have more in common with Inside-the-Beltway Republicans than they do with actual Democrats in America. They have corrupted democracy and brought it to its knees, right along with the Republicans. They may not be "the same" or "identical," but they both suck-- really, really bad.

Yesterday Benjy Sarlin at TPM reported that the White House is insisting they don't have a base problem. In America, we know very well they do-- and it's the same base problem they kept as many as half the Democrats and left-leaning independents home one year ago on election day causing catastrophic, but well-deserved, results for the Democratic Party. And if Team Obama is persuading itself that the good news-- good for 99%-ers, not especially for any political party-- out of Ohio and Maine Tuesday means people like Obama, they must be drinking from the same trough that Rick Perry drinks from before he goes on TV to debate the 7 dwarves. This smells like a disaster in the making:

Among Obama campaign staff, it’s an article of faith that talk of a “base problem” is a load of bunk. Touring campaign headquarters in Chicago last month, aides uniformly dismissed the notion there would be any issue bringing core Democrats back into the fold. A “Washington narrative,” as one person described it to TPM.

Here are some of the symptoms of delusion, from Sarlin's same piece:

A surge in youth voting, notoriously one of the hardest groups to get to the polls, was key to Obama’s 2008 win but lately there have been signs of trouble. The Occupy Wall Street movement, which the campaign is loathe to discuss at all, has unexpectedly taken off but there are strong undercurrents of disappointment in Obama’s leadership among its supporters. And the rough economy, Obama’s biggest overall vulnerability, is very real to recent college graduates, many of whom are having a tough time finding work and paying off their student debt.

While Republican opposition has blocked much the White House’s ambitious legislative agenda, the campaign thinks they’ve amassed an impressive set of accomplishments to convince young voters that their enthusiasm in 2008 wasn’t misplaced. The end of the Iraq War, the Affordable Care Act’s rapid expansion of insurance coverage for young adults, and the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell all are set to figure big in the President’s pitches.

Another issue that the White House is emphasizing more recently: student debt. The President recently issued an executive order aimed at speeding up reforms designed to make student loans easier to pay off. Priorities USA, an independent group supporting Obama’s re-election, ran an ad in Michigan ahead of Wednesday’s Republican debate accusing the GOP candidates of trying to cut student programs.

Hispanic voters, another crucial plank of Obama’s 2008 majority, are another focus for 2012. A number of Latino groups have been extremely critical of the administration’s record, including its inability to get the DREAM Act and comprehensive immigration reform past Congress and its hesitancy to slow a record-setting pace of deportations.

An Obama staffer stressed that Latino advocacy groups’ focus on immigration obscured the tremendous importance of the economy to individual Latino voters, an area where they feel their latest jobs push gives them an edge. While the campaign was counting on bringing the activist community behind them sooner, they’re enthused over a raft of polling showing Latino voters sticking with the president in head to head match-ups with his Republican challengers. A recent Univision poll, for example, showed Obama racking his 2-1 margins among Hispanic voters against Mitt Romney, Rick Perry, and Herman Cain, a number near identical to his 2008 victory. Romney has tacked hard right in his immigration rhetoric over the last few weeks to go after Perry, whose support for allowing illegal immigrants to receive in-state tuition has become one of his top vulnerabilities. And that’s nothing compared to Cain, who has suggesting building a lethal electrical fence around the border.

And yet you still have Beltway Democrats destroying the brand in the exact same ways they did to bring down the wrath of the base on them 368 days ago. You think an old "ex"-Blue Dog like Steve Israel is capable of learning any lessons at this point? Let me assure you-- he isn't. And he runs the DCCC. In fact, he's running it right into the ground.

By any measure, Ilya Sheyman is one of the Democratic Party's star recruits this year and slated to take back a suburban Chicagoland House seat from a GOP corporate stooge, Robert Dold. But that's not good enough for a conservative hack like Israel. He would rather lose the seat than see a progressive tribune of the people win it. Chicago Business broke the news this morning.

Announcing his candidacy by video on Thursday morning was healthy foods marketing consultant John Tree. He has almost no name recognition but a résumé right out of Central Casting in the politically moderate, heavily Jewish 10th District.

Mr. Tree, 45, is a graduate of the Air Force Academy who serves as a colonel in the Air Force Reserve. He said he decided to run when, while on duty at the Pentagon earlier this year, he was assigned to help plan ways to notify troops overseas that they wouldn't be paid because of a pending government shut down.

...All of that being said, Mr. Tree never has run for or held public or civic office. But serving as his campaign consultant is Pete Giangreco, who says he was urged to meet with Mr. Tree by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the national party's House political arm.

Also this morning the Sun-Times' Lynn Sweet blew the whistle on Israel's sleazoid tactics-- tactics he's using all over the country, in district after district, to quietly knife progressives in the back while pushing an array of Democrats who are, basically, just like himself. What was Pelosi thinking?

Illinois Democratic House hopeful Ilya Sheyman, running in the tenth congressional district, said the late entry of John Tree into the primary contest was a move by "Chicago political bosses."

Sheyman statement: "Even as Chicago political bosses launched a last-ditch, desperate effort to push another candidate into the race just weeks before the petition filing deadline, venerable Illinois Congressman Danny Davis added his name to the growing list of supporters of progressive community organizer Ilya Sheyman's campaign on Thursday."

Chicago political bosses? That's Rahm Emanuel, the ex-DCCC chair whose anti-progressive policies led directly to last year's disaster at the polls. Israel, fancies himself "Rahm without the potty mouth." Others have called him "Rahm without the brains." This is from a press release from Sheyman's campaign today:

In a clear indication that Sheyman has achieved front-runner status, Sheyman now has more support from federal elected officials and local leaders than any other candidate, and is the only candidate in the race with support from organized labor or national progressive organizations.

"It's becoming increasingly apparent that the old school, business-as-usual political establishment is worried about our campaign," said Sheyman Campaign Manager Annie Weinberg. "They're worried because they see our massive field operation, with over 350 volunteers out on the doors. They're worried because we've got broad-based support from local and national leaders like Rep. Danny Davis, Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr., and former Democratic National Committee Chair Howard Dean. But really, they're worried because they know that Ilya is a candidate who they can't control or buy off. Ilya always been independent. He's never been afraid to buck the status quo. That's exactly what we've done in this campaign, and it's exactly how we'll win this primary and beat Rep. Dold in November."

Sheyman, a Jewish immigrant from the former Soviet Union and Waukegan-based community organizer, is running on the Democratic ticket to beat Republican Rep. Robert Dold in Illinois' 10th District.

"In my nearly 15 years in the United States Congress, I've rarely seen a candidate build as powerful a grassroots campaign as Ilya Sheyman's in the 10th District," said Rep. Davis. "Ilya shares my commitment to solving the jobs crisis, one of the most urgent and pressing issues facing our communities today. He's an exceptional leader and a real progressive, and he'll be an excellent addition to the Illinois Congressional Delegation as we fight in Washington to put the people of Illinois back to work."

Rep. Davis is one of the most senior members of the Illinois Delegation, having served the state's 7th District for over 15 years. He has been a leader in several Congressional caucuses, including the Congressional Black Caucus, the Progressive Caucus, the Urban Caucus and the Community Health Centers Caucus. He has also been at the forefront of the effort to solve the nation's unemployment crisis.

"Rep. Davis' endorsement today is another signal that this campaign is a moving train, and that national and local leaders are ready to get on board to beat Republican Rep. Bob Dold," said Sheyman, who last week was endorsed by Reps. Raul Grijalva of Arizona, Keith Ellison of Minnesota and Jesse Jackson, Jr. of Illinois' 2nd District. "Congressman Davis shares my dedication to creating good jobs and putting the people of Illinois back to work in these tough economic times. It will be an honor to serve alongside him in Washington."

In addition to Reps. Davis, Jackson, Ellison and Grijalva, Sheyman has the support of former Democratic National Committee Chair Gov. Howard Dean, as well as MoveOn.org, whose 12,000 members in the 10th District recently voted to endorse him. Sheyman has also been endorsed by Democracy for America, the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, the Sheet Metal Workers Union, Local 73, the International Longshoremen's Association-- AFL-CIO, and Mike McGue, the president of the Lake County Federation of Teachers.

The Autographed Green Day Guitar Contest

This is the guitar

The trigger got triggered and we've now collected over $2,000 for Ilya Sheyman's campaign. So, like we said yesterday, at 6pm today, we'll be randomly choosing one contributor-- regardless of amount-- to win the signed Green Day Fender strat. So, please do contribute now.


UPDATE

Some Hope-y Change-y Stuff Amid the Debt Ceiling Ripoff

Looking for the silver lining in the passage of the Boehner debt ceiling bill?

There is none.

Okay, okay. There are some bright spots we can look to amid the current Tea Party madness. That's what Blue America is all about. And one of our brightest glimmers of hope comes from the campaign of Ilya Sheyman, who is running for Congress up in Illinois’ 10th District (Chicago’s northern suburbs)-- the most Democratic district in the country currently held by a Republican.

We’ve written about Ilya before, because he’s a serious progressive with a real chance to kick out Rep. Robert Dold, a Republican freshman who has shown he’s more than willing to put anything, including Grandma’s Medicare, on the chopping block, if his Tea Party so dictates.

In the midst of the House debate around this fabricated debt ceiling "crisis," Ilya was one of only a few Democratic candidates around the country willing to take the potentially risky position against the debt deal, saying, very clearly, he would have voted “no” if he was able.

In the 10th, Ilya was the only candidate with the chutzpah to take the right position. The only other Democratic candidate, a business consultant named Brad Schneider, sided with incumbent Dold and Republican Sen. Mark Kirk in supporting the bill. I should mention that Schneider has also donated big bucks to Kirk over the years. Oh, and, he says he’ll not only be more “bipartispan” but also “pro-business” if elected. Not the kind of Democrat we need in Congress, especially if we hope to win back the Democratic Party for the Big Business special interests.

Ilya, on the other hand, stood with neighboring Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky in opposing the bill, which he called “a bad deal for the American people.”

“It would be irresponsible to support legislation that reduces the deficit on the backs of struggling working families and the most vulnerable” Sheyman said in an article published by the local Patch site yesterday. "By putting at risk Medicare and other core services, this plan will make conditions worse at a time of tremendous economic strain."

So here’s our point of optimism. We can seize this moment and reject the Tea Party politicians who hijacked this process (and the Blue Dogs who proved their willingness to sell out working families once again). Let’s support Ilya and other candidates who actually took the right position, even when it meant standing up to powerful forces within their own party.

Here’s the Act Blue page we set up for him and the other progressives who are standing up for working families against the corporatocracy. Now’s our chance.

Off the topic, we'd like to raise $2,000 for Ilya's campaign in the next 24 hours. I don't expect any one person to contribute that much, of course, but if enough people give $10 and $20 contributions, it's going to mount up fast-- and that will set off the trigger. Trigger? A different kind of trigger from the one in the SatanSandwich bill. You see, I used to run Reprise Records, Green Day's record company, and Ilya mentioned to me that he's a huge Green Day fan. So, when we hit the trigger, someone will be eligible to win an autographed-- like in signed by Billie Joe Armstrong, Trey Cool and Mike Dirnt-- Fender strat that the band gave me around the time they were recording Warning. So who gets the guitar? If we were Republicans, we'd give it to whoever gave the most money. But we're not. So everyone has an equal chance. As soon as we reach $2,000 we start a random drawing. We'll pick one name out of a bowl on Thursday at 6pm (PT). and I'll send you the guitar. Enter here.

Will Redistricting End Bob Dold's Short, Shameful Stay In Congress?

In 2000 Gore took IL-10 with 51%. Four years later Kerry beat George Bush 53-47%. And in 2010 Obama crushed John McCain 61-38%. But each year the Chicagoland North Shore district elected mainstream conservative, Mark Kirk over a conservative-leaning Democrat. Last year, Kirk jumped to the Senate and a carbon-copy conservative, Bob Dold, beat another me-too-conservative Democrat, Dan Seals (51-49%), Dold winning in GOP-leaning Cook County suburbs, Seals taking the bluer Lake County portions of the district.

There are several factors that make 2012 very different from previous years. First and foremost, the Democrat running against Dold will be a genuine progressive, Ilya Sheyman. A former Field Director for Democracy for America and, more recently, National Mobilization Director at MoveOn, Ilya understands what bold politics is all about and how to make it work. Last year was a Republican wave election and even GOP dreck, like Dold, managed to be swept into office. Next year is shaping up to be another wave election, one that will re-balance Congress... and get rid of accidental Members like Dold. Yes, and Dold voted to turn Medicare into an unsustainable voucher system that would destroy the retirement of working families and was one of the first GOP shills to be called on the carpet by his constituents for his lockstep record on the right-wing social engineering agenda..

And as if this weren't enough to doom his prospects for a career in Congress, redistricting doesn't look to be going his way. IL-10 is likely to look a lot bluer next year. One of the changes in the redistricting is that the neighboring 9th CD, represented by Jan Schakowsky, is set to incorporate Republican-leaning areas of the 10th, such as Wilmette, Northbrook, and Kenilworth (Dold’s home).

Dold’s district would get more Democratic by adding on more heavily Democratic territory in Lake County, such as Mundelein and some of the Lakes. Dold would also lose his Republican-leaning portion of Palatine, making his reelection efforts much dicier.

Today might be an especially good time to contribute to Ilya's campaign.

Blue America Welcomes Ilya Sheyman

The first time I mentioned Ilya Sheyman, the progressive Democrat running for the northern Chicago suburban seat held by GOP freshman Robert Dold, it was in a long and rambling post lashing out against conventional wisdom. When I finally got to Ilya, former Field Director for Democracy for America and, more recently, National Mobilization Director at MoveOn, who Blue America was urging to run against Dold, he quoted Paul Wellstone to me:

“Politics is not just about power and money games, politics can be about the improvement of peoples lives, about lessening human suffering in our world and bringing about more peace and more justice.”

Candidates with this kind of mindset are candidates Blue America is looking for to help solve the country's problems. That's why we're enthusiastic about endorsing him today and why we'd like to invite you to meet him at a live blog session at Crooks and Liars at 1pm (Central Time), 11am on the West Coast.

Until his vote to phase out Medicare and replace it with a pathetic voucher system so that the wealthiest Americans get more tax breaks, not many people had heard of Dold outside the 10th CD between Arlington Heights and Waukegan in Chicagoland. But that triggered an angry reaction at Dold's town hall meeting in Buffalo Grove last week and now Dold has become another right-wing poster boy for Paul Ryan's dystopian vision of a mean, dark, reactionary America.

Rep. Robert Dold (R-Ill.) cut a presentation on the federal deficit short at a town hall meeting he held last week, after audience members began firing questions at him about the Ryan budget and its changes to entitlement programs, including Medicare and Social Security, according to the Chicago newspaper the Daily Herald.

Senior citizens in the audience expressed their discontent with turning Medicare into a voucher program, calling the change a “shell game” that would bog senior citizens down with uncertainty in dealing with private healthcare companies.

And senior citizens are getting to know Dold better now that he's been in Congress for 4 months. He may be trying to hide his support for dismembering Medicare but he's surprisingly open about his contempt for Social Security and what he insists is the need to trim it back. Dold has been the perfect little rubber stamp for the radical House leadership, buying into all their harebrained schemes. "Rep. Dold and the right wing of the Republican Party," Ilya confirmed "are hell-bent on dismantling Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and eliminating the foundations of the American Dream that have made millions of middle-class lives possible-- and we can't let them get away with it... The fact that he continues to advocate for cuts in Social Security benefits shows just how out of touch he is with the voters of the 10th District [and] his vote for the radical Republican budget that ends Medicare in order to give tax breaks to giant corporations and the wealthiest 2% of Americans should put to rest any notion that he actually cares about the deficit."

A few weeks ago a staffer for a DCCC-approved candidate called and asked if Blue America would endorse him. I asked to speak with him and, embarrassed, the staffer said he isn't familiar enough with the issues to speak with the media yet but he's learning them. That's not the kind of candidates Blue America is looking for and that's about as far from what Ilya Sheyman is all about as you can be. "I am in this race," he told us, "because I believe that government and politics are about doing good. They're about helping every man, woman, and child with a dream-- and the willingness to work for it-- achieve his or her potential... I'm sick and tired of a Democratic Party that on issue after issue seems to pre-negotiate, pre-triangulate, and pre-capitulate rather than standing up for the progressive values we know make a difference in real people's lives." This is what he's been doing as a grassroots activist for years. We need people like Ilya in Congress to save us from Beltway Democrats who are chosen by the Establishment for one reason and one reason only: an ability to self-fund campaigns-- i.e., whore themselves out to corporate interests. That isn't Ilya:

"I can't wait to organize together with grassroots advocates in our community, and allies inside Congress, to pass a real jobs bill that will put millions of Americans back to work and pave the way to a new green energy economy.

"Rep. Jan Schakowsky's 'Fairness in Taxation Act' is a model of the kind of progressive legislation we should be fighting for, and I'm eager to work alongside her to bring back fairness to our tax code so we can invest in America again."

Dold was caught asking the Tea Party to not publicly endorse him in the general election because it could blow his cover as a fake moderate. Since getting into Congress with a narrow 51-49% win, in a district Obama won with 61% in 2008, Dold has blown his own cover, voting for Ryan's toxic budget, voting to renew the Patriot Act and just marching along in lockstep to everything John Boehner and Eric Cantor wanted him for. This time Chicagoland voters get a real choice. Please help us welcome Ilya to the Blue America family and, if you can, please contribute to his campaign through our ActBlue page. An active admirer of Raul Grijalva's and Keith Ellison's Put America Back To Work Act, Ilya will be working inside the Progressive Caucus helping to advance real solutions for working families. It's what he's campaigning on and it's what has drawn him into politics. And it's why Blue America has endorsed him.

Ilya Sheyman... And Illinois As The Sanctuary State For Progressives From Neighboring Wisconsin And Indiana

As I mentioned in an unfocused and rambling post earlier in the week, progressives are fired up about getting Ilya Sheyman to run for Congress in Illinois' 10th Congressional District. He's a community organizer who has spent the past nine years organizing for an end to the war in Iraq, to fix a broken public school system, to win quality affordable health care, and to elect bold progressives at all levels of government. He's worked as the Mobilization Director at MoveOn.org, Field Director Democracy for America, and Online Organizing Manager at TrueMajority/USAction and gets the importance of grassroots activism in winning elections and achieving meaningful progressive change in Washington.

If he runs and wins, Ilya will be a leader in Congress on fighting for the progressive policies we know will make a real difference in people's lives. He launched an Exploratory Committee on Monday, but he's only planning to enter the race if they get 500 supporters and $100,000 in pledged contributions by the first week of April. I asked him to introduce himself (see below) and I'd like to invite you to read his post and click here to show your support for what's he's doing.

Worth Fighting For

-by Ilya Sheyman

While Republican governors across the Midwest-- in Wisconsin, and Ohio, and Indiana-- are busy trying to destroy workers' right to bargain for fair wages and good working conditions and eliminating critical infrastructure projects that would create thousands of jobs, there's an oasis of sanity in Illinois. 

Over the past three weeks, our state has had the privilege of hosting the entire Democratic State Senate delegation from Wisconsin in the Chicagoland area and the delegation from Indiana near Champaign-Urbana. We're providing sanctuary in support of their efforts to stop decades of struggle and accomplishments from being rolled back in a frenzy of corporate dominance over all levels of our government. 

Yet, even as we rally in solidarity with these brave legislators, we can't forget that this latest Republican assault on working people didn't begin with union busting and it won't end there.  Let's remember that, even before getting sworn in, Republican Governors in Ohio and Wisconsin rejected $1.2 billion dollars in money for high-speed rail projects that would have created thousands of good paying jobs and laid critical infrastructure for a 21st century economy. 

Now, I shouldn't complain, since Illinois received $42 million of that money for our own infrastructure projects that will help put people back to work in our own hard-hit state. But, the truth is, what's at stake is more than just a few infrastructure projects or budgets in neighboring states.

These governors and their right-wing allies in Congress like Rep. Bob Dold are using the cover of a painful recession as an excuse to implement a coordinated, nationwide plan to tear apart the very fabric of the American dream-- and the decades of progressive organizing that made it possible.

Why is it that whenever there's a pre-emptive war of choice to be fought, we find the money? Why is it that whenever a big bank on Wall Street wants a government bailout, we find the money? But, when working people need jobs, students need quality schools, homeowners need help staying in their homes, retirees need Social Security, and everyday Americans across the 10th District and the country struggle to make ends meet, Republicans decide we can't afford to provide any help at all?

That's why last weekend I spoke to over 2,000 Illinoisans at the Rally to Save the American Dream in Downtown Chicago, and why this Sunday I'm going to be joining a group of letter carriers on an AFL-CIO bus trip to Madison, WI where we'll rally and march alongside teachers, nurses, students, firefighters and all our brothers and sisters in Wisconsin who are fighting for their right to collective bargaining.

When the day comes to an end, we'll get to go home knowing we live in a state that actually respects work and the workers who do it. We live in a state where a good job is a good job regardless of whether its paid for by private businesses or tax money. We live in a state where we recognize long-term investments in infrastructure and a transportation network for the 21st century are worth the short-term cost. We live in a state where most (but not all) of our Democratic legislators were willing to set aside conventional political wisdom, act like leaders, and pass a modest revenue increase to keep us from having to drastically cut the core services our communities depend on.

But the truth is, the struggle of workers in Wisconsin, Ohio and Indiana is not so different from the challenges facing residents all across the 10th Congressional District: The family that discovers their mortgage is now worth more than the cost of their home. The immigrant student who has the grades and desperately wants to attend college, but can't qualify for loans or grants because he's undocumented. The teacher nearing retirement and wondering if he'll get the Social Security he was promised in his golden years. The gay person wondering why her government won't let her marry who she loves. 

All of these Americans are striving to grab hold of a piece of the American Dream.

And, I firmly believe that dream is worth fighting for.

Conventional Wisdom... And Meet Ilya Sheyman

I was just a teenager-- and a huge Dostoevsky fan-- when I got my first indication of the worth of conventional wisdom. I was mesmerized by Dylan's lyrics on his new single "Subterranean Homesick Blues," released a couple weeks later on Bringing It All Back Home, but it took a few years before I connected all the dots. That happened when I sold a bunch of hash so I could buy a new VW camper at the Volkswagen factory in Wiesbaden, Germany ($2,500) and drive to India.

The first leg of the trip was from London to Istanbul. Yugoslavia was still a country but now I consider myself having driven through Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia, Kosovo, Macedonia and Montenegro. I just loved it, especially driving along the Dalmatian Coast. After that came a quick jaunt through Bulgaria to the European sliver of Turkey and down into Istanbul which straddles both continents. Here's where the conventional wisdom started-- the conventional wisdom of the Hippie Trail. "Everybody" knew Bulgaria just sucked and the way to do it was to drive straight from Nis, through gray, Communist Sofia and then 300 miles down the main highway through Plovdiv and right into Istanbul. Do not stop; do not even look out the window. The Bulgarians are Stalinist creeps and the country should be avoided except that it's on the way to Istanbul and Asia (and, the real crux, as I soon learned, hashish). That was the conventional wisdom.

I didn't mean to rebel or anything but I had a feeling I wasn't going to get another chance to wander around Bulgaria and I was in no rush. So I stopped in Sofia, explored the city, didn't find it forbidding at all and then decided to head due east to the Black Sea instead of southeast to Edirne and Istanbul. I had hardly parked my van at the seaside at Burgas before I had two new best friends. They couldn't wait to show me their country and I wound up spending two weeks driving around Bulgaria, staying on communal farms, seeing towns that never got any Hippie Trail traffic, like Varna, Novi Pazar, Targoviste. It was amazing but it still didn't dawn on my that conventional wisdom was worthless, especially not that conventional wisdom from groups you identified with was worthless. Months later in Afghanistan I was still eating delicious fruits and veggies and kefir farmers had given me in Bulgaria. (I had kefir for breakfast today, over 40 years later.)

Istanbul is where I finally got it. The conventional wisdom was that the Turks, like the Bulgarians were assholes to be avoided. The only way to enjoy Turkey was to hole up in the hippie enclave around the Blue Mosque (Sultanahmet). So I did. I was actually in the pudding shop when the real Midnight Express was going down!



The Turks were assholes? All seventy million of them? It was then that I started watching my parking meters instead of following leaders. Sure, the cops and robbers drawn to Sultanahmet to pray on drugged out hippies were assholes-- cops and robbers are assholes everywhere. But you didn't have to drive far to meet the greatest people in the world: Turks. It was there that I realized how worthless conventional wisdom is. I've tried to studiously ignore it ever since-- in all aspects of my life.

The hippies-- relatively much more open-minded than your average Joe-- only liked people they could do drugs with: Afs, Nepalis, Indians... Everyone else was an asshole. I thought the Turks were among the most amazing, hospitable, empathic people I had ever met and I lingered for months in Anatolia-- and have been back a dozen times since then-- something "everyone" knows is a waste of time. And, like I said, I learned the worth of conventional wisdom. I guess that's why I hate the Republican Party and have nothing but contempt for Inside-the-Beltway Democrats.

The above paragraphs could be an introduction for almost anything we post here at DWT. Let's make it... about our evil foes at the DCCC. The political consultant class in DC has been trying to recruit a hackish state legislator, Susan Garrett of Lake Forest, or-- worse-- recently defeated corporate shill Melissa Bean (from the 8th CD)-- to run against Republican freshman Robert Dold. Inside-the-Beltway conventional wisdom is that only a professional politician is worthy of their support. Meanwhile, grassroots activists in Illinois and hoping to persuade Ilya Sheyman, former Field Director for Democracy for America and, more recently, National Mobilization Director at MoveOn, to run for the seat.

Conventional wisdom always comes down on the side of money, never on the side of people power. The DCCC will claim neutrality, of course (they usually do) and then attempt to undermine the grassroots candidate in favor of the worst Chamber of Commerce shill in the Democratic Party (Bean) if she makes a try for the seat, or else state Senator Garrett if she's the Establishment candidate. And Ilya? Let's hear what he has to say about himself. Is this the kind of guy you'd like to see Blue America endorse and work for?

I believe in a simple idea at the heart of progressive politics-- an idea best articulated by the late Senator Paul Wellstone:

“Politics is not just about power and money games, politics can be about the improvement of peoples lives, about lessening human suffering in our world and bringing about more peace and more justice.”

As I travel around the 10th Congressional District, I look forward to listening to you and learning from your stories about the issues and values that are important in your lives. Here are a few of my thoughts on critical issues to start off our conversation:

Jobs:

It is time to invest in our shared prosperity by passing a new jobs bill that would provide a life vest of unemployment assistance to those drowning without work, that would guarantee state aid, so that communities wouldn’t have to continue letting go of cops, firefighters or teachers, and that would stimulate public and private sector job creation through direct hiring for infrastructure projects and the creation of a national green jobs bank that will provide loans directly to small businesses.

Investment:

I support a fixed timetable to extricate ourselves from the quagmire in Afghanistan and to finally bring every brave man and woman home from Iraq-- so that we can start building bridges and roads, schools and hospitals, mass transit and a green economy right here in Buffalo Grove and North Chicago instead of Kabul and Baghdad.

Security:

I will defend our commitment to Health and Retirement Security with a plan that asks the wealthy to pay their fair share into Social Security, keeping its promise to future generations. And I support gradually expanding Medicare to cover every single American, and stand behind the promise that quality, affordable health care should in fact be a birthright of every single American.

Opportunity:

I will fight for real immigration reform that finally takes 12 million of our neighbors out of the shadows and gives them a pathway to citizenship and an ability to realize their dreams and aspirations right here in the United States of America.

Equality:

I will work with allies in our community and in Congress to introduce a Civil Rights Act for the 21st Century that guarantees the full spectrum of over one thousand rights, responsibilities and privileges that come with equal citizenship to all our LGBTQ brothers and sisters.